Flourescents lights for Eclipse 3 hood

[chris-in-sf]

Flourescent lights for Eclipse 3 hood

Hi,

I've got the Marineland Eclipse 3 hood on my 40 gallon tank. I don't like the white look of the presumably cheap lights that came with it, and I have plants, some are thriving, some not.

Unfortunately the ballast says 18W maximum lights (in a 24" - T8 size) and all of the good easy to find lights to promote plant growth are 20W. I like the Hagen products and want to use Flora-Glo or Power-Glo.

My Question: Am I going to have problems sticking a 20 watt bulb in there when it says only use 18W?

I'm going to be sad if I can't get at least 1 watt per gallon with this setup, after all the time I've spent getting it up! I really don't want to try and stick some retrofit in there, but I guess i could. Has anyone else replaced ballast in an Ecplise? Easy?

thanks,
Chris

 

[OrionGirl]

You cna retrofit those hoods--I think AHsupply.com has the kit, as does ChampionLighting.com

You can put a 20W bulb in, but it won't give you any better results than the 18W bulb--the ballast just won't power the higher wattage. The bulb will light up, just not an increase.

 

[sumoschro]

marineland makes their own light t ofit the eclipse that is flourescent, and they sell it at petsmart, ive seen em'.