Which CFL's for gutter lighting.

[bastage]

So I am making a couple of gutter fixtures. Using standard dual e26 sockets (regular light socket). One of the fixtures will hold a total of 4 bulbs & go over a 37g aquarium (the other will be a single bulb over a 8gallon sea clear hex, so its still pretty tall).

Basically what wattage & k rating should I be looking for. Locally I can get 5000k up to 100w equivalent for a decent price, or I can order 100w equivalents in 6500k. But plant wise its at this point lightly planted (I plan to add more) with low/medium light plants. No Co2 & I don't normally dose ferts at all. The other option is I can put this fixture on my 20 Long & instead put a Aqueon Coralife freshwater fixture on the 37 (it contains a 6700k t5 & a colormax t5).

I am also worried about too much light as I don't want to deal with too much as far as algae blooms go (though I know its going to happen some).

[GeToChKn]

6500k "daylight" bulbs are the best. Most bulbs will work and not have a huge different from the CFL par chart, but its what looks better to us. 2700k or "soft white" put out the same par almost but aren't nearly as bright or white looking and are more yellow. The plants don't care but it looks dim to us. If you are putting them right over the tank, you want to go with 13w bulbs.

This may help you decide.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/837592-post21.html

[proaudio55]

That's the beauty of CFL's, they are the most flexible for tweeking (wattage / color temp). With T5's, halides, LED's, you're pretty much stuck and it's either 100% or nothing.

CFL's give you have all sorts of options. . . I'd start with 13w 6500K's and adjust as needed.

For my 46 gallon tank, I did a blend.
2 - 23watt 2700K with
4 - 23watt 6500K

the result was very nice http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/di...ml#post1560843

[GeToChKn]

Originally Posted by proaudio55

That's the beauty of CFL's, they are the most flexible for tweeking (wattage / color temp). With T5's, halides, LED's, you're pretty much stuck and it's either 100% or nothing.

CFL's give you have all sorts of options. . . I'd start with 13w 6500K's and adjust as needed.

For my 46 gallon tank, I did a blend.
2 - 23watt 2700K with
4 - 23watt 6500K

the result was very nice http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/di...ml#post1560843

Looks good. I was going to do something very similar soon with 2 6500k's and 1 2700k 13w for a staggered effect too for my 20gal.

[joyce20]

Can i do this to my 150G.... if so how many and what types shold i get?

the tank is 72" long 24" tall, and 18" depth.

i haven't made the canopy yet so, my options are open.

i want to have some low-med plants and try not to have CO2 unless its a DIY style.

thanks in advance
Brandon

[bastage]

Originally Posted by GeToChKn

6500k "daylight" bulbs are the best. Most bulbs will work and not have a huge different from the CFL par chart, but its what looks better to us. 2700k or "soft white" put out the same par almost but aren't nearly as bright or white looking and are more yellow. The plants don't care but it looks dim to us. If you are putting them right over the tank, you want to go with 13w bulbs.

This may help you decide.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/837592-post21.html

Based on that link I am definitely going to want to start with the 23w bulbs I think. I will have horizontal orientation & the reflector will only be white Vinyl. That shows the 23w light in horizontal fashion being good for low light in only 7 inches of water. I will be looking at 18-20" for the ground cover in my 37g. Now I am hoping that I can even get enough with this fixture regardless of bulbs.

[proaudio55]

@ joyce20, I don't see why you couldn't do a CFL setup on that sized tank. the only deal is, you'll have to pack the bulbs in there. Figure one e26 socket every 4-6". So I'd suggest 12-18 bulbs and you should be in business.

Again, CFL's offer a huge amount of tweaking options so you can play with the wattage; you could do all 23w, 13w, 9w, or any mix thereof.

[joyce20]

thanks for the info.. i will for sure look into that. do you think it may be better for me to use T5 bulbs... i was think 6-8 , 36"39w bulbs....

[BlueJack]

Originally Posted by bastage

Based on that link I am definitely going to want to start with the 23w bulbs I think. I will have horizontal orientation & the reflector will only be white Vinyl. That shows the 23w light in horizontal fashion being good for low light in only 7 inches of water. I will be looking at 18-20" for the ground cover in my 37g. Now I am hoping that I can even get enough with this fixture regardless of bulbs.

At that depth (18-20") each 23watt bulb should give you somewhere around 30 PAR directly below the bulb. There will also be some overlap between bulbs so you may have a tad more. That's gonna be low light. Just find some easy plants for your ground cover. If you add CO2 and ferts your plants will be fine. Even if you don't add CO2 or ferts you'll still be able to keep plants alive, just growing slowly.

[bastage]

Originally Posted by BlueJack

At that depth (18-20") each 23watt bulb should give you somewhere around 30 PAR directly below the bulb. There will also be some overlap between bulbs so you may have a tad more. That's gonna be low light. Just find some easy plants for your ground cover. If you add CO2 and ferts your plants will be fine. Even if you don't add CO2 or ferts you'll still be able to keep plants alive, just growing slowly.

Thats basically what I came up with as well. I Think though I may use the gutter lighting on my 20L instead. It only ever has 8-10" of water in it (its divided 4 ways as betta barracks). As the Coralife fixture I have coming puts out more light & the same fixture caused algae blooms very quickly on the 20L if it was left on too long. It has 2x 18w t5 bulbs in it one being a 6700k & the other is a "colormax".

[bastage]

so its all togeather, but for some reason 2 bulbs will not light up. And its random of the 4 bulbs in it. The only thing I can think of is that I have a problem with draw, but with 4x 23w bulbs I am only using 93 watts which should be under .5 amp..

To be sure I am going to go buy some more lights (different brand) and test them as well.

[bastage]

OK Got the wiring worked out.. Just had to wire them in parallel instead of series.. Pics will be up later.

[bastage]

reposting in DIY correct section