# [Wet Thumb Forum]-40 gal light; 2X65? Ballast Q's



## imported_rayhwong (Feb 14, 2003)

Hi,
I am thinking about upgrading to a 40 gallon tank. I currently have a 2X55 bright kit from AH supply running at 2X36W on a 20 gallon. WIll this (2X55) do for a 40 (36X18X16) gallon? I want to grow bright light plants. I am having troulbe finding a permutation of wattages and ballasts will give me 3 WPG. 2X55 is a bit under 3. 2X65 is ideal but I can not find 65W bulbs at AH supply. Does anyone know if the 2X55 kit ballast can run 2X65? Any recommendations?
How about a 1X96?
-Ray


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## imported_rayhwong (Feb 14, 2003)

Hi,
I am thinking about upgrading to a 40 gallon tank. I currently have a 2X55 bright kit from AH supply running at 2X36W on a 20 gallon. WIll this (2X55) do for a 40 (36X18X16) gallon? I want to grow bright light plants. I am having troulbe finding a permutation of wattages and ballasts will give me 3 WPG. 2X55 is a bit under 3. 2X65 is ideal but I can not find 65W bulbs at AH supply. Does anyone know if the 2X55 kit ballast can run 2X65? Any recommendations?
How about a 1X96?
-Ray


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## nino (Oct 2, 2004)

Ray,
The easiest and safest way is to call AH Supply and ask them if their ballast can run 65 bulbs. I would think it could, but run a bit hot.

2x55 is actually quite close enough to grow many high light plants because your tank is less than 20" H. I have a 55show that has 22"H and 2x55 wouldn't work at all. I use 2x96 at the end.

I'm a big fan of overkill ligting and if I were you, I would go with 2x96. You'll be able to grow any plants and carpet plants easily but need some work to balance the nutrients in the beginning.


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## imported_rayhwong (Feb 14, 2003)

I just checked the specs, the kit uses a fulham workhorse 5 ballasts capable of running 128watts. 2X65 is 130 so it should do it. I was looking at hellolights site and they are saying that 55W bulbs are basically the same as 65W bulbs. It just depends on the power of the ballast driving the bulb. Is this true? If so i would buy the bulbs from AH instead since the 55W is cheaper. Ah doesn't carry 65W bulbs. Thanks


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I'm running 2 1x96W strips over my 40. A single strip doesn't give me enough coverage from front to back


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

Do consider the extra heat, especially if you upgrade to the 96w bulbs. I upgraded from 2x55w to 1x55 + 1x96. The temp in my tank went up nearly 6 degrees F (up to 86+), and I lost a fair number of fish before I figured it out. I'm still working on heat abatement options.


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## nino (Oct 2, 2004)

In my opinion, electronic ballast (with overdriving as an exception) will only throw in whatever wattage the bulb draws. So if you plug a 36 watts bulb in there, it will still only draw 36 watts from the ballast. 65 watts bulb will draw 65 watts from the ballast. 96 watts will try to draw 96 watts from the ballast. If the ballast is only up to 65 and bulb is drawing 96, the ballast will overheat and burnt. 

It's better to add a fan to blow the hot air away from the tank if you're going for 2x96, 4x55, 4x65 or more.


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## imported_rayhwong (Feb 14, 2003)

THanks for the excellent advice.

With 2X96 or 96+55, did you notice a problem with too much light? Did your plants grow low to the ground and did some plants grow horizontal that normally grow straight up? How high is your 40?

Thanks


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## hubbahubbahehe (Mar 29, 2004)

ninob, are you sure? i thought the ballast drives the bulb....so if you put a 96 watt bulb, then the 65 watt ballast would drive it at 65...


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Ray,
Under 2 96W bulbs (one 10000K, and one 8800K) my Micranthemoides grows horizontally and the crypts that aren't shaded spread out flat. But my L.Repens, Pennywort, Bacopa and D.Diandre grow vertically. The Bacopa, Ludwigia and Penywort have all reached the surface and are in need of pruning tomorrow.

But, like I mentioned previously, I'm running two single-bulb strips so I can space the lights apart for full coverage of the tank, front-to-back. I also have them mounted on legs (Coralife Aqualights with the Coralife legs) over an open tank so the bulbs are a good 4" above the water and there's no heat build up at the water surface. With an oscillating fan running in the room I lose about a quart of water a day through evaporation, but the temp hasn't risen past 82° since I removed my hood.


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## nino (Oct 2, 2004)

Algaegrower,
I'm not a PC ballast expert. Electronic ballast has load sensor and will only provide enough wattage that the bulbs need. If you take a look at those electronic ballast sold at homedepot, there is a column (sticker) right behind it. It tells you how much wattage will be provided by the ballast for each type of bulb. Ex.: the 4f32t8 ballast could drive 4x32 watts bulbs. But those are not it. It would tell you also that it could drive all bulbs with lower wattage and also the 40watts bulbs. It will list all the wattage drawn by each bulb and the ave. temp of the ballast to run them. The higher the wattage, the hotter the ballast would be.

Oh, regarding using 65watts ballast to drive 96 watts bulb, I would think it's either overheat the ballast or the bulb won't turned on at all. I've never tried it and I don't think you should


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