Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I read that it isnt good to use cool white CF for plants. But I have also read that the Warm white CF isnt very good becaue it gives everything a weird color. Also how serious is teh heat gain from these lights. If you are using or have any idea about CFs feel free to speak your mind.

I don't know which type of cf's you're thinking of (screw in or pin type). I've tried all sorts of lights, screw in cf's (cool and warm), regular flourescent reptile bulbs, compact biax bulbs(18 to 55 watt. From what I've seen the warm white(screw in) looks good as a sunrise/sunset spectrum, over my 10 hex I have one of these and one of the daylight(6500K) screw ins, and I think with another of the daylight bulbs it would be just about perfect, visually, and the plants, including bromeliads grow fine. As far as choosing you're bulbs for visuals, consider what animals and plants you wish to display. I have Imitators, terribilis, a peacock day gecko, and a lot of gold mantellas. Whereas a 6500k bulb will make the Imitators, Terribilis, and day gecko look great, they make my mantellas look almost brown instead of orange, so I use a 5300K on them, and that is the best, so far that I've found for them. So if you're thinking of blue, green or yellow, try a 6500k first, reds and orange, go with a warmer (lower K rating). As far as heat, compacts do put out a lot of heat, they can easily raise the temp of you're tank 10 degrees above ambiant temp if you dont plan ahead. For tanks shorter than 15" I would probably just stick with regular flourescents, a reptiglo 2.0 looks very nice for a cool bulb.
See ya