Compact Flourescent Bulb

[herosipet]

Anybody here knows about low efficient compact bulb.
It claims 1bulb with 20Watts will uotput equivalent to a hundred Watts.
So if we use 5inline compact bulb inside a hood then we produce 500watts.
Is this useful for a planted tank?
Can any body enlighten me about this. I am planning to use it in my 100gal low tech planted tank. Please help.
Thank You.

[imeridian]

You can't count the "equivalent watts" when you're considering "watts per gallon." Those screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs are only really useful on smaller tanks where a standard fixture wouldn't fit, or in place of incandescent bulbs in an economy 10 gallon hood.

You would be better off, in my opinion, to consider either the standard linear fluorescents (normal or high output) or "PC" lighting, which is also compact fluorescent, but more efficient due to the design as compared to those scew-in bulbs.

[herosipet]

Originally Posted by indiboi

You can't count the "equivalent watts" when you're considering "watts per gallon." Those screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs are only really useful on smaller tanks where a standard fixture wouldn't fit, or in place of incandescent bulbs in an economy 10 gallon hood.

You would be better off, in my opinion, to consider either the standard linear fluorescents (normal or high output) or "PC" lighting, which is also compact fluorescent, but more efficient due to the design as compared to those scew-in bulbs.

Thank you for your quick reply and opinion. I will take your opinion into consideration.

[swylie]

Originally Posted by herosipet

It claims 1bulb with 20Watts will uotput equivalent to a hundred Watts.

That's only true if you're comparing 20W fluorescent to 100W incandescent. Incandescent bulbs are horrendously inefficient.

In the aquarium hobby we really only use "watts" as a shorthand for lighting intensity. The important thing isn't how many watts you're burning, but how much light you're making. This is measured in lumens, PAR, etc, but not watts.

Anyway, those bulbs you're thinking about are no magical solution. They're just 20 watt fluorescents, and with a mediocre (for our purposes) spiral shape to boot.

[herosipet]

Originally Posted by swylie

That's only true if you're comparing 20W fluorescent to 100W incandescent. Incandescent bulbs are horrendously inefficient.

In the aquarium hobby we really only use "watts" as a shorthand for lighting intensity. The important thing isn't how many watts you're burning, but how much light you're making. This is measured in lumens, PAR, etc, but not watts.

Anyway, those bulbs you're thinking about are no magical solution. They're just 20 watt fluorescents, and with a mediocre (for our purposes) spiral shape to boot.

Thanks for the info. All this will help me as a newbie.

[herosipet]

Any recomendation on what would be the effective light for a 100gal low tech tank. Most of my plants right now is low light plants. I have a 10 inches Jardini in it. I am using 2 X 40 T12 and six screw in blue bulbs 25 wats each 8 to 10hrs a day. No CO2.
Any suggestion I am all ears.
Thank you