Lighting

[TonyUK]

I have a Rena Aquarium 80 with a 15W bulb for a 96ltr aquarium. The Lighting Hood is the standard supplied with this size tank. I now know this is insufficient for healthy plants, but OK for the fish.
My question is "can I just put a higher watt flourescent tube in the existing fitting, or will this cause some damage / harm or simply not work"?

 

[Bol]

If you're talking about NO (Normal Output) fluorescents -- the "regular" linear tubes -- then chances are there is no such thing as a higher wattage bulb of the same size. NO bulbs are generally 10W per foot of length (sometimes a bit less, but never more, that I've seen).

It is possible to overdrive NO fluoros, but I couldn't tell you the details of it.

I'm guessing you have a standard NO strip, with a 18", 15W bulb in it. If so, your options are basically to overdrive your current bulb, add a second strip, or switch to a different form of lighting (such as compact fluorescents) -- or a combination of the three.