[VeeSe]

Hi all,

I'm planning to light my 10G quarantine tank with a CFL desk lamp (that I have yet to buy) or a clip on light. However, when at Home Depot today, I saw a lot of screw-in CFLs that said something like "13W = 60 watt equivalent" and stuff like that, but the lumen count is like 700-900 or in that general range. How many bulbs and what type would I need just to get low light? I can adjust the height of the lamp etc after I buy it, but I just want to get a sense of what to look for because I'm not sure how to treat the bulbs that say a low wattage but say that they are equivalent to a high wattage. What does this mean for our application?

I did try to read the CFL sticky at the top but I'm still not quite sure what to look for.
Thanks!

 

[slavecorps]

With the screw in cfl bulbs you should use the actual wattage of the bulb to gauge the wattage. You want to get one with a daylight spectrum, GE makes one that is rated with a 6500 K spectrum that works really well for plants. I would try 1 or 2 13 w bulbs over your 10gal for low light. if the bulbs are pointed downwards, you may get higher light in some areas, so you may want to see if you can try to mount them horizontally if you find that there is too much light. However, you should know that quarantine tanks are usually bare, and I do not see why you are concerned about the lighting on the tank, any low wattage bulb will suffice in a quarantine tank because the goal in quarantine isn't really to grow anything, but to monitor fish for disease for a few weeks or to treat for disease.

 

[Steve001]

Hi all,

I'm planning to light my 10G quarantine tank with a CFL desk lamp (that I have yet to buy) or a clip on light. However, when at Home Depot today, I saw a lot of screw-in CFLs that said something like "13W = 60 watt equivalent" and stuff like that, but the lumen count is like 700-900 or in that general range. How many bulbs and what type would I need just to get low light? I can adjust the height of the lamp etc after I buy it, but I just want to get a sense of what to look for because I'm not sure how to treat the bulbs that say a low wattage but say that they are equivalent to a high wattage. What does this mean for our application?

I did try to read the CFL sticky at the top but I'm still not quite sure what to look for.
Thanks!

One bulb is all you'll need.

 

[scags]

I use one cfl bulb in a clip on shop light over my 3.5 gallon endler tank. It works great. It was an off brand bulb- 13w=60w, 6500k, 900 lumens. I get pretty lush growth, no co2, just excel.
For a 10g I would go with 2 lights hanging about 2-5 inches above the water surface. You should get decent PAR with good reflectors and keeping the light close to the waters surface.

Here is couple pics. It's still growing in.

 

[somewhatshocked]

If you want to have more options with your bulb, get a 26w GE "Daylight" CFL. They're about $8 at any grocery store and are in the 6500K range.

That way you're sure to get adequate coverage with your clip-style fixture and if you ever decide you want higher lighting levels, all you have to do is lower it.

 

[VeeSe]

However, you should know that quarantine tanks are usually bare, and I do not see why you are concerned about the lighting on the tank, any low wattage bulb will suffice in a quarantine tank because the goal in quarantine isn't really to grow anything, but to monitor fish for disease for a few weeks or to treat for disease.

Thanks everyone for the replies! Helps me out a ton.

And slavecorps, I am going to try a non-bare QT this time around since the bare one seemed to stress out my last batch a lot, which may have induced parasites (or they may have had them when I bought them, who knows). Since I'm planning to add 1-2 batches of cardinal tetras, RCS, and maybe GBRs still, I have quite a few months of QTing to do, so I plan on setting up this QT with eco-complete and plants for a few months and taking it down in 6 months or so when I'm done with it. I plan to just run it with the CFL lamp and an AC20 and a heater, with eco-complete and some loosely arranged low light plants inside. I'll deworm with flubendazole, which is plant safe and just continue to monitor what's going on with it.

 

[Bradleyv1714]

I just wanted to give input and ask a question about my experience. I went to hd looking for the same thing and the sales person told me that 5000k cfl bulbs was the highest that they carried and that it worked the same 6500k as the tube light. I bought them as the lights I bought from pet supermarket were just making my water hot and weren't doing anything for my plants as my java fern melted in a 2 week spans of me having the pet supermarket bulbs...

 

[kamikazi]

for a ten gallon I'd use two 13 watts or one 23 or 26 watt.

I got both the wattages in 6500K at Lowes.

 

[VeeSe]

Hi everyone, I ended up getting with a 20W spiral bulb 6500K and the desk lamp that it came with. It is just high enough to go over the tank top, but I will sit it on some books to elevate it up a few inches and then adjust as needed.

 

[kamikazi]

Hi everyone, I ended up getting with a 20W spiral bulb 6500K and the desk lamp that it came with. It is just high enough to go over the tank top, but I will sit it on some books to elevate it up a few inches and then adjust as needed.

should work, what kind of reflector does the desk lamp have?

 

[VeeSe]

should work, what kind of reflector does the desk lamp have?

Just white.