Isabella

I have a 36" hood that holds one 24" fluorescent bulb (20W). Could I screw in a HO (High Output) or a VHO (Very High Output) fluorescent bulb in that same hood? Or do I need another hood for that? In other words, is the hood that I have designed to hold only 20 Watts, or can it hold more Watts? This is a standard fluorescent hood that I got together with my 30G tank, and the bulb that came with it was 20W.

rob2uk

You *should* be ok fitting a higher wattage bulb, however it's best to remove the old one and see if the holder has a label with a 'max. wattage' label anywhere before you go out and spend $$$!

Isabella

OK, thanks Rob. I'll remove the bulb and thoroughly examine my light strip for any labels. The reason I am asking this question is that I don't want to break my light strip. For example, screwing in a bulb that is way too strong for the light strip (or for the ballast - or whatever it is called, I don't know the parts of aquarium lighting except for the obvious bulb, lol) can surely break the light strip, right? Or even damage the bulb itself? Electronics is black magic to me. Oh, and I wouldn't get electrocuted trying to use a strong bulb in a standard lighting strip, right? (LOL ... or not "lol" because it wouldn't be so funny if I got fried!)

Another question that comes to my mind is this: if one has a light strip that says for example "20 W Max." (not talking about mine, I didn't check yet, just a hypothetical situation), can a person screw in a bulb that is lower than 20W? Or does one have to have exactly the wattage that is stated on the light strip? What if there is no label at all on a standard lighting strip? Can you use a bulb slightly higher or lower in wattage than the bulb with which the light strip came?

Sorry for all these questions, but as I said - I am totally not into electronics. Thanks Rob, and anybody else who can help.

rob2uk

Lower wattage bulbs are fine, you won't have any problems as long as you make sure the fitting on the bulb is the same!

chickadee

Isabella

Did you ever get you Lunar light? I am just curious.

Rose

Isabella

Rose, not yet. I haven't ordered a couple of things that I want yet, with them the moonlight. Once I am ready to order everything, I'll order the moonlight too. And I'll post a picture for you when it's done

Rob, I checked my light strip. It is a standard All-Glass aquarium light strip. On the back of it, right next to the light switch, here is what it says:

36" Fluorescent Aquarium Reflector
120 volt 20 watt 60hz

It is followed by some instructions not to submerge the light, etc ... but these are just safety instructions. Nowhere does it say what the max wattage is. Does that "20 watt" above mean this is the maximum wattage allowed? See, this is a standard lighting - and isn't every standard lighting precisely this low in wattage?

I also checked All-Glass Aquarium website, and I did find there 24" bulbs that were 55W but they were for a High Output light strip. Doesn't that mean that you'd have to use a HO light strip for a HO bulb? After all, there must be a reason why HO light strips are produced - if you could use a HO bulb on a regular light strip, why would they produce HO light strips?

Here is the All-Glass Aquarium website with all these light strips and bulbs: http://www.all-glass.com/products/hoods/index.html
( use options on the left to browse various light strips )

P.S. If it means or helps anything, my ballast is "UL listed".

Isabella

Never mind my questions. I asked about it on Plant Geek. They told me that a HO bulb won't work on a standard lighting fixture. That means I will have to buy a new hood, one way or another. Well, I will leave this problem alone for now. Will get a good lighting system for my next larger planted tank