Lighting Questions

[robjack]

Hi,

Soon I will be starting afresh on a 24*12*12 tank, which currently has one 15w fluorescent tube in a hood that the tank came with ages ago (so it's a magnetic ballast).
I want to grow plants in this tank, so I would like to up the WPG from 1 using something similar to what BigC did here. Due to the limited space of my hood at the moment, I'm pretty sure I'll have to use a smaller bulb (15inch) like BigC has done in the thread. Firstly, could my existing bulb and this smaller bulb be powered by one double ballast? Or do you have to power the same size bulbs across one ballast?
Secondly, at the moment, the tank's lighting is protected by a layer of plastic sheeting that covers the top of the tank. Is this necessary? Will my old fittings be water resistant? (they're about 8 years old I think). Do ballasts already come with fittings on them?

So basically, to do what I want to do, am I best buying a double ballast, and one smaller tube; or a single ballast, and continue using my existing ballast for my existing tube.

Many thanks,

Rob.

 

[Rooster]

Bet the old ballast is a "standard" one that gets quite hot ? Then a lot of your energy is used up as heat !

Just replaced my two standards with a dual electronic version... runs quite cool, needs no starters and the tubes have no flicker ! 30 quid well spent (I wasnt going to give the LFS 60 odd for the same thing, so I got one via work.... if you need one )

 

[robjack]

Thanks, but what I was really after was whether or not you can power two different size tubes through one double ballast? (Plus all the other questions I asked )

Cheers

 

[Rooster]

Theoretically YES.... provided the ballast is designed for the larger tube, never tried it though !