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Re: Compact Flourescents
>I am interested in compact flourescents for my tank. I dont really have
>much idea about them. I saw them in a hardware shop the other day and am
>unsure if these are the type you buy for aquariums (if they have the right >K they should be ok for aquriums right ?). How do you mount these and set
>them up.. do you need ballasts etc ? From what I saw it looks like they >just screw into a normal bulb fitting ? Being small and putting out a lot >of light they look very handy :)
Some people have tried them and claimed to have good luck with them. The
"hardware store" types are not usually what you'd put over a tank, but are
rather intended as energy efficient replacements for incandescent light
bulbs. Typically these tubes will be in the 2800 - 3200 K range,
approximatly that of incandescents (or maybe halogen stage lights which is
where I'm remembering that figure from, either way, read it as "low"). Most
people prefer to run 5000 K or higher lights on their tanks to avoid the
yellow look. My own tanks have 6700 K CF lights, except for some 5000 K T5
lights on small growout tanks.
There are plans that use these bulbs with plastic rain gutter reflectors
and other such inexpensive DIY projects out there on the Internet. The
bulbs with a regular base and a "box" on the base have integral ballasts.
>Im sorry if this question has been asked a billion times on the list so if
>you want you can personally reply to me on geohammo at iinet_net.au :))
It comes up every now and then, but I wouldn't say a billion. At least not
yet ;-)
-Bill