Compact fluorescents

• To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
• Subject: Compact fluorescents
• From: PacNeil at aol_com
• Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 22:07:47 -0400

 Erik Olson <eriko at wrq_com> wrote Tue, 30 Apr 1996

>Definitely something I'd recommend these days.  (Hey, is EVERYONE in the
>country but me growing Glossostigma now?!)
<snip>
> as I was leaving, I asked, just for the heck of it, about CF's, and ended
up walking out >of there with 13W bulbs for $3.50 each, the fixture for a
buck, and the
>ballasts for $2.50 (the ballasts are the SAME as the ones you use for
>18"-24" tubes!).  Add it up, it's a lot less than $30.  
<snip>

>Given adequate ventilation, one might be able to set up 2 13W CF's in such a
hood (>make sure that the ballast is OUTSIDE the hood, though... lots of heat
here.  >Actually, I'd ask the commercial place if I can get a remote
electronic ballast for >multiple CF bulbs).

My solution for a reflector was to use a 9" x10" cake pan ($2.50 at the
grocery store) and a box I found at an industrial liquidator similar to a
large external modem. I mounted the lamps in the cake pan, ran a multi-wire
cable down to the ballasts in the "modem" box. The cake pan will hold as many
as 7 CFs and the remote mounted ballasts keep some of the heat away from the
aquarium.

It's hot as blazes in San Diego this week.

PacNeil at aol_com[Neil Schneider] 

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