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55W pc ballast and 40W bulb?
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jpiotrowski View Drop Down
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Joined: September 30 2004
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    Posted: December 21 2005 at 11:00am

What is the general rule about wattage and combining bulbs?  I just discovered a 3 whole cases of phillips 40W fluorescent bulbs and am (in the process of) setting up my tank.  In the past I used 2 x 55watt pcs over my sump with great success, but the new house has thined my wallet (it's anorexic). 

A) Would this 40W bulb work on a 55W ballast?  (would it decrease the bulbs life or harm ballast)

and B)  Would the lighting be sufficient for good to great algae growth?  Since I am just starting up the tank and don't really have plans to stock it for a couple of months I would go with fair algae growth

Thanks,

John
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Mark Peterson View Drop Down
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Points: 21436 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 21 2005 at 10:06pm

I'm not familiar with a 40W PC but it should work just fine. A ballast one step up is no problem.

If you are speaking of 40W Normal Output Fluorescent tubes, those will work also. Pin connection is the thing to figure out here. It can be done though.
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jpiotrowski View Drop Down
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Points: 923 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jpiotrowski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 22 2005 at 9:17am

Mark,

It has the same (straight line) pin arrangement.  I'll try it out tonight.  I thought it would work I just didn't want to kill the ballast (I am electircally disadvantaged)

John

By the way all my sps corals are looking great after moving the lps and getting rid of (manually) the 'cotton candy' algae.
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LostCauseZ06 View Drop Down
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Points: 446 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LostCauseZ06 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 22 2005 at 9:56am
i run normal output bulbs on my 110 watt VHO ballast.. they work fine, havent burnt out any faster, and are just as bright as the normal output bulbs...
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