Watts per gallon rule

You simply need to purchase lights made for reef
aquariums, and have a total of 3 to 5 watts per gallon, 3
being on the low side, but good enough for soft corals,
and 5 being where you really want to aim, and 6.6 being great.

People often ask "should I put this coral at the bottom,
or up top". The simple answer is that if you just have
good intense lighting, you don't have to worry about it.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



RubenD wrote on 1/4/2007 7:04 PM:
I appreciated the comments, but can anyone give me a realistic way to
measure the amount of light necessary for a reef tank based on distance and
wattage or lumens?
There has to be a way, I pressume...


Ruben

hehehe I see that I have not gotten an answer from Kim on
this :-)

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Wayne Sallee wrote on 1/4/2007 6:32 PM:
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?

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

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



kim gross wrote on 1/4/2007 6:00 PM:
Add Homonym wrote:
RubenD wrote:
Watts per gallon is the worst measurement for light just because of
the
reasons you list. It does not take into account the depth of the tank
or where in the tank you are putting the creatures.


What is the best measurement for lighting then?

I supposed the coral under the bulb is the winner regardless of the
watts/gallon rule or the size of the tank, but how much light would be
acceptable? If I place the coral under the 30watts bulb, he'll be
getting
not 6w but 30w, right?

What you think?



Watts is not a measure of lillumination. LUX is the measurement of
illumintation. Lumens is a measurement of light output.

therefore it makes no sense to ask if a coral would be getting "30w"
of light.

The difference between lux and lumens can be illustrated thusly:
LUX will decrese with distance from bulb. How much a decrease there
will be needs to take many factors into account - distance from bulb,
what is in between (ie: water, glass, etc) and even the spectrum of
bulb.

LUMENS will NOT decrease, since the bulb is still just as bright no
matter how far you are from it.

Lumens is how much light gets put out, LUX is how much light is
reaching what you are trying to illuminate.

What we SHOULD all be using is LUX. It would make sense to say things
like "this crocea clam needs about 32000 lux", but I have never seen
that used.


As I stated in another responce on this thread. There is a problem
with lux. It does not weight the light according to photosythisys, IE
yellow and red add to lux but do not add much to photosynthisys. But
it is a much better measurement than watts per gallon since as long as
you know the spectrum of the lights or you are using a full spectrum
light source.

Kim

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?

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?

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

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

Wayne, why do I get this feeling that you have several ex-wives?

--Kurt

KurtG wrote:

Wayne, why do I get this feeling that you have several ex-wives?

Why do you think that several women would marry him? :-)

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

LOL I'm still single :-)

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



KurtG wrote on 1/8/2007 11:09 PM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
So are you saying that watts per gallon is the best thing available
for the average hobbiest?

Wayne, why do I get this feeling that you have several ex-wives?

--Kurt