Has anyone tried this?

[aarongalvan]

I'm going to Wal-Mart tonight, don't worry not for fish!
I'm going to pick up a daylight CFL Bulb (the bulb that fits your average household light fixture)... it's about 4500k!
Has anyone used one for a planted tank, if so, what were the results?

 

[aarongalvan]

The one I'm getting is a 29Watt bulb... I think?
Anyhow, it's for a 10g planted, just no plants yet. Except for some floating Anacharis.

 

[partypalooza5]

I think someone made a DIY light for a planted tank with those. I cant remember who though..

I say try it!

 

[mgamer20o0]

lots of people to do. make sure to get the daylight 6500k bulbs. though most people use two smaller bulbs over the 10 gallon.

 

[joy13]

I use 2 of them over a 10 gallon and 1 over a 5 gallons and my 2.5 gallons. The smaller tanks I find I can grow high light plants without a problem.

 

[aarongalvan]

Sweet...

Well, I did buy a "Cool Daylight" bulb; it's 6500K. I think it will do well. The bulb lights up my whole guest bedroom, lol, I don't think I'll ever need to turn the main lights on in the daytime.

I will try to post some pics tomorrow morning.

 

[FishEggs]

you need to get a reflector to direct most of the light into the tank.

 

[aarongalvan]

It has a plastic shade on it... it's a translucent shade? Is that what your suggesting?
If not, where do I get one?

 

[mfdrookie516]

hes talking about something like those reptile lights use, reflects the light down so that its all pointing to the tank, rather than all around it too... you could probably use aluminum foil since this is a diy project, and cover the shade with it

 

[aarongalvan]

I thought about that but I thought it would look pretty ghetto; but hey, whatever works right!

 

[mfdrookie516]

me and my dad used to do something similar to that when we went fishing at night... we would take a coleman lantern and wrap aluminum foil over half the light, that way we could see and not be blinded... kind of the same concept. whatever works for you.. i guess another option would be to paint the outside of the shade a nice color and paint the inside a shiny metallic color

 

[FishEggs]

you can get shiny aluminum flashing at the hardware store and use that. it's better than foil. you'd be able to bend it and curve it around the light bulb to direct the light down into the tank.

 

[joy13]

If this is for your 10 gallon tank you can get an incandescent light at walmart take the plastic shield off and the reflectors paint it white inside and put it back together. I didn't even bother painting mine white and it works great. On my 2.5 gallon I use regular desk lamps.