Wattage and Lumens of Various Light Types

I have a puzzling question. In researching lights to set up a new tank, I
can't find anything relating Fluorescent tube wattage and MH wattage to
lumens, or a comparison to incandescent...like you always see on CF tubes
for home lighting, i.e. 20W CF equals a 100W incandescent bulb. I'm
wondering if, for example, 500W of CF lighting has the same output as 500W
of MH. Am I making this clear? Am I talking apples and oranges here, or am I
missing something?

Tim

Don't worry so much about those numbers, but look at the
actual spectrum. Figure wats of light per gallon. You want
3 to 5 wats per gallon. 3 being low, 5 being where you
want to be for stonys,and even higher like 6.6 is good.
And metal halide is the best light.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Timcat wrote:
I have a puzzling question. In researching lights to set up a new tank, I
can't find anything relating Fluorescent tube wattage and MH wattage to
lumens, or a comparison to incandescent...like you always see on CF tubes
for home lighting, i.e. 20W CF equals a 100W incandescent bulb. I'm
wondering if, for example, 500W of CF lighting has the same output as 500W
of MH. Am I making this clear? Am I talking apples and oranges here, or am I
missing something?

Tim

OK. Thank You.

Tim

"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
ink.net...
Don't worry so much about those numbers, but look at the actual spectrum.
Figure wats of light per gallon. You want 3 to 5 wats per gallon. 3 being
low, 5 being where you want to be for stonys,and even higher like 6.6 is
good. And metal halide is the best light.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Timcat wrote:
I have a puzzling question. In researching lights to set up a new tank, I
can't find anything relating Fluorescent tube wattage and MH wattage to
lumens, or a comparison to incandescent...like you always see on CF tubes
for home lighting, i.e. 20W CF equals a 100W incandescent bulb. I'm
wondering if, for example, 500W of CF lighting has the same output as
500W of MH. Am I making this clear? Am I talking apples and oranges here,
or am I missing something?

Tim

Wait a minute!
Light intensity is not measured in watts! That's the whole point of
Tim's question. Leave "watts per gallon" as a heater spec. Light
intensity is measured in lumens, or foot candles, or candellas etc...

Tim,
Sorry I don't have a direct answer to your question but it is a good
question. (worthy of a good answer) I think you may have to contact
the lamp manufacturer to find out what the actual light output for
each lamp is. The wattage spec is the amount of electricity it uses,
not necessarily how much light it produces.

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 23:47:12 GMT, Wayne Sallee
wrote:

Don't worry so much about those numbers, but look at the
actual spectrum. Figure wats of light per gallon. You want
3 to 5 wats per gallon. 3 being low, 5 being where you
want to be for stonys,and even higher like 6.6 is good.
And metal halide is the best light.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Timcat wrote:
I have a puzzling question. In researching lights to set up a new tank, I
can't find anything relating Fluorescent tube wattage and MH wattage to
lumens, or a comparison to incandescent...like you always see on CF tubes
for home lighting, i.e. 20W CF equals a 100W incandescent bulb. I'm
wondering if, for example, 500W of CF lighting has the same output as 500W
of MH. Am I making this clear? Am I talking apples and oranges here, or am I
missing something?

Tim

Yes watts is the meaasurment of the amount of electricity
it uses, and yes it is in direct corilation of how much
heat is produced, but since watts is the amount of energy
it will give off, watts makes a good measure, but the
spectrum it gives off is important to look at. You want a
quality bulb that gives off energy in the right spectrums.
All of your aquarium bulbs give a spectrograph of what
light it gives off. And all light spectrums prouduce heat.
when light is absorbed, heat is given off. And of course
there is waisted entergy given off as heat directly from
the bulbs and the balast.

The problem with Lumens is that it is a measurment of how
much light the eye can see. This falls short with what is
considered beneficial to the corals. For example a sodium
light produces a lot of lumens, but is too yellow for a
reef tank.

Wayne Sallee


erik wrote:
Wait a minute!
Light intensity is not measured in watts! That's the whole point of
Tim's question. Leave "watts per gallon" as a heater spec. Light
intensity is measured in lumens, or foot candles, or candellas etc...

Tim,
Sorry I don't have a direct answer to your question but it is a good
question. (worthy of a good answer) I think you may have to contact
the lamp manufacturer to find out what the actual light output for
each lamp is. The wattage spec is the amount of electricity it uses,
not necessarily how much light it produces.

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 23:47:12 GMT, Wayne Sallee
wrote:


Don't worry so much about those numbers, but look at the
actual spectrum. Figure wats of light per gallon. You want
3 to 5 wats per gallon. 3 being low, 5 being where you
want to be for stonys,and even higher like 6.6 is good.
And metal halide is the best light.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Timcat wrote:

I have a puzzling question. In researching lights to set up a new tank, I
can't find anything relating Fluorescent tube wattage and MH wattage to
lumens, or a comparison to incandescent...like you always see on CF tubes
for home lighting, i.e. 20W CF equals a 100W incandescent bulb. I'm
wondering if, for example, 500W of CF lighting has the same output as 500W
of MH. Am I making this clear? Am I talking apples and oranges here, or am I
missing something?

Tim

A 400 W lamp or 40 W lamp says nothing about how much light it puts out of any kind. Most
lamps use this wattage to drive themselves. On the avg about 75% of the wattage is for
driving it the other 2%% will be actual light output Some of the more hi-tech stuff drives
more light output, as it use less wattage to drive it.A simple way to look at it is to
look at the wattage and the lumen output. A 100 W bulb that has an output of 10,000 lumens
( say a MH) has an EFFICACY of 100 ( 10,000 / 100). A std incandescent. only has an
output of about 10 lumens / W, so you would need a 1,000 W lamp to be equal 100W MH in
lumen output.

But all this is based on the human eye, which is most sensitive to about 540 nm or green
light. You do not see red or blue light well, so when dealing wit actual light output one
needs to look a "Einstein's", a true light measurement of all light. Or a SED( Spectral
Energy Distribution ) Curve ( you know that nice colored rainbow plot you see on some
light bulbs)

Watts / gal is a MEANINGLESS value !! Why ? How deep is the tank, how wide is the tank,
what kind of bulb ( NO, VHO, CF, MH, MV, as they have a different "Point Source") and K
value, what is in the tank, etc..


--
Boomer

Want to talk chemistry ? The Reef Chemistry Forum
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/index.php


Former US Army Bomb Technician (EOD)
Member; IABTI, NATEODA, WEODF, ISEE & IPS

If You See Me Running You Better Catch-Up


"

But if watage says nothing about how much light it puts
out, then when ever you order a mh light system, and you
are asked what wattage you want, then you would say "It
doesn't matter".

Wayne Sallee


Boomer wrote:
A 400 W lamp or 40 W lamp says nothing about how much light it puts out of any kind. Most
lamps use this wattage to drive themselves. On the avg about 75% of the wattage is for
driving it the other 2%% will be actual light output Some of the more hi-tech stuff drives
more light output, as it use less wattage to drive it.A simple way to look at it is to
look at the wattage and the lumen output. A 100 W bulb that has an output of 10,000 lumens
( say a MH) has an EFFICACY of 100 ( 10,000 / 100). A std incandescent. only has an
output of about 10 lumens / W, so you would need a 1,000 W lamp to be equal 100W MH in
lumen output.

But all this is based on the human eye, which is most sensitive to about 540 nm or green
light. You do not see red or blue light well, so when dealing wit actual light output one
needs to look a "Einstein's", a true light measurement of all light. Or a SED( Spectral
Energy Distribution ) Curve ( you know that nice colored rainbow plot you see on some
light bulbs)

Watts / gal is a MEANINGLESS value !! Why ? How deep is the tank, how wide is the tank,
what kind of bulb ( NO, VHO, CF, MH, MV, as they have a different "Point Source") and K
value, what is in the tank, etc..

Not everyone runs MH and not all MH, at say 400 W, necessarily produce the same amount of
light. As I said, you must of missed it.


EFFICACY = Lumens / Watts

All one has to due is look at any 400 W MH and compare it to 400W Iwasaki. No MH @ 400 W
even comes close to this bulbs light output.


"then you would say "It doesn't matter".

I never said it does not matter. Do not be putting words in my mouth :-) It is misleading.
I said "A 400 W lamp or 40 W lamp says nothing about how much light it puts out of any
kind". . Almost any 175 W MH will _usually_ but _not always _will have more light output
than say a 150 MH


Boomer

Want to talk chemistry ? The Reef Chemistry Forum
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/index.php


Former US Army Bomb Technician (EOD)
Member; IABTI, NATEODA, WEODF, ISEE & IPS

If You See Me Running You Better Catch-Up


"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
ink.net...
: But if watage says nothing about how much light it puts
: out, then when ever you order a mh light system, and you
: are asked what wattage you want, then you would say "It
: doesn't matter".
:
: Wayne Sallee
:
:
: Boomer wrote:
: A 400 W lamp or 40 W lamp says nothing about how much light it puts out of any kind.
Most
: lamps use this wattage to drive themselves. On the avg about 75% of the wattage is for
: driving it the other 2%% will be actual light output Some of the more hi-tech stuff
drives
: more light output, as it use less wattage to drive it.A simple way to look at it is to
: look at the wattage and the lumen output. A 100 W bulb that has an output of 10,000
lumens
: ( say a MH) has an EFFICACY of 100 ( 10,000 / 100). A std incandescent. only has an
: output of about 10 lumens / W, so you would need a 1,000 W lamp to be equal 100W MH in
: lumen output.
:
: But all this is based on the human eye, which is most sensitive to about 540 nm or
green
: light. You do not see red or blue light well, so when dealing wit actual light output
one
: needs to look a "Einstein's", a true light measurement of all light. Or a SED(
Spectral
: Energy Distribution ) Curve ( you know that nice colored rainbow plot you see on some
: light bulbs)
:
: Watts / gal is a MEANINGLESS value !! Why ? How deep is the tank, how wide is the
tank,
: what kind of bulb ( NO, VHO, CF, MH, MV, as they have a different "Point Source") and
K
: value, what is in the tank, etc..
:
:

But lumens is only related to what the eye perceives.

Wayne Sallee


Boomer wrote:


EFFICACY = Lumens / Watts

A 400-watt or 40 watt light bulb in the amount of light put out a silent any kind. Most lamps use power to drive themselves. An average of about 75% of the electricity is carried out its other 2% will be more effective high-tech materials some readers the light output.