GE Daylight Bulbs

[Zilla]

After speaking with my LFS yesterday, I went out last night and bought a bunch of stuff for the 20 gallon. By the time I was done with the Flourite and other stuff I added for the plants, the tank looked like Boston Harbor from all the dust despite all the rinsing. It's better this morning but a water change and filter rinse is in order.

**There are no fish or critters in this tank. I'm doing a fishless cycle.

I'm not interested in dumping a big wad of cash into lighting right now, but I need something so I've searched and found that some people like to use GE Daylight bulbs. No problem, but what happens should the bulb break? CFL bulbs have mercury in them.

I bought a glass top for it, so if a bulb should break I'm not overly concerned about mercury getting in, but still, what are the odds of contaminating my tank should it happen?

[toysrus]

I've had broken thermometers in my tank and you can see some of the mercury and someone probably knows a way to easily remove as much as you can. But,nothing ever went bad with fish because of mercury,only happened once!It's the glass thats a pain.

[Zilla]

This is my first invert tank and I'm doing everything in my power to ward of any possible disasters. In the end, odds are I'm just being a ninny about the whole thing, but it never hurts to ask.

[Wild Turkey]

All fluorescent lamps have mercury.

Thermometers dont, In the hobby they use alcohol.


Waterchanges and lots of praying. You should be using a shield between the bulbs and the water anyway though like you mentioned. I dont think its a big issue, just be careful.

[Northernguy]

One of my Oscars broke a flourescent bulb.I had no glass lid and the light bulb ended up inside the tank in pieces.
There were no deaths from it.I did a massive water change immediately and cleaned out all the glass.
Now they just smash my glass lids!

[Zilla]

Planetinverts.com is proving to be a great source of info, so I'll be cramming as much information into my brain that it will take over the next number of weeks.

I'll try the GE bulbs and see how it goes. If I find that I'm that uncomfortable with it, I'll have to do something else.

Thanks for the input.