"cliveP" wrote in message
.uk...
Sounds like you do not have enough light.

You do not say how many watts you are putting in the tank at present.

i suspect you are right. I looked into adding lite for some time but never
found a way to do it. IIRC the current tube is a 25w, which results in a
light output of about 0.95w/gallon rather than the more usual minimum of
2watts.

If you have a standard florescent bulb, and cannot modify the hood, then
overdriving the bulb is the only practical option. It just takes a minor
wiring job and no modifications to the top or hood are necessary. Search
on ODNO (Overdriven Normal Output) and 'florescent in Google and a ton
of info will come up.

I have just done a google as I had never heard of this option before. If
overdrive is used does a standard or aquarium tube need to be used?

You can overdrive any flourescent bulb including blacklight bulbs.


As I understand it a 2x overdriven tube will output 1.7 times light. So
the 0.95w/gallon would come up to a more respectable 1.6w/gallon

Yes, in that ballpark at least... it varies from bulb to bulb and also with
the electronic ballast chosen, but that is a good rule of thumb. If you go
to a 4x overdrive, you will get a bit over 2x the light.

Tom