Lighting mistake?

[Electrobes]

Okay I am not sure if this was a bright idea, no pun intended, but I bought an incandecant hood. I then bought two 20W spiral florecent lights... equaling 75W incandecent power, and plugged those in the hood. Thus far it works.. I took out the reflectorbecause the bulb wouldn't have fit THAT well. I am a little afraid of the bulbs burning and melting everything. what is normal hot that the plastic hood can withstand? Should I try to put a mini fan on the two sides blowing into the bulbs from the sides, and leave the vent alone? I did this because my banana plants were dying (because I had a crummy desk light wuth a 15W incandecent light on it, which was doing nothing from the looks. After I did this set up.. the entire tank lit up as should... any suggestions? or ideas?.. hehe... warning???? Thanks!

 

[Electrobes]

Oh poo I forgot to mentionthat I have a 10 gallon tank! with only bananas in there... no fish, a tiny filter and an internal filter... if that matters at all

 

[loganj]

I doubt they'll get any hotter than the incandescent bulbs...probably not as hot. You might want to think about trying to DIY a reflector of some sort in there. The comparison rating on these bulbs is confusing. Although they say they put out the same as xy incandescent, you still only have the actual wattage that the PC is rated at...in your case 40 watts. I'm no expert on plants, but your setup sounds like it should work just fine.

 

[Electrobes]

I have another question... should there be a glass top in between the light set up described above. I wouldn't know how to put it in there... are the bulbs going to break or something? This is a freshwater set up... if that helps thanks!

 

[loganj]

Most people use a glass top on FW setups. You don't have to have one. I don't think there is much danger of the bulbs shattering, although it's always a possibility. You can get a glass top from the LFS that will fit the 10g tank. It'll have a hinge in the middle so the front will raise up and some vinyl inserts on the back that you can cut for cords, filters, ect... Your plastic hood should fit perfectly on the back part of the glass top.