no room for lights

[jonnyb1425]

What do I do if all of the bulbs I can find for my flourescent housing are only 15 watts? I have a 15 gal. planted aquarium and am going to have a tough time getting beyond 1 watt/gal. let alone the 2 watts/gal. recommended. Are there 18" bulbs that are of a higher wattage that I am not aware of?

 

[humpty]

There should be a power compact fixture available to use for your tank. The ballast that is in your current fixture probably isn't capable of driving a larger wattage bulb if you could find one.
I would suggest looking for a PC fixture or a retrofit kit. If you are looking for low price there are the jebo brand and others that are lower cost at the expense of some quality and options. Check out some of the sponsors of this site for lights.


humpty

 

[humpty]

In just looking if you have a 24" 15gal tank you can get a coralife fixture in 36w for $45 and a 65w for $55 from hellolights.com. Coralife fixtures are some darn nice lights. Those 2 options there give you from 2w per gal to 4w per gal.

"This is not an personal endorsement for coralife since I own the chinese ones! "

humpty

 

[malkore]

Since the ballast is what determines the bulb's wattage, you're stuck with waht you've got. The only way around it is to upgrade your ballast, so you overdrive teh bulb. The means more heat from teh bulb, and it burns out 3x as fast.

personally I'd go with Humpty's advice and get a power compact fixture. the prices on the coralife fixtures at www.hellolights.com are hard to beat.

 

[TankGirl]

If you do replace your fixture you will need to get glass tops as a cover for your tank, instead of the plastic "hood" that comes with most tanks. If this happens to be an Eclipse hood you will need to scrap the entire hood/filter combo, buy a HOB filter, glass tops and a light fixture (a much more flexible setup in the long run).

 

[Guest]

Check out ahsupply.com look at thier 13 watt deluxe kits. it comes in 2x with the miro reflector you can retrofit your current hood with. 26 watts over a 15 gallon is almost 2 watts a gallon. Their 36 watt single could be retrofitted into your hood as well. IF you are really crazy about it, check out thier finished enclosures, you can buy one that will house combo's of the 13 and 36 watt fixtures, up to 2x 36 watts. That would be 72 watts over 15 gallons, which with a diy co2 injector and plant ferts would just be insane.
Just browse around on ahsupply.com they are out of new york somewhere.

 

[travis simonson]

AHSupply Bright Kits are an excellent choice. Their reflectors are better than any others I've seen and make the light directed into the tank incredibly bright. And if you're into DIY projects they're easy to assemble and will save you a few bucks