Turning On The Light?
Which plants are melting?
The 75W CFL should be plenty of lighting for most plants in a 40G tank. I checked the WalMart.com site but they do not have that size CFL listed… only a 10W CFL for 10G type incandescent hoods.
Can you give us more info about the bulb? Manufacturer… G.E., Phillips, etc.? Is it a long tube, spirally bulb, dual or quad mini-tube that plugs in on one end, etc.?
The reason I ask all of this is that there is a spirally bulb that will screw into a normal incandescent light socket that advertises that it puts out equal to a 75W incandescent bulb but it’s only 20W… http://www.thebulb.com/store/p-17-compact-fluorescent-cfl-75-watt-replacemen t-bulbs.aspx
I think, with the advent of so many different types of light bulbs, lighting systems, etc., the aquarium industry will have to, and probably should have already moved away from using “Watts Per Gallon” as any kind of a guideline since it really is Lumens and Color Spectrum that is something that is easier to compare Apples to Apples where Watts are like comparing Apples to Oranges.
While were getting more details from you, also give us your tank dimensions as the height of the tank plays an important role in lighting since the light will not penetrate into deeper tanks enough to provide adequate lighting to bottom level plants.
Read down and try to answer the other questions asked as well.
If you do a Google Shopping or Yahoo Shopping search for “compact fluorescent light”, you will see the many varieties of these bulbs and maybe even find the exact type that you have.
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com (Links to any articles referenced in above reply are listed on the right side, alphabetically under Labels and also under Archives by Year, Month)
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
