Re: [APD] Home depot spiral bulbs -- or - Bulbs that light upthemselves

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

It's not that spirals won't work. It's just that they are
much less efficient than straighter tubes. Not nearly as
inefficient as incasdescent bulbs but much more so than PCs
or T5s.  A spiral shines most of it's light on itself. 

The primary value of spirals is that they fit in lamps
designed for incandescent bulbs and they are relatively
cheap these days. The trade offs are the substantial loss
of light that goes into the the interior of the spiral and
increased concentration of heat in a smaller area, which
can speed the aging and demise of the bulb.

You need more of them, watt for watt, to get a given amount
of light.  But you can get a lot of light from them, enough
to light a planted tank.

You might melt your hood if the bulb glass is too close to
the hood surface. Spirals concentrate their heat output,
which is the vast majority of a fluorescent's energy
output, into a smaller area than a PC or T5 does.

Scott H.

--- "McDowell, Steve" <SMcDowell at SatoriGroupInc_com> wrote:
> Scott,
>  
> I have recently constructed a DIY Canopy/Hood with Spiral
> CF's.  Not all of
> the links have great pictures...working on that.
>  
> There is a lot of theory regarding the sCF's (as I call
> them).  I have been
> using spiral CF's for a year on my planted tank.  I can
> tell you that they
> have served me well. 

=====
S. Hieber

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