Can the bulbs in a bicube 29 be upgraded?

I'm just starting my tank on it's cycle, and noticed that my bulbs are old, producing cyano, and one of them is burnt out! Since I am a ways away from gutting the existing lights and putting in LED's, I was wondering if anyone had had success with putting in higher wattage bulbs into this hood? The stock bulbs are 36 watts each, and are available in 10k and Actinic. Are there other bulbs that maybe have higher watt ratings that will work with this system? It's an older Oceanic Biocube 29g

Thanks!

 

You need to stay with the bulbs rated for the aquarium. PC bulbs get longer as the wattage goes higher and the ballasts are usually rated for one wattage of bulb. You also don't have room to go to the next size bulb.

 

is that true for all lighting types? i have the jbj nano which is rated fr 24watts i beleive? down the road I wanted to get the 89w LEDs. I wouldnt be able to make the change down the line?

 

To my knowledge if you are switching to leds, the switch will involve new power supplies and the removal of the old ballasts and lighting units from your jbj. Unless you are talking about getting the hood from them, which i believe is a whole separate unit that would be a replacement for the existing one.

 

yes, i am referring to switching out the entire hood. so its not the AQUARIUM as in the tank, but its the BALLASTS thats rated for the lights... right?

 

yup! The wattage ratings are determined by the ballasts, and like 2in10 said there are length restrictions bulb wise as well. the size of the tank doesn't mandate the strength of the bulbs

 

ok. that makes sense. now i just have to hold out on a good deal for the 89w hoods. :\

i bought my intermedite jbj nano cube for $450 shipped... i didnt think i would find a better deal so i pulled the trigger (damn these impulses)

 

is the 89w the pro model? and that seems like a pretty good price. whats the wattage on the intermediate? Also, check out the build threads that biocube and MarshallO are running, they both put DIY LED kits in from rapid led and they are pretty awesome. A lot cheaper than the new hood too, and more powerful, closer to 130watts

 

the 89w is the pro model. i'll start stalking marshall and see what hes doing. if i can get it cheaper than an upgrade price i might just go ahead and do it.

*goes off ti find marshalls posts*

 

Biocubes is a similar build too, they both got their led kits from the same company. I think his has a stick on the LED lighting page, just fyi!