so238 wrote:

Dances With Ferrets wrote:

Seriously though, I'm currently using the exact same bulbs on some of
my smaller tanks and they are working out splendidly... they seem to
show up the fishes' colors nicely and the plants have never been
happier.

They should be fine, but I'm not certain what type of screw-in
fluorescent you're talking about. If it's the kind that you can fit into
a socket meant for incadescent bulbs, then it's noticeably less energy
efficient than normal fluorescents.

Do you have a reference/website which talks more about the reduced
efficiency of edison(screw)-base compacts for incandescent sockets? I'd
be curious to know why it is less efficient, and how big a hit it is.
The phosphor can be the same, and I doubt that bending the tube is an
issue - my only thought is that the internal ballast is less efficient
than an external ballast, but I was under the impression that they used
electronic ballasts, which even on a bad day should be more efficient
than a straight tube with a magnetic ballast.