whatts per gallon?

[RAYSTOCKETT]

can some one help me ?
Is their min to max watts per gallon or a standard wattage per gallon for power compact?

and what I am curently looking for is metal halide. Is thier a watt per gollon for halides?

Helping a friend with a 95 bf aga tank (softies and zoos)
My tank is a 125 wide aga w/ fish and softies.
Richard

[Rhinopias97]

believe it or not, watts per gallon doesnt really exists. especially for halides. watts per gallon usually is a general rule of thumb for pc or vho systems where you want to get the most light possible. however, IMO anything other than halides is not your best bet for longevity of the corals. a coral that needs 15,000 lumens needs it whether its in a ten or a 300. i hope that helped

[REMF]

Originally posted by Rhinopias97
IMO anything other than halides is not your best bet for longevity of the corals. a coral that needs 15,000 lumens needs it whether its in a ten or a 300. i hope that helped

Don't forget about a proper T5 setup, they can due wonders, MH is not the only way to go for corals.

And depending on what type of corals you are talking about also factors in.

[RAYSTOCKETT]

is thier any watts per gallon for pc's?

and any lumes per gallon for mh?
Richard

[xenon]

The depth of your tank is much more important when deciding what type of light you need.

[sideways13]

Watts per gallon rules still exists at Saltwaterfish.com forums. I believe everyone just pass a long this rule to newbies, then newbies do the same long after.

[Mariner]

For a fish/softies/zoanthids/LPS tank, you'd generally be good with 3-5 watts per gallon of Power Compact lighting. 3 watts per gallon for shallow tanks up to 5 watts per gallon for deeper tanks.
Again, this is sort of a rule-of-thumb, used by newcomers, not very scientific, but generally works.
HTH,
Mariner

[pjf]

I’ve found some lamp efficacy figures (lumens per watt) based on limited tests. They will allow you to compare different types of lighting used in aquaria. If you have better figures, feel free to post them.

Pin-based Compact Fluorescent: ~60 lumens per watt
(http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/vi...7&context=lbnl, Table 2)

T5: ~100 lumens per watt
T5HO: ~90 lumens per watt
(http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpi.../lat5/pc1a.asp, Table 1-2)

MH (400W, probe start): ~90 lumens per watt
MH (250W, probe start): ~80 lumens per watt
MH (250W, pulse start): 90-100 lumens per watt
(http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpi...l/appendix.asp, Table App-1, App-2)

MH (150W and less), magnetic ballasts: ~60 lumens per watt
MH (150W and less), electronic ballasts: ~70 lumens per watt
(http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPI...IEW/SRLWMH.pdf, Figure 15)

[tamthapluc]

T5 is more efficient that T5HO (compared between 21w T5 and 24w T5HO)? what am i missing here?

[jeffgp]

well if your just looking for an answer i would go by the 3-5 watts at the corect (K) for what you want for a starter reef with no lps or sps i would say that would be good but if you try your hand ar some hard coral i would get some MH or T-5 vho

[Mariner]

Even my T-12 NO's are more efficient than the T5HO 24w, and they're pretty close to the T5HO 39w!
(giggle suppressed.....ahhhh can't help it...
Mariner

[pjf]

Originally posted by tamthapluc
T5 is more efficient that T5HO (compared between 21w T5 and 24w T5HO)? what am i missing here?

Generally speaking, the more power you push into something, the less efficient it gets. To use an automobile analogy, SUVs and sports cars are less fuel-efficient than Toyotas and Hondas.