# Sprial Bulbs



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

okay now i know a number of people have used the Sprial bulbs over there tanks and im setting up a 3 gallon tank that i want to add just a tad bit more light to.

my question is when it says 13 watts but is as bright as a 60 watt.....wat am i going by here? should i consider it to be a 60 watt bulb cuz it will be that bright?


----------



## griffin7882 (Apr 26, 2006)

i think it's the 13?


----------



## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

go by the 13 

incandesent light is much weaker than CF
CF is weaker than HQI


----------



## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Yep,

this is the beauty of using a CF (even a spiral one) bulb in an incandescent "economy" fixture - you can stay within the wattage limitations, but get more light. Because incandescent bulbs put out a lot of heat for the wattage, they're limited in the smaller space of the incandescent hoods. But CFs burn much cooler, so as long as you don't exceed the actual wattage, you're good. 

I am using spiral CF bulbs in two "economy" hoods for 10 gallon tanks, and also one in a smaller "economy" hood for a 5.5 gallon. I keep low-tech tanks, but can grow a lot of plants really well. If you're planning on using one of these type hoods, be sure the bulb will fit within the space allowed. I did an "oops" with that early on. The spiral CFs that are "compact" work well. Just be sure they aren't wider around than the horizontal space will allow, which some manufacturers do so that the bulbs fit into conventional table lamp fittings, height-wise.

Also, if you're looking at ones rated in the 5500 K or 6500 K, I've had very good results with the Feit brand bulbs - they have a nice appearance, better, in my opinion, than the Home Depot daylight CF spiral bulbs. At least in my area, I think the ones packaged under Walgreen's store brand daylight CF spirals are actually made by Feit. The light from the Feit bulbs seems to show plant colors much more richly than the HD daylight ones, although those grow plants very well too. I think they just LOOK a little nicer when viewing my tanks - not as stark.

-Jane

PS - be aware that with the hood for the 5.5 gallon, there is a large dark area because the bulb faces one direction, and the electronics take up a lot of room. I'm planning to paint the inside of the hood a flat (non-toxic) white as soon as the weather allows, to try and bounce a bit more light into a rather dim corner.


----------



## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

well you def said it jane

i got 4 x26w 6500k spirals over my 30cm cube and i love it and ya i like the wally brand better. i think the 5500k suck they arent as bright


----------



## Tuiflies (Jan 21, 2010)

I'm using a combo of 5000 and 6500k bulbs over my 29g. I lined the inside of the hood with tin tape. I like that I can add or remove bulbs and adjust the light anywhere from 104W (4 x 26) to 36W (4 x 9W) or lower if I completely remove bulbs.


----------



## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Whoa, Tuiflies,

is that a DIY with water resistant standard medium bases for the screw-in CF spirals? That's a neat idea! I'm having a bit of difficulty with the scale of the picture - is it a 30" or 36" fixture? 

Those 26w lamps are too large for the standard "incandescent" hoods, but I'm really impressed with the way you have them in that hood. I done a slightly similar thing - I got a "reptile" hood (on clearance) which was meant to hold several incandescent bulbs, and put the larger Sprial CFs in them. It worked pretty well, but when I changed one of the bulbs/lamps out and used a different brand/K-rating I could see the difference in color in the tank. It was kinda weird; I'm not sure whether it was just a 6500K to 5500K switch (shouldn't be THAT noticeable) or the brand of bulb (and quality of the phosphors). I suspect it was the latter. 

-Jane


----------

