Diy Lighting

[Zezzah]

I was wondering. If I were to take a gutter and cut it to the size needed (48") to fit over my tank, add some gutter ends and then stick 4 high watt and high lumen fluorecent light BULBS insted of the TUBES in it.... would that work for a planted tank? Maybe even spraypaint the inside of the gutter with silver metallic paint to make it reflect better or put some other "reflecting" material in there. I've looked at buying a shop light but they all seem too bulky. I've seen alot where people talk about using TUBES but I've never seen anyone say anything about bulbs....it was just an idea. I'm not new to fish. I've kept fish for years, but I am new to the "planted" part of aquariums. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Lateral Line]

I've seen alot where people talk about using TUBES but I've never seen anyone say anything about bulbs....it was just an idea.

Terminology issue I suspect. If you search the planted tank forum for "compact fluorescent" you'll find many threads dealing with them.

The general advice is that they, like fluorescent tube lamps, come in a variety of phosphor types, leading to different colour temperature. Most compact fluorescents sold for domestic use are not well suited to planted tank use having a colour of typically only around 2700K. It is quite possible to get 4500 - 6000K compact fluorescents, but they tend to be more expensive then the regular ones.

It is, of course, possible to get higher temperature CF's, but these are also of limited use, and can indeed be counter productive in a planted tank, although you'll find many first timers assuming that "if 6000K is better then 2700K, 10,000K must be better still!"