Watts per gallon rule
 

You keep saying that "watts per gallon is meaningless",
but you have no better answer. So that means that your
statement is meaningless, because you obviously don't have
an answer for hobbiest on how to decide on how much light
to get. I, unlike you, do have an answer for hobiest on
how to decide how much light to get.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



kim gross wrote on 1/8/2007 10:36 PM:
Again,

NO watts per gallon is meaningless. If it means anything what corals
can I keep in a 125 gallon tank with 175 watts of light on it?

Can I keep Reef Crest Acropora corals in the tank, will Maxima Clams
survive?








Wayne Sallee wrote:
So are you saying that watts per gallon is the best thing available
for the average hobbiest?

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



kim gross wrote on 1/7/2007 5:44 AM:
I will try this one more time. There is no good hobbiest measurement
to determine if they have enough light. Watts per gallon is
meaningless. The only valid measurement is to measure the par.

Since you think watts per gallon is a great measurement what corals
can I keep in my friends 125 gallon tank with 175 watts of light on it?




You still have not answered my question. Reread my question.

Here I'll post it again:

*********
Since you think that watts per gallon is not the best way to go,
then tell us what method that *you* think hobbiest should use?

Try to read this this time. Get a PAR meter and measure the PAR in
the tank at the level you wish to add the coral, then find out if the
coral will survive or thrive with that PAR amount.



Please define this in such a way that any hobbiest can use your
method to see if they have enough light :-)

As I have said many times. There is no way that you can come up with
any method that any hobbiest can use to see if they have enough
light. Your watts per gallon method does not work.

*********

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


kim gross wrote on 1/6/2007 5:31 PM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
hehehe I see that I have not gotten an answer from Kim on this :-)

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Wayne,

I have answered this multiple times but for some reason you can't
read the answer.

The best measurement is to measure the par in your tank and then
see what corals will survive with that par level. The only problem
with this is that a par meter is not cheap.

Now will you answer my question what corals can I keep in my 125
gallon tank with 175 watts of light on it?

Watts per gallon rule
 

Wayne Sallee wrote:
You keep saying that "watts per gallon is meaningless", but you have no
better answer. So that means that your statement is meaningless, because
you obviously don't have an answer for hobbiest on how to decide on how
much light to get. I, unlike you, do have an answer for hobiest on how
to decide how much light to get.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Wayne,

If watts per gallon gives you information on amount of light. What
corals can I keep in a 125 gallon aquarium with 175 watts of light on it?

Watts per gallon rule
 

kim gross wrote:
Wayne Sallee wrote:

You keep saying that "watts per gallon is meaningless", but you have
no better answer. So that means that your statement is meaningless,
because you obviously don't have an answer for hobbiest on how to
decide on how much light to get. I, unlike you, do have an answer for
hobiest on how to decide how much light to get.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Wayne,

If watts per gallon gives you information on amount of light. What
corals can I keep in a 125 gallon aquarium with 175 watts of light on it?

HAH. Good point. Going by the rule of thumb, nothing dependant on
sybiotic algae will survive well (this is only slighty more than 1 watt
per gallon)

However, if part of that 175w were, say for instance, a 150w metal
halide, you could likely keep prteyy much whatever corals you wanted, if
they are close enough to that light.

Watts per gallon rule
 

Add Homonym wrote:
kim gross wrote:
Wayne Sallee wrote:

You keep saying that "watts per gallon is meaningless", but you have
no better answer. So that means that your statement is meaningless,
because you obviously don't have an answer for hobbiest on how to
decide on how much light to get. I, unlike you, do have an answer for
hobiest on how to decide how much light to get.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Wayne,

If watts per gallon gives you information on amount of light. What
corals can I keep in a 125 gallon aquarium with 175 watts of light on it?

HAH. Good point. Going by the rule of thumb, nothing dependant on
sybiotic algae will survive well (this is only slighty more than 1 watt
per gallon)

However, if part of that 175w were, say for instance, a 150w metal
halide, you could likely keep prteyy much whatever corals you wanted, if
they are close enough to that light.


Exactly. This is a 6 foot long 125 that has a single 175 watt mh
mounted in the middle of the tank with a single coral bommie under the
light. It has mostly SPS corals in the tank that are doing fine. But
if you use Waynes rules of course, it will not keep any SPS or clam
alive, let alone any soft corals.

But since it does not support Waynes watts per gallon rule he ignores it.

Watts per gallon rule
 

kim gross wrote:


Exactly. This is a 6 foot long 125 that has a single 175 watt mh
mounted in the middle of the tank with a single coral bommie under the
light. It has mostly SPS corals in the tank that are doing fine. But
if you use Waynes rules of course, it will not keep any SPS or clam
alive, let alone any soft corals.

But since it does not support Waynes watts per gallon rule he ignores it.

The first part of Wayne's point seems to be that the watts per gallon
rule is flawed, and I am sure he'd be the first to admitit in this case.

The second part of his point is that any alternatives (ie: measuring
PAR, etc) are simply not practical to the average hobbiest.

Perhaps we could come up with something X number inches away from X
number of watts, or something like that. But even that won't work that
well, given the difference one would see between say a 130 watt PC hood
and a 76w MH pendant, for instance. Obviosuly a clam 8 inches under a
70w metal halide will do a lot better than the same clam 8 inches under
a 130 watt PC hood (if only because the HM pendant is a more of a
"point" light source")

Watts per gallon rule
 

Add Homonym wrote:
kim gross wrote:


Exactly. This is a 6 foot long 125 that has a single 175 watt mh
mounted in the middle of the tank with a single coral bommie under the
light. It has mostly SPS corals in the tank that are doing fine. But
if you use Waynes rules of course, it will not keep any SPS or clam
alive, let alone any soft corals.

But since it does not support Waynes watts per gallon rule he ignores it.

The first part of Wayne's point seems to be that the watts per gallon
rule is flawed, and I am sure he'd be the first to admitit in this case.

The second part of his point is that any alternatives (ie: measuring
PAR, etc) are simply not practical to the average hobbiest.

Perhaps we could come up with something X number inches away from X
number of watts, or something like that. But even that won't work that
well, given the difference one would see between say a 130 watt PC hood
and a 76w MH pendant, for instance. Obviosuly a clam 8 inches under a
70w metal halide will do a lot better than the same clam 8 inches under
a 130 watt PC hood (if only because the HM pendant is a more of a
"point" light source")


You are exactly right. Watts per gallon is meaningless and there is no
good practical way to check the light levels. So the best thing for a
new hobbiest to do is to talk to somebody that is knowledgable about
there setup and what corals/creatures they want to keep to see if they
have enough light. Telling somebody that they need 5 watts per gallon
is completely wrong and then trying to justify the watts per gallon by
saying that there is nothing better just shows that the people know
watts per gallon does not work.

Kim

Watts per gallon rule
 

So if you did this, and you concentrated that light in say
a 35 gallon area, then you would have 5 watts per gallon,
but if you were to spread that light evenly over the
entire 125 gallon tank, you would have a hard time keeping
that tank as a reef tank, so the watts per gallon rule
still works.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Add Homonym wrote on 1/10/2007 10:25 AM:
kim gross wrote:
Wayne Sallee wrote:

You keep saying that "watts per gallon is meaningless", but you have
no better answer. So that means that your statement is meaningless,
because you obviously don't have an answer for hobbiest on how to
decide on how much light to get. I, unlike you, do have an answer for
hobiest on how to decide how much light to get.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Wayne,

If watts per gallon gives you information on amount of light. What
corals can I keep in a 125 gallon aquarium with 175 watts of light on it?

HAH. Good point. Going by the rule of thumb, nothing dependant on
sybiotic algae will survive well (this is only slighty more than 1 watt
per gallon)

However, if part of that 175w were, say for instance, a 150w metal
halide, you could likely keep prteyy much whatever corals you wanted, if
they are close enough to that light.