Compact fluorescents

[Melody]

I have to pick up some compact fluorescents for a couple of aquariums. I remember last time that they had different types of lighting, like 'warm' or something like that. Is there a particular type that is better for plants?

Thanks!

[thegrandpoohbah]

Do you mean the screw-in type bulbs? Go to London Drugs and get the Phillips Daylight CFL bulbs. They come in either a 15W or 27W and a 2 pack costs between $11-15. Even the 15W ones are super bright. I was running 4 of them for a total of 60W on my 30G and it was brighter than a 96W quad Coralife PC fixture.

[Melody]

That's just the info I needed, thank you! I am using them in a 5G & 10G for now. I hope they fit into the 5G sockets.:wideeyed: Haven't checked to see if they're the same size.

[Soggybottom]

Usually bulbs have a color temperature number, don't ask me what that means but the numbers correspond like this:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a348/casual_ties/578px-Color_temperature.png

Normal incandescent is around 3000, "Daylight" is about 5000, most "plant-grow" are 6500ish. Above that you get into the crazy actinic stuff for corals...

Pic from wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature)

[Melody]

So to figure that out with the spiral freak bulbs, I'd go by what it says the equivalent wattage is? How does that convert? Or do they have those numbers too? I know I've seen them on regular fluorescents....

When I lived in Inuvik we had the 24 hours of darkness in the Winter. If we left our fluorescent lights on in the kitchen (much to the dismay of the company paying the bills), the house plants went nuts - reached towards it and everything. That experience with normal lighting has always made me wonder just how much of this colour and stuff is necessary.

However, being largely ignorant about growing aquatic plants, I don't argue the point :twitcy: .

Thanks!

[Soggybottom]

Unless the color temperature number is on the bulb, there is no way to tell accurately AFAIK. You can get to know roughly once you've seen a few bulbs with known #s.
There is no relationship to power usage, any color can be any wattage.

If a plant has enough light, it should actually grow quite compact. Stretching is a response to insufficient light, the plant is trying to grow above what it thinks is shading it from the sun. And often with terrestrial plants, bigger leaves are the same. If a plant is in high intensity light it takes advantage by packing layers of chlorophyll into smaller or narrower leaves, keeping surface area and moisture loss down. Large leaves are an attempt to harvest as much light as possible by increasing area, since low intensity light doesn't penetrate the leaf much, and moisture loss is less of a problem in shady spots.

Sorry if that's too much info, heh, apparently I like to unwind after work spouting this stuff :)

[Melody]

Very interesting, thanks. The plants grew towards the light but didn't get leggy. Definitly seemed like a desperate move though so I'm sure you're right.:smile:

[Boohoo]

I am also using the Philips daylight CF bulbs. They have a 6500k value. My plants do very well. Usually the k value is listed on the back of the package accross the bottom or by the barcode. The first couple packs I bought were 6700k but since all I've found are 6500k.

[Melody]

Great! Thanks for the info :smile:

[Pamelajo]

Our Canadian Tire here carries some tube flourescent bulbs for aquariums. At way less than the pet stores. If anybody is looking for some. I got my last ones there.