Re: [AGA-Member] tank lighting--light pipes?

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

If your CFs are the spiral type then a decent MH bulb will
give off less heat and more light than a comparable wattage
CF  -- the MH's are more energy efficient, not less. The
temperature very near the bulb can be higher but
temperature and heat are two diff things. A lit match is
very hot near the flame but gives off relatively little
heat. MHs have roughly the same effective energy efficiency
as the linear (twin-tube) CFs (or PCs) and T5HOs.

I don't think anyone said sunlight is bad; folks have just
cautioned about getting too much of a good thing. Direct
sunlight is so much brighter than the electrically
generated light that most folks can get into an aquarium,
it can be a whole diff ballgame. In fact, a ballgame is a
good example. All those electric lights for a nightgame
don't put as much light onthe filed as the noonday sun. If
direcdt sunlight is used as a supplement to electrical
lighting, the effects can be very strong.

Indirect lighting, for example, through a north-facing
window in a northern temperate zone -- or through some
optic fiber -- can be substantially less powerful than
direct sunlight.

Fire is a good thing, you just have to use it wisely ;-)

Well vented hoods and possibly a room fan can be a simpler
way to move light-bulb heat away from an aquarium. But at
high ambient temps, the challenge, as you point out, is
considerable.

Let us know if you run any light pipes and how it works
out. It sounds better than doing a DIY array of LEDs.

sh
--- Heather J Gladney <hgladney@comcast.net> wrote:

> . . . I've got some decent CFs going now, not even metal
> halides, but besides 
> considering my electricity bill, various design issues
> make me itch 
> about my setup. . . .

> I realize that a lot of folks (not everybody) says
> sunlight is a bad 
> light source for tanks, directly through windows.
> . . .

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