Incadescent Lighting?

goalieman392 · 07/17/2006, 01:28 PM

Is there anything wrong with this?.. i had a 18 watt flourescent on my little 10 gal FOWLR.. but that light blew out..then i found a 60 wat incadescent fixture... could i use that? i know it would have a lot of heat etc, but would it have any other bad effects, because i would have about 6 watts/gallon and could grow some softies in there or somethin if i wanted to..
thanks inadvance

Avi · 07/17/2006, 01:37 PM

The heat generation would be enough reason not to use it but incandescent bulbs tend to have very low Kelvin ratings and would be very yellow in color, and is not suitable for marine tanks. Nowadays there are screw in flourescent bulbs and if you can find one with a better Kelvin rating, you might be able to use that in the fixture.

ACBlinky · 07/17/2006, 01:44 PM

The 'watts per gallon' rule doesn't really work for fluorescent/PC/MH, but it's completely and utterly useless when it comes to standard incandescent bulbs. You could buy screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs for your incandescent fixture, they'll put out much more useable light per watt and might allow you to keep some softies. I kept a 10g FW planted tank with 2 15W 6500K PC spirals, it's not a lot of light. I'd recommend 2 15W 10000K PC bulbs from the LFS -- I believe they're made by Coralife -- but keep in mind it's still going to be very low light, maybe enough to keep a few zoas and shrooms.

07/17/2006, 01:28 PM	#1
goalieman392 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Georgia Posts: 82	Incadescent Lighting? Is there anything wrong with this?.. i had a 18 watt flourescent on my little 10 gal FOWLR.. but that light blew out..then i found a 60 wat incadescent fixture... could i use that? i know it would have a lot of heat etc, but would it have any other bad effects, because i would have about 6 watts/gallon and could grow some softies in there or somethin if i wanted to.. thanks inadvance

07/17/2006, 01:37 PM	#2
Avi Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Westchester County, NY Posts: 7,327	The heat generation would be enough reason not to use it but incandescent bulbs tend to have very low Kelvin ratings and would be very yellow in color, and is not suitable for marine tanks. Nowadays there are screw in flourescent bulbs and if you can find one with a better Kelvin rating, you might be able to use that in the fixture. __________________ I'd keep the whole ocean if my den were big enough Current Tank Info: 120 gallon reef with 210 lbs. of live rock, Aqua-C EV180 Skimmer, Aquactinic double 250W MH with blue plus t5 support; 58 gallon freshwater planted tank using CO2 and T5s; 30-gallon cube with a few fancy goldfish; and a 110 gallon FOWLR

07/17/2006, 01:44 PM	#3
ACBlinky Premium Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Peterborough, ON, Canada Posts: 4,954 Blog Entries: 20	The 'watts per gallon' rule doesn't really work for fluorescent/PC/MH, but it's completely and utterly useless when it comes to standard incandescent bulbs. You could buy screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs for your incandescent fixture, they'll put out much more useable light per watt and might allow you to keep some softies. I kept a 10g FW planted tank with 2 15W 6500K PC spirals, it's not a lot of light. I'd recommend 2 15W 10000K PC bulbs from the LFS -- I believe they're made by Coralife -- but keep in mind it's still going to be very low light, maybe enough to keep a few zoas and shrooms. __________________ "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea." - Isak Dinesen Current Tank Info: 150g mixed reef, 30g sump/refugium, LED lighting, 100lbs LR, coral beauty, flame angel, blue & yellow tangs, gobies, damsels, 6-line wrasse, lawnmower blenny, dottyback, clown pair, rabbitfish, shrimp, crabs, CUC.