Help me out understanding....

[uptown112]

Ok, here is the story. Due to certian events my 75 gal reef(it was awsome and I'm borken up because it's gone)is gone. I will be getting another(55 this time) but not for about 6-8 more months(when I move out). Before I lost the 75 I got the old 10 gal out and stuffed as much as I could from the 75 into it and it's holding me over(barely). Here is my question. Part of the lighting on the 75 was 2 55 watt pc's that are now the lighting for the 10(about 10 inches above the water). First off, is this too much for the softies I have now(frogspawn, hammer, ect.) and is it enough for SPS? I mean it is about 10 watts per gallon. HOw could it be enough for the 10 and not the 75 though.... Any enlightenment will help.

 

[neurotech]

aren't those stony corals? Chances are, one 55 watt will suffice.

 

[freedom75]

uptown112

first of all I am sorry to hear that you lost your 75. I have a 20 gallon and I am running 2 55 watt PC's on it. there are about 10 inches off the water. However i have been told by a couple of reliable sources that this would really not be intense enought for hard corals . but however would be plenty of light for softies . I do not know if this will help you but good luck

John
[email protected]

 

[Ben1]

Two 55 watt PC's would be fine over as 10 gal. for any coral, IMO. As long as you can mantian stable paremeters for the corals. With SPS ALK/CA and temp must remain stable. This is a hard task in a small tank.

Watts per gallon is totally useless! Quality is what you measure, you can put as much watts as you want over a 10 gallon and it wont grow SPS becuase its poor quality, incadecent light bulbs are poor quality for instance.

 

[Rich-n-poor]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Watts per gallon is totally useless! Quality is what you measure, you can put as much watts as you want over a 10 gallon and it wont grow SPS becuase its poor quality, incadecent light bulbs are poor quality for instance.

<hr></blockquote>

I agree sort of .........

quality and spectrum of lights are whats most important but Watts per gallon is not useless for the following reasons:

First, you need some standard of measurement. Take for example your question as to how 110 watts of pc's can be enough for a 10 gallon but not enough for a 75 ?

110 watts/10 gallons = 11 watts per gallon
110 watts/75 gallons = 1.5 watts per gallon

thats quite a difference in light intensity wouldn't you say ? think of it as the difference between trying to light a 10 square room with a 100 watt bulb and trying to light a football stadium with one. Same wattage much larger surface area.

But WPG is not the only concern I agree color spectrum matters also 1000 watts of a 3400 k flourescent wont do nearly as well as 250 watts of 10,000 k but assuming that you are aware that you want bulbs in the 6400-20,000 k range then watts are a good measure. I>E> 30 watts on a ten gallon of 6500k is good but 50 watts of 6500k is better.

Another concern is depth of tank. a 20 gallon high, 29 gallon, and 37 gallon tank all have the same footprint but get progressively deeper. 110 watts on any of these tanks will cover the same surface area but the light will get progressively dimmer as you reach the bottom of the larger tanks. Therefore more watts per gallon on a deep tank is needed than on a smaller one. Blue bulbs (actinics) also penetrate farther so more blue is needed on deeper tanks.

There is also quality of light issues VHO produce better quality light than NO flourescents, PC's better than VHO, MH the best so 250 watts of metal halide is much better than 250 watts on NO flourescents.

Having said all that you still need a meaasure by which to go and WATTS PER GALLON is the best indicator for new people with 3 WPG as an absolute minimum and 5-6 WPS a norm and 10 WPS for most SPS keepers I talk to

HTH

_________________
Mercedes R231