Lighting Help

[superman1]

I have a juwel trigon 190 and it has the T8 lights in it. the original lights were 18w and I brought some new ones which are 20w. however the lights don't seem to work nor did the originals. The fuse is fine and from what I have read online I need a new ballast. Does anyone have any experience in replacing the ballast on these light units.

Thanks

 

[Byron]

I have a juwel trigon 190 and it has the T8 lights in it. the original lights were 18w and I brought some new ones which are 20w. however the lights don't seem to work nor did the originals. The fuse is fine and from what I have read online I need a new ballast. Does anyone have any experience in replacing the ballast on these light units.

Thanks

I just posted in your other thread on lighting, but will deal directly with your question here.

Fluorescent tubes come in wattages specific to the tube size. For example, 24-inch tubes are 20 watts. Some manufacturers might make them in 18w, but the point is that the tube length is what you must match. This applies to T8 fluorescent, and to T5 fluorescent. T5 and T8 are not interchangeable, so the tubes must be what the fixture is, T5 or T8.

In T8, the Life-Glo is your best tube over a fish tank with plants. I would use two Life-Glo T8 tubes here, as I explained in the other thread.

 

[superman1]

Thank you for your help. I will open up the unit to see what the ballast rating is then as I will need to replace that with a similar rating.

thanks for your response.

 

[Colin_T]

Ballasts don't normally fail but if you're going to spend money rebuilding light units, get spotlights for your tank.

You can also check the starters in the light unit. These should be replaced when the globes are replaced.