# Converting incandescent hood to flourescent



## mollie (Jan 25, 2010)

Hi, I have a 14-gallon tank. It's the same width as a 10-gallon tank, but a little taller. The setup came with a hood w/ two 15-watt incandescent light bulbs. My fish store guy said I should use flourescent instead. The tank is Aqueon brand and I'm looking at these lights as replacements. Has anyone done this? Any tips?

More about my tank:
Fish Friends - 14 gallon Freshwater fish tank

Thanks so much!
Mollie


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## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

mollie said:


> Hi, I have a 14-gallon tank. It's the same width as a 10-gallon tank, but a little taller. The setup came with a hood w/ two 15-watt incandescent light bulbs. My fish store guy said I should use flourescent instead. The tank is Aqueon brand and I'm looking at these lights as replacements. Has anyone done this? Any tips?
> 
> More about my tank:
> Fish Friends - 14 gallon Freshwater fish tank
> ...


I would just use CFLs that fit into the incandescent socket personally. You can buy full spectrum CFLs online. Cool white is better for plants but offers a somewhat unnatural hue, while warm white looks better but isn't as good for plants. I think most everyone reccoments full spectrum or a combination of full spectrum and cool white for a planted tank. 
For a 14 gallon tank, if its planted, two CFLs rated between 14-18 watts would be good unless you have really demanding plants and c02 supplementation.
Hope I was helpful!


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## mollie (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks so much. Very helpful! I'll look for the CFLs. I think my plants will do a lot better with different light.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Agreed. Just a heads up: Wal-Mart sells a screw-in CFL in their aquarium section for $4-5 a piece that's perfect in these applications. Sometimes regular screw-in CFL's (the ones designed to replace regular light bulbs around the house) are too fat to fit into those incandescent hood fixtures.


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## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

iamntbatman said:


> Agreed. Just a heads up: Wal-Mart sells a screw-in CFL in their aquarium section for $4-5 a piece that's perfect in these applications. Sometimes regular screw-in CFL's (the ones designed to replace regular light bulbs around the house) are too fat to fit into those incandescent hood fixtures.


The ones wal-mart sells are 10watt... If you have two sockets I'm not sure it would be enough light for many plants. I would buy the cool white minis (at least 18 watt) and try them. If they don't work you can use them in your house and try the next size smaller. 

They'll probably be a tight fit being fairly wide, but their shorter length than incandescents usually means the reflector in the hood will work better.

The CFL minis at wall mart are 9.99 for a 2pk where I live. If you have plants, I would go with cool white. (since full spectrum are so expensive... Everyone said they cast an unatural light, but I tried some in my tank once and it liiked fine to me.)


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

I use 14/18/23 watt bulbs from fleetfarm and Home Depot. Fleetfarm has the better 6500K bulbs, while HD has 5500K bulbs both will work fine. They are advertised as daylight bulbs. Its about $10 for a pack of (4) 14 watt bulbs.

My 15gal is doing just fine with 2 14 watt bulbs on it.


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## mollie (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks everyone! This is really helpful. We don't have Wal-Mart in NYC but I can go to Home Depot.


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## lennyboy222 (Jan 13, 2010)

Compact fluorescent lights are the best. I got off mines at doctorsfosterandsmith.com for a good deal


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## beetlebz (Aug 2, 2007)

i bought some screw in CFLs from lowes home improvement a while back that were 14 watt and were spirals, but were small spirals. i need to spend some money and see which ones fit in my different screw in hoods and which dont. I used 10 watt aquarium bulbs that were the linear style in my 5.5g hood, ill do some experimenting


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