New Lights For Incandecent Hood...?

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Chad55

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MFK Member
Jun 10, 2005
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OK my dad just gave me his ten gallon and it has one of those stupid incandecent hoods in it. I was wondering if it was possible to put those little screw in florecents in it for like regular household light fixtures. I know on one site alot of people use them on their planted and reef tanks so I know that part would be fine....I was just wondering if it would be safe to put in this hood?

Chad
 
I would try to put some acrylic or something under it to keep moisture away, but if they dont with the regular bulb, why would they bother with those lol....

maybe look into a t-8 or t-5 retrofit kit?
 
Howdy,

Why do you want to change it? I myself have such a 10 gal starter tank, and the lights work great. Cryptocoryne, Echinodorus and Vallisneria survive nicely and even grow some (especially the Crypts). I tried out a compact fluorescent screw-in for half a year, but my plants did not enjoy it as much as the good ol' incandescent bulb. Matter of fact, I had more brown algae.

My advice from my own experience: Leave it as is.

HarleyK
 
Well I figured the extra wattage and such would help me grow some plants.... I also heard that it won't work right unless you get the full specterum. The day ones I think will just grow a bunch of algea. The incandecant bulbs are just way too dull for me. I like it bright in my tanks so I can take better pictures and such. This is going to be a darter tank and I want it to be fairly well planted. Oh yea and the hood already has a piece of glass covering the lights. Yea and with the retro fit kits I am not going to spend that kind of money on it because when it comes down to it the stock is more important to me then the lights....

Chad
 
Just to clarify, with the screw in Flourscents (SP??) also know as CFL's you actually use less wattage. What you are getting is more lumens per watt so you get more light (lumens) but use less energy (watts) as well as generate less heat.
 
Idealconcepts;564893; said:
Just to clarify, with the screw in Flourscents (SP??) also know as CFL's you actually use less wattage. What you are getting is more lumens per watt so you get more light (lumens) but use less energy (watts) as well as generate less heat.
Click to expand...

That's right - but they still didn't work as well for me (or my plants) as incandescent bulbs.
:popcorn:
 
Well it would be nice to use as little power as possible too as I do not pay the elctric bill and I cannot have that heat from the incandecents on my darter tank....I am glad you brought that point up to me though. I am going to have to go with florecents because of the heat.

Chad
 
HarleyK - that is very true. With CFL's or regular tubes there are tons of different colors of lights (Kelvins) so findng one that matches a regular bulb would take some work. It sounds like Chad55 wants a slightly different color from his bulb and the easiest way would be to find a cfl that has a different kelvin rating.
 
Well now that the heat issue was brought to my attention it doesn't even matter. I almost HAVE to go with the florecents. Anyways I don't like the yellowish color it gives everything.

Chad
 
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