cheap lights?
- Thread starter bboy aqua
- Start date
bluenassarius
retired algae slanger
the brand i recommend is from "commercial electric" in a baby blue packaging at home depot. the 27w bulb is roughly 7 bucks. you'll need to get a clamp on reflector which is 5-6 bucks i believe. it's well worth your bucks and puts out some serious light.
Samala
New member
I'm pretty sure the clamp on reflector, once you've got the bulb in, is pure plug and play. A little ugly, lol, but effective and cheap. I've been known to use desk lights from IKEA that will take incandescent bulbs, switch those out for the above mentioned screw-in CFs and work it that way.
>Sarah
>Sarah
Jon770
New member
Hi, I tried to find this bulb at home depot and couldn't. Below is the closest thing I could find...
It was less watts (19w vs. 27w), and was the spiral shape vs. a floodlight, which is what I expected. Is this what you were talking about (only less watts), or did you find one of these in the floodlight form? Do you think this would work on cheato?
bluenassarius
retired algae slanger
yes that is the brand. the 19w and 27w are the same price i believe. it is an excellent bulb for growing macros. it gives off a crisp white light unlike most daylight bulbs that are yellow. it is equally effective in growing macro imo.
bboyaqua, yes you can get the clamp on reflector at HD. i used 2 of these bulbs to grow coral a few months back. it worked well
bboyaqua, yes you can get the clamp on reflector at HD. i used 2 of these bulbs to grow coral a few months back. it worked well
jgreen1025
New member
There's a thread where several people have instead used a PC floodlight and gotten better macroalgae growth. I don't remember where the thread is but here's the guy's website where he details his results. The particular bulb he uses has to be special ordered but I found several PC floodlight bulbs at the Do-It Center near where I work in the 5000-6000k range.
John
John
jgreen1025
New member
The only difference I can see is that the floodlight has an internal reflector and costs a couple bucks more. Melev's website says:
John
It seems that his intital comparison of bulbs was between the exposed 6500k coil and a 2700k floodlight, and he says the 2700k floodlight produced better growth. He later switched to a 5100k floodlight and says it produced better growth than the 2700k bulb. I think there's a link there somewhere to the thread where several others tried the bulbs as well and reported better growth, too. (Disclaimer: I haven't tried any of them yet). Good luck!
John
bluenassarius
retired algae slanger
from my experience, that bulb above worked well overall in growing green, red, brown algaes. i tried the 2700k bulbs over brown macros and it would make them turn yellow. however, my green macros seemed to flourish under the 2700k bulb. what i really like about that bulb is the color. nice crisp white color w/ a blue hue- it is very pleasing to the eye in comparison to the yellow bulbs.
i believe melev has his light in a aquarium stand. the bulb does produce alot of heat. i can see why he would say it would wear down the life of the bulb. my set up wasn't in a enclosed area so heat from the bulb wasn't an issue.
i believe melev has his light in a aquarium stand. the bulb does produce alot of heat. i can see why he would say it would wear down the life of the bulb. my set up wasn't in a enclosed area so heat from the bulb wasn't an issue.
