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Is it possible to put a higher watt bulb in my hood than the reccommended 18 watt? It currently holds two 18 watt standard flourescent bulbs, which came with it. I'd light to get some brighter light without having to buy a whole new setup. My hood has the filter and lighting all together (its an eclipse 3), so if I have to get something new to get more lighting, it could get expensive!
Thanks,
Lauren

You can usually put in higher wattage screw in fluorescents but any other type no. The straight tubes with pins on the end you can't. For the screw in bulbs it depends usually on the size of the water shield they put in. Sometimes you have to loosen a screw to fit the wider higher wattage bulbs and some have a rubber piece at the base that just wont allow any wider bulbs. Also depends on the wattage of the ballast but they usually put in one well over the rating you need and you can generally get away with 25w bulbs if you can get them to fit in the hood.

I don't know how much of a DIY person you are but if you really want to stick with that hood and want better lighting I suggest a retrofit kit. This is not a bad place to start looking:
http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm

The 55w should fit quite nicely after you rip out the old lighting. It beats buying a new filter and lighting. Might have cut a gap for ventilation though, possibly add a fan.

I am a pretty able handy-woman, but when it comes to fooling with electricity that will be very close to water, I think I will leave that to the professionals! Lol. Perhaps I will just try some 25 watt bulbs in my fixture. thats not too huge a differnece from 18 watt, i would think anyway.

Well, I checked and my fixture is not a screw in one, so I can only use T-8 bulbs. I don't know if they come in a wattage higher than what I already have...

With tube bulbs the wattage is determined by the length of the tube so you can't really get a higher wattage bulb. There are different diameter bulbs but generally your ballast will not run the different diameters and you won't gain much unless you go to T-5s which definitely won't work. Screw ins can have different wattages because they wrap the tube around in a spiral making the bulb thicker but having the same size base to go in the same size sockets.

Hi Lauren,
Because of the restriction that you have (hood size),
my suggestion to you for more light would be to try
shifting up in the "K" rating of the bulbs that you are
using. The hood probably came with bulbs in the 5000K
area. I'd suggest shifting up to the 8800K rating or
perhaps as high as the 10,000K rating. Maybe a blend of
one 8800K and one 10,000K...
A 18 watt 5000K bulb will seem like a candle compared
to a 10,000K bulb.
They are available from a good LFS and I'd try the "Coral"
brand with the word "Sun" in its name. This should give
your more "bang" while maintaining the 18 watt limitation
of your hood.

Frank


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