Poor Lighting, What To Do?

[TRAGICTRAMP]

Hi, i just managed to snap up two tetra aqua art 60 litre tanks for £50 total, i set the one up and replaced the dead bulb with an interpet tropical daylight 18" lamp, the lighting appears very poor and a cheapo led torch seems more powerful, in fact i bought 2 bulbs one for each tank, the 1st i tried seemed to power down after a while, and the 2nd seems to stay on but with inadequate lighting even in a pitch black room, have i got faulty bulbs, the tetra t8 15w lighting power unit or is it just rubbiash full stop?, initially they took a while to consistently start and after having a look at the power unit it is very hot. They both seem to have a dark spot to the left of the tube and is not consistant throughout the length of the tube.


cheers

 

[TRAGICTRAMP]

20 mins in and 2nd tube now dead, so looks like its the psu!

 

[TRAGICTRAMP]

20 mins in and 2nd tube now dead, so looks like its the psu!

anyone know if these are any good?

http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ARCADIA-DOUBLE-CONTROLLER-ACD18-18W-1-ULTRASEAL-FISH-TANK-AQUARIUM-LIGHT-UNIT-/190669050598?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item2c64c2d2e6#ht_2163wt_1396

 

[OldMan47]

I have no idea about your linked lighting system since I have never used them.
You have several things to consider.
The first is a basic question, do you have a planted tank that requires a particular light arrangement? If not, use the standard lighting system and forget about any problems that it has. The fish really won't care.
If you are a plant person, what wattage do you require for plant growth? If your present fixture cannot meet those requirements, no number of tube upgrades will help at all, you will need to upgrade the fixture instead. That brings us back to the question of how to best meet your true lighting needs. My own observation on the subject is that you must not only pay attention to the nominal rating of an arrangement but its ultimate potential as well. If you have a 55 gallon tank and think that some day you may require a 2 WPG system, by all means buy a set up that can provide 110W total illumination. It is not that you need that much today but that it costs the same amount to provide a particular amount of light regardless of what you had before. If you go from 0.5 WPG to that 5 WPG or from 1.5 WPG to that same value, the costs will be the same. If you have even a hint of a future need, meet it today, it will be cheaper in the long run.