CFL bulbs at Rona

[Fish dude]

Hi folks

I saw some cfl 27w bulbs at Rona today, a new brand name I have not seen before. Anyway their Kelvin range was 6400k, And they are $13 each. Would these be good for a 20g fw tank? Cheers.

[gklaw]

Why not? Neven posted a DIY fixture before.

[stonedaquarium]

Hi folks

I saw some cfl 27w bulbs at Rona today, a new brand name I have not seen before. Anyway their Kelvin range was 6400k, And they are $13 each. Would these be good for a 20g fw tank? Cheers.

fishdude,

If you want to go on a budget... In my experience i used Phillips 23W CFL Daylight for my 5 gal tank. the lighting canoply accomodated 2 x 23W CFLS for my 5 gal... you can use some aluminum tape attached to the hood to have a better light refraction. directed to the tank. all in all those 2 bulbs i got from london drugs for less than 10 bucks. and i believe those daylight bulbs are rated 6700K which are great for FW planted tanks...

hope that helps

[neven]

if you tape the inside of the canopy, make sure that you poke through any cooling holes in there or your bulbs wont last long, as for whats good enough, sideways mounted 2 1/2 inches above the water line, 2x21 watt bulbs 6500K did great on my 29 gallon in a homemade fixture made from light sockets mounted in Glossy white painted duct (glossy white reflects pretty much the same as tinfoil).

On my 10 gallon i use 1x21W cfl in a desk lamp facing downwards
5 gallon is a 21W mounted a bit higher

my 2.5 has a 13 W right above it mounted sideways.

With CFLs you can interchange the wattage, number of bulbs, orientation (sideways loses effeciency), and/or height above the tank to limit algae growth and have great plant growth.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Yup that's expensive. I got 42w Phillips Daylights 6500k CFLs at London Drugs for that price or under $10 for 2 @ 23 or 27w Phillips at HD.

[Fish dude]

Right, I did look at the 43w at London Drugs; that is the coil type CFL and big, I would say 3.5" in diameter. Possibly too big for my hood.

The ones I say at Rona mentioned in my above posted are not the coil type, but the longer bayonet style CFL with the standard screw in base. Similar to something you might see by Gloflo at the LFS.

Thank guys for you input. I am glad I found this website. CHeers.

[Fish dude]

...I wouldn't think anyone could tell the difference between 6400k vs 6500k. You guys agree?

[neven]

colour temperature can have totally different hues by just small changes in numbers or even brand names, think 6700k (more pink) vs 6500k (more white). What matters mostly is where the colour spectrum peaks are. if they are similar to say a phillips 6500K, then your plants will respond fine