150 Watt Incandescent Bulbs?

[justinl]

Does anyone know if Incandescent bulbs can be used for a reef aquarium?
For instance, a 200 watt bulb can give off about 3800 lumens (compared to 13000+ from MH). Even though this pales in comparison to MH's, Do you think there could be some benefit from their use?

 

[nm reef]

I may be wrong but I think the spectrum is wrong ... color combined with intensity is what we try to get out of our lighting...thats the reason for the wide use of pc/no/vho/mh...other types of lighting just don't measure up....

 

[burnnspy]

The answer is NO.
BurnNSpy

 

[texasreefrat]

I have a 65W Incandescent that comes on before my normal VHO lighting and then turns off, it comes on again just before my lights turn off and stays on for an hour. I use it as a dawn and dusk simulator. Before this my corals were just there, and now they seem to be more active and in general look better. I think I was kinda shocking them with the sudden burst of VHO Lighting before.
If you want to use it for your usual lighting youll kill a lot of things.

 

[justinl]

If they were used at all they of course would have to be used with flourescents, and not by themselves. I know incand. alone won't do the job.

 

[diatom]

Justin~
they are too hot and lack the intensity to be of any real practile use.

 

[kris walker]

I agree with most, but especially Diatom. There just aren't enough lumens out of a single incandescent 200W. Remember, those 4000 lumens you talk about will be divided several times before they get to the coral. To make it practical, you would need many more of these bulbs to be able to keep soft corals, but so many would overheat any system even with an open-back canopy.
Sorry, I feel you pain. Expensive metal halide is the best for now. Perhaps though this will change with continued advances in fluorescent technology.
sam

 

[bogie man]

no. they do not have enough Kelvins. This is the color tempreture of the bulb. A Low rated MH light of only 4000k make the water look yellow. While a 10000k bulb give the water the nice sparkly blue appearance. An inc. bulb will for surly make your tank look yellow and have lots of shadows.

 

[kris walker]

After doing a little more research, I fully agree with the spectrum argument also. Most incandescent lamp lights have ratings between 2000-4000 K. Sunlight has rating of 5800 K. So there is more blue in sunlight.
sam