VHO Lighting Question

[MyDog]

My 38 gal tank is 36 " long. It came with an All-glass hood and 24" florescent light. I wanted to get up to the 2 watt per gallon so that I can keep real plants in the aquarium. I went out and bought a Cora-Life VHO fluorescent light rated at 75 watts (24 "). I out it in and it seems to work.I see now that there are actual VHO ballasts available. Do I need to change my ballast to a VHO ballast for the light to work properly? The package the light came in made no mention of that and that it would fit a regular fluorescent fixture.

[fishfreek]

The VHO bulb in a regular ballast will not output more light than a NO bulb. You need to couple the VHO bulb with a VHO ballast to get the benifits of the higher intensity.

[MyDog]

Thanks for the help. I took the VHO bulb back and picked up a 110W twin compact fluorescent light hood instead.