thartley
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I may have come across a way to provide a decent amount of light for a bargain basement price for smaller tanks such as quarantine tanks. Please don't flame me. I consider the suggestion to be kind of a temporary method since it isn't the cleanest approach, but it does get you 1.9 watts of light per gallon for a 10 gallon tank for under $20.
I found a 19 watt compact fluorescent spiral lamp at Home Depot for $8. It is manufactured by Commercial Electric and is called a Daylight lamp. Supposedly the light output from the 19 watts is equivalent to a 75 watt incandescent bulb. The packaging has a blue background instead of the green that seems to be the color of choice for the other products. The best thing about it is that the packaging actually lists the lamp's temperature to be 6500K. The lamp screws into a normal incandescent bulb socket.
I had an old swing-arm lamp laying around, so I mounted it to the fish tank stand and adjusted it so it is over the center of the tank. It really lights it up. My quarantine tank doesn't have a hood. A glass hood would work for this setup, but probably not a black plastic hood.
If you don't have a swing-arm lamp, check out Staples or Office Depot. I haven't checked Office Max in person, but their web site doesn't show that they carry a swing-arm lamp. To see a picture of the type of lamp I'm talking about, go the the Office Depot web site and look for a swing-arm task lamp manufactured by Enlite. It costs $10.
This approach could be used by those interested in getting started with planted tanks but are still saving their money to get a true aquarium style compact fluorescent setup. When they finally get the compact fluorescent aquarium lights, they can then use the swing-arm light for something else.
The drawback to this approach is that the light is not evenly distributed across the tank the way a normal fluorescent tube would distribute it. It tends to be concentrated where ever you have the lamp aimed.
My main concern is that the lamp may slowly lower itself into the tank and short out. I plan on taking a piece of a wire coat hanger and setting it across the top of the aquarium so that in the event that the light does slip down towards the water, the lamp's reflector will come into contact with the coat hanger wire and the coat hanger wire will prevent the light from reaching the water.
Sorry for the length of this posting.
I found a 19 watt compact fluorescent spiral lamp at Home Depot for $8. It is manufactured by Commercial Electric and is called a Daylight lamp. Supposedly the light output from the 19 watts is equivalent to a 75 watt incandescent bulb. The packaging has a blue background instead of the green that seems to be the color of choice for the other products. The best thing about it is that the packaging actually lists the lamp's temperature to be 6500K. The lamp screws into a normal incandescent bulb socket.
I had an old swing-arm lamp laying around, so I mounted it to the fish tank stand and adjusted it so it is over the center of the tank. It really lights it up. My quarantine tank doesn't have a hood. A glass hood would work for this setup, but probably not a black plastic hood.
If you don't have a swing-arm lamp, check out Staples or Office Depot. I haven't checked Office Max in person, but their web site doesn't show that they carry a swing-arm lamp. To see a picture of the type of lamp I'm talking about, go the the Office Depot web site and look for a swing-arm task lamp manufactured by Enlite. It costs $10.
This approach could be used by those interested in getting started with planted tanks but are still saving their money to get a true aquarium style compact fluorescent setup. When they finally get the compact fluorescent aquarium lights, they can then use the swing-arm light for something else.
The drawback to this approach is that the light is not evenly distributed across the tank the way a normal fluorescent tube would distribute it. It tends to be concentrated where ever you have the lamp aimed.
My main concern is that the lamp may slowly lower itself into the tank and short out. I plan on taking a piece of a wire coat hanger and setting it across the top of the aquarium so that in the event that the light does slip down towards the water, the lamp's reflector will come into contact with the coat hanger wire and the coat hanger wire will prevent the light from reaching the water.
Sorry for the length of this posting.