Lighting Upgrade Help Please

[cbr6fs]

Hi,

I am looking to upgrade my lighting.


Currently i have a 1 x 30w, 100cm, T8.

After reading various articles it seems this is a little on the low side.



Soooooooooooooo rather than buying or making a new hood i would really like to just fit a brighter light in my current plastic hood.

My questions are.


1/ Can i just buy a higher wattage T8, or would i also need to change the ballast?

2/ If i need to change the ballast then i may as well upgrade to a T5 light instead, are the end connectors different on T5 lights (as opposed to T8's).

3/ What are your thoughts on say 1 x 100cm 75w T5 for my lighting needs?



I currently have 4 plants, and although surviving they don't really seem to be flourishing, i would ideally like to add further plants and eventually create a nice lawn type bed with Java Moss.
CO2 injection is not really on the cards for the next few months, but i really don't want to mess about upgrading the lights again if i do decide to go CO2.
So would 75w be sufficient with my current plants (see sig) plus a nice Java Moss bed?


Any other advice or info much appriciated.



Cheers
Mark

 

[cbr6fs]

Been doing a bit of searching and reading, thought i'd put in my findings in case anyone searches for the same thing in the future.


So firstly this is only my findings from a few hours searching and reading so please take it in that context.


Sooooooo it seems that with the T8's they are not like standard bulbs in that you can buy brighter higher wattage bulbs.
It looks like the output (wattage) is directly proportional to the length of the tube.

The only other 100cm T8 tubes i could find were all 30w, so to increase the brightness i'll have to either buy a longer bulb (won't fit in the hood) or double up and fit another tube (again won't fit)




The T5 end connectors are completely different so a T5 tube will not fit in a T8 holder/connector.
It seems that T5's are better for Aquariums for the simple fact that they are a smaller diameter, it appears that a smaller diameter mean more reflected light is let through to the water.


I'm still trying to find out exactly what i'd need to buy to change my 1 x 30w T8 to 2 x 35w T5's though






Cheers
Mark