Refugium bulbs

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Double M

Hey all,

I remember last year (or heck, it could have been longer ago), Marc made a large purchase of compact flourescent bulbs for use over his various refugia. I also remember that he made the purchase because lights in the 5000-6000k range were discontinued/hard to come by.

Does anyone know of a good local (Arlington or HEB area would be most excellent) source for cheap refugium bulbs in that Kelvin range? I've looked at Lowes/Home Depot, but most items don't list their K range.

Thanks for your help,
 
I was in the same predicament as you this weekend :) I had to eventually just buy one from Here not a bad price for it but the shipping is where they will get ya
 
@Double M wrote:
Hey all said:
I found the exact bulb at Mustang lighting, any of the lighting companies should have this K rating bulb in stock. I believe Elliot's Hardware has them as well but not sure if they are in your area. HTH

Cheers,
Click to expand...
 
Well I am not sure of the color/temp you are using. My understanding was that 6500k was the better choice to use.

Anyway for lights, these are great. I used the 9265 model on my fuge in the fish room (65W and produced 500W) Great light.

The 9027 unit is 27W and produces 150W of 6500K light. I will probably upgrade my main tank to that one soon. Anyway either of these and the bulbs can be purchased at Home Depot/Lowes.
 
I went to the Home Depot by my house (instead of the one near work) and found a 16w (65w) 6500k compact flourescent flood light which looks to be perfect for my needs.

It is the n:vision daylight br30 and cost about $7.50.

Hopefully, this will perform as well as the Lights of America flood I was using back in the day.

Has anyone used this particular bulb?

Thanks for the info and help thus far!
 
If you order the 5100K bulbs by the case, shipping is cheaper per bulb. Group Buys save money. :)

We bought the ones I picked up at AtoT Lamps last year, but several people told me their bulb failed very quickly, within weeks. So I would recommend the online company.

Frank's Tanks stocks the 5100K bulbs so if you just want to pick one up immediately, he tends to have them. I would call first before driving in case he is waiting for a new order to come in.
 
Marc,

I know on your website you compared a few bulbs for their chaeto production. Did you compare the 5100k to the 6500k and find the 5100k superior? I thought (after a bit more reading this evening) that 6500k was superior in color, but will defer to your better judgment on this matter.

In any event, I found this 6500k bulb at HD and am hoping that it will be sufficient for my simple refugium needs. I'll report back any interesting findings.
 
6500K works. I had 6500K bulbs over my refugiums for 1.5 years before I tested the other spectrums. I simply found 5100K worked the best of the three.

You can use your Home Depot bulb.
 
Try Walmart. They have similar bulbs up to 26W that are listed as daylight bulbs. I still have a couple of the old 30 Watters they sold on the fuge for my 55 and I use a clamp on reflector that I put a high polish on. the temp on those is 6500K. They also carry T8's at 24" that are 5100K
 
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