Re: Screw-in CF Bulbs

[K9AUB at aol_com]

BErney asks:

>> Has anyone found self ballasted screw in cf bulbs useful in small plant 
tanks? 
>> If so, what bulb works?

They work just fine, but the light is a little yellow (2800*K).  The plants 
don't care about that; all they want is light and lots of it.  I have heard 
that Lights of America has come out with a 5000*K line of screw in cf bulbs, 
but they haven't shown up at my Walmart yet.  I like the 45w bulbs.  I have 3 
of them mounted inside the wooden hood over a 29g, and that gives me a cheap 
source of 3 watts per gallon.  I have also experimented with reptile hoods, 
where there are 2 sockets for screw-ins, and 1 fluorescent strip.  To help 
neutralize the yellow, I've experimented with reef lamps in the fluorescent 
strip, while using the regular 32 or 45w screw-in cf's.  The blue of the reef 
light neutralizes much of the yellow, giving a very bright reasonable 
approximation of daylight.  The plants seem to love it.  The bulbs seem to 
get even more yellow with age, so you'll want to replace them every 8 months 
or so, moving the old yellow lights out to the garage or washroom, and 
installing fresh new cf's over the aquarium.




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