Do 18" 25Watt bulbs exist?
- Thread starter Alerin
- Start date
regular flourescent lights have a wattage per length that can't be changed if you stay with the same type of bulb and ballast.
an 18 inch t8 flourescent bulb will always be 14 or 15 watts. to get more wattage you have to either go longer or retrofit more bulbs.
there are other options that can be retrofited into your space depending on the type of hood you have. vho flourescents (very high output) give more wattage for the length of bulb but requires a different fixture or ballast.
pc (power compacts) are another option but again requires a change in fixture
an 18 inch t8 flourescent bulb will always be 14 or 15 watts. to get more wattage you have to either go longer or retrofit more bulbs.
there are other options that can be retrofited into your space depending on the type of hood you have. vho flourescents (very high output) give more wattage for the length of bulb but requires a different fixture or ballast.
pc (power compacts) are another option but again requires a change in fixture
http://www.ahsupply.com/twox.htm
Check this site for retro-fit lights for tank hoods. I have not used them but I've seen lots of rave reviews of their products.
Check this site for retro-fit lights for tank hoods. I have not used them but I've seen lots of rave reviews of their products.
I've not done this myself, but couldn't you get an incandescent hood for a 10 gal and put two screw-in type PC bulbs (13 watts each, I beleive) into it? I believe the ballasts are built into the base of the bulb. If this works, it would give you 26 watts, which isn't too bad IMHO.
Bulbs like this one are basically considered equivalents to normal long fluorescent bulbs. So 2 - 13 watt bulbs should roughly be 25 watts of normal fluorescents.
I personally use a 2 foot double bulb shoplight over my tank. You can also overdrive the ballasts (what drives the bulbs) to produce more light. This is known as ODNO and you can find good info on doing it but I have never personally.
I personally use a 2 foot double bulb shoplight over my tank. You can also overdrive the ballasts (what drives the bulbs) to produce more light. This is known as ODNO and you can find good info on doing it but I have never personally.
The only problem is the spirally fluorescent bulbs are most efficient at radiating in 360 degrees, and you lose some efficiency reflecting it back down to the aquarium due to the large diameter compared to a regular fluorescent bulb. I think the best course of action would be to get a 1x36w or 2x13w bright kit from ahsupply.com. that would give you either 2.6 or 3.6 wpg of efficient light. Get 6500k-ish bulbs to go in it. That should give you a pretty nice setup.
HTH
HTH
At www.bigalsonline.com you can get the kind of bulb Captain Hook is talking about in 10 watts, 6500k, or 20 watts colormax. I don't know how the colormax looks or works, but I strung 3 of the 10 watters together and made a 30 watt strip light for cheap. hehe.