Re: Compact Flourescents

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Compact Flourescents
From: paul at eisusa_com (Paul Nicholson)
Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 21:09:52 -0700

Elam wrote:

>Ok, everyone, please excuse my ignorance if this sounds too stupid... How
>would 4 or 6 incandescent fixtures, each with a compact flourescent installed
>in it work for my 55g? Does anyone have some specifics on these bulbs? How
>many of these would ahve to equal one 40 watt flourescent?

You are forgiven <g>.

The cost of CF's is about $1/watt. A 20 watt bulb and ballast is about
$20.00 at Home Depot. You can get 4 foot 32 watt T8's flourescents for
$2.17 from Home Depot each plus about 44 dollars for a 4 bulb ballast from
Grainger (Magnetek B432I120RH).

Many of the CF bulbs are permanently attached to the ballasts, hence you
have to replace the whole assembly. CF bulbs without ballast are about
$0.50/watt. Compare that to $0.07/watt for 32T8's.

>Price is a big concern here. The initial investment for 4 or 6 incand.
>fixtures and the bulbs would be VERY low. What's the long term costs?

Add it up! T8's with electronic ballast are cheaper and more efficient. $52
dollars for 128 watts. $9.00 to re-lamp.

Paul

Paul Nicholson              Electronic Imaging Systems, Inc.
paul at eisusa_com             5148 Commerce Avenue, Unit F
TEL 805 532 1068            Moorpark, CA 93021 U.S.A.
FAX 805 532 1065