Will regular compact flourescent bulbs work?

[Tim]

I have a 55 gallon with 4 regular light bulb sockets. Currently I have regular home depot bought compact flourescents in there with the equivalent of 90 watts each totaling 360 watts. Will this do for a planted tank or is there a certain bulb I should buy?

Thanks.
Tim

[DARKPHREAK]

360 watts over a 55g will give you 6.5 watts per gallon. OMG thats alot! It will work but I would think that the algea will take the tank over very fast until everything gets balanced. Are you injecting C02, and not the DIY kind? Plants seem to like 5500k-10000k range, most people on  http://www.plantedtank.net/ like in the 9200-9900 range. But I just let my tank grow with the limited lights I have.

[Tim]

What should the wattage per gallon be?
The bulbs I am using are similar to this.
Will they work?

[aSmallFish]

I think it is only about 23w* 4= 92w light on the 55 gal.

It is about 2w /gal only.

U can not trust what they called equivalent of 90 watts.

[DARKPHREAK]

Ok those are not what I was thinking they were. Screw in power compact arent the same as these...
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product.xml?product_id=23377;category_id=1843;pcid1=;pcid2=

aSmallFish has the general idea, I think the wattage on those is really low.

[BigDaddy]

Those corkscrew ones are garbage.... don't direct enough light straight down in to the tank.

Plus, they are probably only 3,000K... 4100K tops... maybe even worse than that

[Tim]

Can anyone suggest a good bulb that would fit a regular light socket?

[Pisidan]

I use compact florescent on my 10 gallon 2 11 watts and my plants grow fine mostly low light plants like crypts java fern ect..and they all are doing great they dont gorw as fast as most tanks with better lighting but it does seem to work. For the 55 I suggest building a canopy and installing your own lighting I did this for about 50 bucks give or take a few bucks!!

[BigDaddy]

Get the all-glass bulbs they carry at big als.  At least those are a straight tube.

I have two over my 5 gallon, and the dwarf sag is carpetted all over the substrate.

http://www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product.xml?product_id=23441;category_id=1845;pcid1=1843;pcid2=

That's what I have

[FreeFloat]

I use 2 of those in my 10G and my live plants (dwarf sag and vals) are all over the place too.

[dpatte]

the 'corkscrew' compact flourescents are certainly better than incandescents any day. Measure their real watts (ie: 11W each perhaps). aim for 2-3 watts per gallon overall for your tank.

Their colours is probably too yellow compared to the larger compact flourscents you see in expensive hoods, but on a budget i think they are certainly better than other options.

[Tim]

So are you saying that if they are 11 watts each I should have 10 of them? Instead of measureing the equivalent to an incandescent of 90 watts each?

[dpatte]

The measurement of 2-3 watts per gallon is based on flourescent watt ratings only. a 10 gallon tank would require 2-3 11 watt flourescents by this rule.

A 50 gallon tank would require 100 to 150 flourescent watts. The only way to get that is alot of screw in compact flourecents bulbs (a dozen?) or by investing in the more expensive and larger straight compact flour's you see in expensive hoods.

[Tim]

I bougt a couple more so should I be ok now?
I have 4 X 23watts and 2 X 25 watts for a total of $142 flourescent watts.

Tim

[Poustic]

I came across these on the Mops site the other day.  Anyone tried them?  They have 2 different kinds in 10W and 20W.

http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/li/LICL-54200.asp?L+scstore+mjxt0662ff97a197+1099671729

http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/li/LICL-54210.asp?L+scstore+mjxt0662ff97a197+1099671930

[BigDaddy]

Those are essentially the same as the all-glass ones.  They are rated at 10 and 20W if memory serves.  The 50/50 is useless for a planted tank, you'd want the other model

[adamarchibald]

Go with the all glass they look better than the colour max ones.  The sell them both at big al's.  Just get them light both for you and then you can make a decision.

[luvfishies]

I use those pigtail CF and some of the other Screw-in CF and my plants don't seem to mind them at all.

They do throw off a lotta heat tho'.