[killudead]

I have a normal 10 gallon, 30X15 or so.
I am looking for a decent light for some plants.
Without upgrading the ballast, is this a decent bulb for med to high light plants

The 20 watt mini compact fluorescent lamp is designed to be used where space is limited and powerful lighting is desired. This lamp is ideal for both fresh and saltwater aquariums. Lamp is 50% 10,000k daylight and 50% true actinic 03 blue. It is self ballasted and fits into standard, medium base lamp sockets. Low operating temperature.

I cannot exceed 25w on this ballast.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18361/si1382997/cl0/coralifeminicompact5050lamp20watt

 

[Cliff Mayes]

That size does not sound as if it is a ten.

Why do you have a self ballasted bulb on a ballast?

 

[killudead]

I am new to this whole lighting thing.
all i know is that i have those screw in light bulbs and cannot exceed 25 watts. I am looking to get the WPG a bit higher.
I am not sure what the difference is between a self ballasted bulb vs. not.
All i know is that i have a eclipse (MADE FOR MARINELAND) CFS bulb rated at 10w that outputs 5100. I got it from petsmart one day when i was looking around. I was more interested in saving some power, but now reading about lights and plants. I prefer to get it right.

 

[Cliff Mayes]

Please find out what size tank you have; a regular ten is about 20 X 10 on the outside.

It sounds as if you have a replacement bulb for an original type incandescsent type. If it is a curly type flourescent in the shape of a regular bulb with a bulky base that is what it is. You probably do not have enough light to do much with. Most Flo. fixtures only accomodate a very specific size (wattage) bulb and sometimes there is a variety of spectrums available; (i.e.) Daylight, Warm White or values of Kelvin Temps. It sound as if yours is an incandescent fixture that (if they fit) can take a variety of bulbs.

Most modern Hobbiests with budgets have opted to use a variety of modern flo. fixtures and lights. The options are anywhere from old Shop Lights to T5 and T8 fixtures in straight to Compact Flourescent styles and Kelvin temps from 5000 to 10,000 or more. There are Actinic bulbs availabe that are for Salt Water Reef tanks.

As you can see this is a complex subject with a lot of possibilities: so I have just hit a few of the high points.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

I am new to this whole lighting thing.
all i know is that i have those screw in light bulbs and cannot exceed 25 watts. I am looking to get the WPG a bit higher.

I'm pretty sure if you have 2 places for bulbs, that you can use 2 bulbs up to 25w each.

Is it only a single screw in bulbs?

If so your best bet is getting this bulb:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209773/product.web

If it has 2 10W fluorescent bulbs in it now they should be fine for growing lower light plants. You can looking to modifing the reflector to get more light into the tank.

Also here is a good link on tank sizes:
http://alysta.com/books/fishtank.htm

 

[killudead]

nice, thanks for the info.
I will have to make some adjustments and keep you posted.
I had not heard of that website before, so I ended up locating the coralife 20W bulbs on ebay for about 12.00 each plus free shipping. But they only equal 50w. Hopefully they will do the trick, otherwise, I am going to have many extra sets of bulbs.
I really hate wasting money on redundant purchases.