Diy Canopy With A Cheap Twist

[okimavich]

Anyone try to build their own canopy with a built-in compact fluorescent bulbs? I'm not talking about the power compacts that run $50. I'm thinking about the cheap screw-in type that you can buy at HomeDepot. I'm wondering if there is a drawback to using them. I'd expect that they aren't the best for temperature ranges of plants.

Any thoughts?

 

[marya]

I have a little 5 gallon perfecto hex tank which I bought about 11yrs ago. The fixture in the hood was an incandescent bulb, and I switched it out with one of those compact flourescents from walmart last year. It didn't seem to cause any temp problems in that particular tank. I had some low maintenance bunched plants in there which did really well. Awhile later someone gave me a 3gallon eclipse with the built in mini-flourescent hood and that one I stopped using because it was making the water way too warm for plants or fish (then of course when i turned the light off at night the temp would plummet. nice. .

 

[okimavich]

Sorry. I was referring to the color temp and not specifically heat temp. I believe some of the high-tech (and sometimes too serious ) plant people like to have the color spectrum from a light to be 5000-7000 Kelvin at X Watts/Gallon.

I guess I'll be getting some flak from Ghaz any minute now

 

[marya]

ah, i understand whatcha mean. Curious to hear the answer actually, since it would certainly be nice to be able to diy a canopy with one of those compacts and have it be suitable for a planted tank.

 

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I dont know the color temps of the screw in CF bulbs but I do know that
the 'equivilant wattage' thing that those bulbs advertise doesnt mean
SQUAT for plants. If it's using 15W - it's 15W. Im sure they coem in a variety of
color temps. Plants will grow in anything from 4300K - 10000K. Thought 6700K is
what most people like.

 

[okimavich]

Yeah, I found out that the typical ones at HD is around 3000K. So no dice. But I did find that there are some in the range of 6000K online for relatively cheaper than a power compact. So when I get my act in gear and the weather gets warmer, I will have to try them out.

 

[Airborne001]

I have no idea the temp, but I do know my plants are going nuts over them. I dug out a few of my incandesent hoods and replaced the bulbs with 13w cf bulbs. My Val has tripled in 2 months, and I have watersprite in 10 tanks now, all started from one cutting that is growing floating under 4 of these bulbs in a 20 high. That watersprite is now choking the tank, and has roots 18" long. My next plan is to use 5 2-bulb sockets in my hood for my 75gal plantkiller tank. I am going to use 10 of the 40w CF bulbs. Considering I can get 400w over this tank for about $100, that a great deal. Also the bulbs are cheap to replace and easy to alternate.

 

[Larry-T]

There is more to plant lighting than wattage. The only light that plants can use is that within the absorbtion spectrum of the variant of Chlorophyll in their cells. That is the light that transfers energy into the plants in a usable form. So if the light has most of its outputin the proper wavelengths, you can get away with a lot less wattage.

 

[Airborne001]

That is true Larry, but who is to say that these bulbs are not actually putting out those wavelengths.

 

[amcdonal86]

I know All Glass makes a screw in fluorescent bulb that is 6700K.

 

[Airborne001]

The only tanks that I can get anything at all to grow in are all using the HD bulbs. My watersprite in my 25 high was over 1ft thick before I culled it out.