Lighting

[Mali]

The lighting that I'm reading about, CFL? is this a power compact bulb? If so what are the prices to replace them per bulb? I'm seeing alot of bulbs that you would use over a saltwater reef tank. I'm just wondering if the prices are radically different between the hobbies. T-5 VHO bulbs are good for 9-12 months over a reef then the spectrum starts to shift. Is the time frame the same for cp's?

Thanks Mali

 

[amphirion]

i use CFLs. when i mean CFLs i mean these:

http://www.marinedepot.com/lighting...cent_coralife_aqualight_deluxe_linear-ap.html

however, the 490 nm bulbs are completely useless when cultivating CPs (or planted aquarium tanks for that matter) better to replace all the bulbs with 6700k-10,000K bulbs.
i think they're great to use, its supposedly the equivalent of 4 regular fluorescent bulbs, and i use two of them to light up my tank. they are also much better at maintaining their spectrum and can last up to 5 years (give or take depending on usage).

 

[swords]

I call those long U shaped tubes "power compact" cos that's what was on the box of the twin 55W fixture by JBL when I got my first one back when I was into planted fishtanks. I don't buy prebuilt fixtures for those anymore, there's a seller on ebay (clubreef) who sells just the ballast and 12 ft waterproof endcaps. I have a set of four 96W tubes and a pair of 65W tubes. I like them but they run pretty warm so you have to make plans to move the hot air.

I agree, don't bother with Actinic bulbs. I had gotten a free 400W actinic MH bulb with my ballast and I immediately spent the $ to get a good full spectrum daylight bulb. Actinic seems to me like trying to grow plants with a blacklight.

I call CFLs the "twisty" ones that I use in table lamps and so on. People use those twisties for plants but I have never used them they seem too low powered. They do work for plants cos I've seen some really nicely grown in frog vivs done using just 26W twisties. I do have a pair of gigantic horticultural twisty bulbs that are 125W each and about 14" long. These work good and cover a nice 2 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft area with each bulb but you need a mogul socket (like for a Metal Halide) as they won't fit a standard Edison socket. The big ones are nice and don't create much heat at all if you have them separated from the plants by glass.
Test on empty terrarium with no fans or anything to evacuate heat:
room temp: 77*F
inside the tank: 82*F (after running 10+ hours)

I am going to be getting some 4 and 6 tube T5HO fixtures to play with shortly but I have heard they run very warm so you'll have to rig up some fans to evacuate heat if you get some of these. I'm going to to be setting up eight 3" fans on two separate power supplys creating cross breezes over the lids of the four enclosures beneath the fixtures so the lids won't get blazing hot. A lot of flower stalks and things tend to bob up to the lid glass and they'll just fry if the glass is too hot.

 

[amphirion]

they work like a charm for lowland tanks though. as you can imagine, 2 of these babies heating up a 10 gallon tank, it works out. my petiolaris, pings, and n. campanulata are happy, cant complain.

 

[swords]

I've read some people say that the T5s are comparable in heat output to the U shaped Power Compacts, anyone with both types of lamps care to confirm this for us?

The T5HO bulbs are supposed to last 20,000 Hours, meaning you will need to replace them about every 4 years or so.