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23 watt cfl bulb

hixy

Member
Joined
14 Nov 2007
Messages
232
Location
stourbridge west midlands
Hello Folks I have bought a 23 watt 6500k cfl spotlight to replace the 2 24 watt bulbs on my boyu 550 aquarium I have wired up the cfl and even though it is supposed to be the same as an 100 watt bulb it doesn't seem as bright as my original bulbs.am I worrying about nothing


Cheers Mick
 
Hello Folks I have bought a 23 watt 6500k cfl spotlight to replace the 2 24 watt bulbs on my boyu 550 aquarium I have wired up the cfl and even though it is supposed to be the same as an 100 watt bulb it doesn't seem as bright as my original bulbs.am I worrying about nothing

Depends why you are worrying! :) If your worried that you've cut your lighting in half - you have. You had 48w of fluorescent bulbs (I think the boyu has T5HO) over the tank, and you have downgraded to 23w . On top of being half the power, you mention its a cfl "spotlight", which IME are usefully less efficient than regular CFLs. So you have reduced your lighting by over half.

That may not be any need to worry though, depending on how fast you want your plants to grow and the rest of the setup. The lower light might just make things more manageable.
 
Thank u both.all bulbs are 6500k .I thought because spot light was rated as 23 watt but equivalent to 100 watt it would be twice as powerful as the 2 24 watt bulbs in the boyu.is that wrong then.

Cheers
 
Hi all,
I thought because spot light was rated as 23 watt but equivalent to 100 watt it would be twice as powerful as the 2 24 watt bulbs in the boyu.is that wrong then.
The 100W equivalent rating is for an old fashioned standard tungsten filament lamp.
On top of being half the power, you mention its a cfl "spotlight", which IME are usefully less efficient than regular CFLs. So you have reduced your lighting by over half.
That is right it is actually less than 1/2 as much light, as CFL's are folded T5's and every additional turn reduces efficiency. The other reason for lower light is to do with the ballast, in the Boyu it will be a reasonable quality electronic one, whilst in the CFL it is tucked into the base of the lamp, and will be as cheap as possible.

cheers Darrel
 
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