wal-mart lights? off the shelf 6500k?

Okay, I was at wal-mart and I wanted to get a grow light for my mangrove. I came across the daylight bulbs for the standard incadenscent lights that is 6500K from GE "daylight" The bulb I bought was the equivalent of a 100W bulb and I'm going to put 2 of these on my sump.

But I got to thinking. These 2 bulbs only cost 7 bucks and that's 200 watts of 6500k. Why can't I use thes on the main tank? For instance here's a light that was on ebay.


85 Watt CFL Grow Light 6500K Daylight 4200 Lumens NIB

eBay: 85 Watt CFL Grow Light 6500K Daylight 4200 Lumens NIB (item 330084702681 end time Feb-10-07 13:01:36 PST)


t5 VHO's are about 10000 lumens for 2 4ft bulbs.... If I buy 4 of these regular screw in lights from ebay, wouldn't it be the same?


The actual ones that I bought were the equivalent of 100 watts or 1600 lumens, so it would take 6 bulbs to be the equivalent.

I realize that I would still need some actintic, but can't I use the cheapo ballasts and fixtures for a regular 48" florescent tube for that?


I'm sure there is a reason not to use thes bulbs, but I'm just curious because these lights really seem pretty bright and clear, cheap and readily available..... actually, wal-mart had a different brand that was on clearance, but there was a whole rack of them that should come down in price next week.


Check out these lights.
eBay: 3 / 100W Hydroponics Grow Clone Light T5 , lite 6500k (item 190078855475 end time Feb-06-07 19:39:00 PST)


(I know it is probably a stupid question, but I had to ask.)

 

I have a walmart "daylight" 6500k t8 over my tank and my zoo's love it.

 

I was talking about the screw-in / twisted shape lights that they sale for incadenscent fixtures.

 

I wouldent use then beacause they dont spread the light very well. But for 17 bucks you can get a t12 2 bulb fixture and 2 6500k No 40watt bulbs. Get another ballast to overdrive them and their you go.

 

Funny, I bought some super cheap compact florescent shop lights from Menard's a couple months ago for the macro in my sump. The macro seems to accept almost anything. They were manager's specials and very bright and almost have a blue tint. I ass-u-med they had a pretty high K. At the price I bought 1/2 dozen figuring I was set for years. Then my large PC over the propagation section fried out a bulb and I thought I would move 2 of the shop lights over to it till I got a replacement bulb as they put out 110 each. Well the zoas, sps and clams love them. I added a 3rd just because I have them and everything is thriving. Go figure...