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Hello, I have a standard 20g tank with a 24" hood that has an 18" fluorescent light. I have a couple sword plants in my tank but I don't have a high output light. The light itself says it is only a 15w light. Now when I looked on the hood it says something about being a 17w. Does this mean that I can only use up to a 17w light? If so how do I go about getting a different fixture so I can use a higher watt light. I don't want to buy a whole new hood as they are $30-$40. Is there a way to just change the light itself so I can have a higher output light or do I need a different lighting socket itself? Thanks

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You really can't go over the wattage that's rated on the ballast, or else you're harm the ballast by trying to run too much, or the light by not providing it with the correct power. More likely it will just sit there and flicker, and you'll have wasted the money that got you the bulb.

Unforunately, the only way to really get more light on there is to either add fixtures, or change a fixture out. Problem is these aren't cheap if you want a real high tech fixture.

There are a lot of DIY'ers here that have picked up various parts from hardware/home stores to cheaply add light to their tanks, and i'm hoping they'll chime in with their experiences.

You'll probably want to invest in a glass top so you can add fixtures too. Plus they look nice

I fully agree with Fallout it is practically impossible to go over especially with tube lighting, usually the length dictates the wattage I did say "Usually" To add a greater wattage system you would have to get a new unit or a twin unit all this will cost $$$. You might able to improve the lights efficiency by looking at how the light is reflected into the tank.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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The light fixture is almost center on the tank. When the light itself is on, the tank is very bright. I was trying to figure this out as I wanted to add a few different plants, not sure yet what type but I want to make sure the lighting will be correct for a good amount of different plants. Is there any place to get a low cost light fixture. My hood is a 24" hood but the light itself is only 18". Thanks

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Live life to it's fullest
Who knows what tomorrow holds

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You have to look at the distance between the connections or actual bulb length. That overall determines wattage. You can still go a little higher or lower using different thickness of bulbs but that's not very useful and will still destroy the ballast if you use the wrong type. You can either buy a new fixture or install a retrofit kit in your hood. A retrofit kit can be made to fit the length of the hood exactly allowing you to use the next size up of bulb. What exactly you want to do will determine how much it costs but for $30-$40 you won't gain too much light unless you go with really cheap materials or buy parts seperately and DIY. Even a 15w single tube fixture costs $50 here. I usually just buy off ebay to get compact flourescent fixtures that hold 55-65w bulbs in the same amount of space as those little regular flourescent fixtures.

you can try Hello Lights]http://www.hellolights.com[/link] or [link=AH Supply for ideas. The expensive parts are the ballasts.