Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is anyone using circline style fluorescent lights? I'm considering them for a hexagonal tank that is in the early stages of production. Please let me know what kind of fixture you use, the wattage, and anything else you can think of regarding this lighting option.

Thanks!
Devon

Very interesting that you broght this up. I have seen these at alot of HW stores and have actually considered this myself. I don't see any problem at all with using these and they do seem perfect for 'rounded' tanks like hexagonals. I'll probably give these a try before long and will share my experience with them just as soon. If you get to it before I, let us know! Also, you might want to try to find them in full spectrum with a CRI of at least 5000k.

-Bill J
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I have some of the cuvaline (horseshoe shaped) fixtures (T-8 type) that I'm going to try out on a 10 gallon. I think the 40 watt bulbs put out about 2/3 of the amount of light of my compact fluorescents of the same wattage. If I were you, I think I'd try to get at least a 36 watt bulb if the tank is pretty high and you are using relatively high light loving plants (broms, etc) near the mid to low range of the terrarium.

I don't see why it wouldn't work. Let us know how it goes. By the way, a lot of people around here use the 5000K-6500K bulbs with great success, but I've found that the 3500K bulbs work well also. That's important because you probably won't find any of the circline bulbs at your regular stores which are any higher than 4000K.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

thanks for the responses guys. I've found 32W "daylight" bulbs at Home Depot with a 6500k color rating. These are temping but I'm trying to figure out if they will provide an intense enough light, and what kind of fixture to put them in.

There are some cirlcing bulbs that come packaged with a converter that allows them to be screwed into a regular light bulb socket, but I'd like to find a circline fixture that looks decent. Many of these fixtures hold two bulbs, one inside the other (one 32W and one 22W).

I would think that a combined 54 watts should be more than enough. If you can get the fixtures, just go with whatever one has the 6500K. I might have to look into this for my tall terrarium. Hmmmm . . . .
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense