Anybody heard of or tried using regular type floursent bulbs?

[Jasno999]

I heard a story about a guy who had a 130 gallon tank and instead of spending hundreds of dollars on metal halide or PC bulbs he decided to arange 18 normal light bulb sockets under his hood. He then used 26W flourcent bulbs that were 65000K along with 2 stip lights for actnic lighting.


I have no idea how to do this or if it would work but it sounds like a great way to save a lot of money. However the wiring I think could be difficult to do correctly and I would love to know if it could be done and how.

Any ideas???

[charlie]

I would like to see it too. I don't think I would do it, but if you give it a try, post some pics.

[Poseidon]

Sounds like it is very time consuming to me! It may work, but how long will it take to wire up, build the board, mount reflectors, and then buy all those bulbs... (They aren't exactly cheap.)

I run the CF bulbs in my house, and I like them, but the GE ones aer VERY yellow. I have some Sylvania CF bulbs and they are more white.

I have used these bulbs to light my sump, I had 2 of them in those cheap metal clamp reflector shop lights, and it worked OK. I have since added T5 to my sump, and the Chaeto grows WAY WAY faster then it did under the CF bulbs, that is for sure.

[Ninong]

I have no idea how to do this or if it would work but it sounds like a great way to save a lot of money.

Actually it's not a good idea at all and it won't save money. There is a reason that virtually no one still uses standard normal output T12 fluorescent lamps anymore: their output per watt is much less than other options. Even normal output T8 lamps are much more efficient.

However, comparing HO T5 lamps against NO T12 lamps really brings the point home.

No one uses normal output T12 fluorescent lamps anymore. No one! If you insist on using normal output fluorescents, get T8s and drive them with an electronic ballast and they will produce about one-third more lumens per watt than standard normal output T12s. Another point to consider is that you may have a hard time even finding normal output T12s in a suitable Kelvin range.

A 54w HO T5 produces three times as many lumens per watt as a 40w NO T12. So any savings in the cost of replacement lamps must be compared with the added cost in electricity to get equal results. If you're planning a fish-only tank, you could get away with normal output flourescents if that's what you prefer but even then there are other better options. Two 54w HO T5s would be better than four 40w NO T12s. Let's never forget that wattage is simply a measurement of power consumption and should never be used to compare lighting, especially lighting used in the marine aquarium hobby. A very good example of this caveat can be found in one of Dr. Sanjay Joshi's very first metal halide lamps tests when he measured three times as much PAR from a 175w 10,000K Ushio lamp compared to a 175w 6,000K Venture lamp. Same wattage but one lamp produced three times as much useable light. That means the lamp with the lousy output is costing you three times as much in electricty per PPFD.



P.S. -- No one designs office building lighting with T12 fluorescents anymore and they haven't in years. They switched to T8 fluorescents and now they're switching to T5 fluorescents. All things being equal, a T8 lamp will be more efficient than a T12 lamp and a T5 lamp will be more efficient than a T8 lamp, and that's without getting into HO lamps. That's because of the ratio of exposed surface to volume of gas. A smaller diameter tube has a higher ratio of exposed surface and is more efficient.

The HO T5's, when coupled with high quality individual reflectors, are much, much more efficient than other fluorescent tubes. It's not even close.