Watts on, Watts off

Well, sure, the 400W and 1000W are cetainly brighter ... no arguing that ... I was just pointing out that a 400W isn't 1.6x brighter than a 250W, even though that's what the math works out to. (And a 1000W is definitly not 4x brighter than a 250W!)

So, the 400W you tested was a 20K, then? That certainly makes sense. Because you didn't specify, I assumed the bulbs were similar. If that were the case, reflectors would have been the likely suspect, right? It's not fair to compare a 6.5K to 20K in terms of PAR ... heck, it's not even close to fair!

 

Hello All,

I have a layman's question. If you answer this I could well graduate to the next level.
How do you calculate wattage per gallon???? Is it the whole tank volume + the sump volume + volumes in the chillers & other appliances??

OR it is just the tank with the volume of live rock subtracted from it.

Just in case..........I have a 5(length)*2.5( height)*1.5(breadth) tank which houses saddle anemones.

Advise/deliberate/answer.

Thanks

 

I was reading this post, thinking... finally, I'll get an answer to the light questions I have. Then it abruptly ended. What was the conclusion, how do you measure the lighting on the tank? lumens per gallon? watts per gallon, or PAR?

 

I think light meters for photography should be used to measure light.

I've been using my digital camera to measure light levels of different tanks and lighting types. Hopefully I'll be able to make a chart soon and post it.

 

What about type of reflector and height of the reflector. In water purification you need a meter to know what is going on. If you operate an RODI you need a tds meter. Lighting being second to water quality is every bit as important.
In lighting a good relaible meter is the only way to be sure.
Too much at stake, lives of corals, their health, your emotional investment as well as the money invested . Buy a meter ! There are lots of inexpensive and east to use meters out there.

 

I agree with Diver_1298, Not every one has a lumen or lux intensity meter handy!?!
anything else other than watts would confuse most beginners and some experts as well.

And by the way can I take the opportunity to ask if any one knows what is the average
temperature by watts on M halide?

 

Great links thanks a lot

 

hi - you measure lights intensery by lumis or lux wich is the same. and wave lengd, tha kalvin is just the color tempeture like 5,000k is hi noon corals love this light intensity, and they will show it by grow like crazy but so will algea 10,000 is like in a clauddy day thats what people use that most ...so if a light bulb has 70 lux pert watts and is 25watts you have 1750 lux per bulb here is the trick you need about a max of 100,000 to120,000 lux at surface the is the same intencity the the sun is at noon in the ecuador, with a minimal of 3,000 lux at deepest. you can do a very nice aquerium plaing with this numbers the reason atinic are needed at a color tep of 20,000 is because blu light is the light the travels deepest in the sea so as long as you are getting more then 3,000 your corals will be find but thats the menimal and that for low light corals all carebean corals need around 20,000 to 25,000 lux at the depest part so if you add the lux per watts and check how deep is your tank and what kind of corals you are keeping... you are set

 

par imho is not very usefull to the hobby as plants and corals use differant light water filters out red first then green most corals use mainly blue and a little green light where as plants are green so the leave reflect green light so verry little green light is used they tend to use blue and red light most available par meters are for plants as green house and farms are more likly to buy a par meter than a hobbyiest reefer that being said i think lumen being the output of light is vary simlpe we dont need to know what it means to know that we need x lumen per gal which is still a flawed concept but much more accurate than wpg as t5 ho have 80 lumen per wat and t8 vho have 45
the t 5 being almost double

oh yeh almost forgot if ge can put the lumen on the package of my household incandesant bulbs why shouldnt we expect that and more from our aqurium bulb mfgr to put on their box