Watts per gallon

[Nedim]

I think someone posted it earlier, but I cant seem to find the exact post.

What is the proper wattage per gallon (or rule of thumb) for aquarium lighting? My tank is 46 gallons. Would this fixture be appropriate?


T-5 High Output Aquarium Lighting: Nova Extreme T-5 HO Retrofit Kits

 

[bobby]

I honestly dont know anything about t-5's, but would think you need to go higher on the watts, allthough I was told with t-5's you cant go by wpg because they give off more light. I have heard however that you want the ones with individual raflectors for the beat output.

 

[jhnrb]

Hope this helps:

https://www.livingreefs.com/forums/saltwater-aquarium-articles/1020-reef-lighting.html

Excert from Marine depot article on lighting;

There are a wide variety of options available when it comes to lighting a reef tank. All of these options may make it difficult to make a choice. A reef tank should be lit as strongly as possible relative to the space available. The general goal is to have at least 3-5 watts of balanced light per gallon above a reef tank to provide adequate intensity. Choosing the type of lighting to use is a function of the tank's size and the animals that are going to be kept. For large tanks or tanks housing stony corals, the best choice is to use high wattage metal halide lamps with or without blue fluorescent bulbs. For these types of tanks the wattage should be toward the 5+ watts per gallon range. In smaller tanks or tanks housing soft corals, there are many alternatives including moderate wattage metal halide lamps, as well as very high output (VHO), power compact (PC), or the new T-5 fluorescent lamps. Each of these choices has pros and cons to their use, but as long as the 3-5 watts per gallon rule is observed there will be adequate light for the corals to thrive.

(the 3 - 5 watt rule applies based on each bulbs wattage regardless of type) T-5's will give a bit more than compact or regular flourescents which makes them better in some cases. Depth of the water collum also plays a role. Hope the above information and link help you.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have the Current Nova Extreme T5s on my 55-gallon. The general rule for corals is at least 4 WPG, for clams, SPS and anemones even more, at least 8 WPG. I have about 4 WPG on my tank (I'm saving up to buy reflectors which will increase the amount of light getting to my tank), but my corals and my anemone all do fine under what I have, and I've had them since August. I don't have clams though (yet).

 

[Acrylic51]

Sorry to butt in, but in general watts per gallon is a very poor rule to gauge things by.....You could throw tons of "watts" over a tank and without the right spectrum, kelvin temp, etc....it's worthless....What is the depth of the 46 gallon tank? Depending on depth T5's should work fine.....

 

[Nedim]

20.5 in. deep

 

[JellyMan]

3-5 for softies 6-8 for stonies.

 

[jermpool]

bifferwines tank about as deep as yours so as many watts as her would be efficient.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, mine is the same depth. 20 inches or so.

 

[AndyB4784]

Sorry to butt in, but in general watts per gallon is a very poor rule to gauge things by.....You could throw tons of "watts" over a tank and without the right spectrum, kelvin temp, etc....it's worthless....What is the depth of the 46 gallon tank? Depending on depth T5's should work fine.....

You are correct sir. :Cheers: You have to determine what kind of corals you want to keep and then evaluate what kind of penetration you need into the tank.

 

[JellyMan]

bifferwines tank about as deep as yours so as many watts as her would be efficient.

I concur.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have Current Nova Extreme T5s.

 

[jermpool]

Sorry to butt in, but in general watts per gallon is a very poor rule to gauge things by.....You could throw tons of "watts" over a tank and without the right spectrum, kelvin temp, etc....it's worthless....What is the depth of the 46 gallon tank? Depending on depth T5's should work fine.....

I don't want to sound like a know it all jerk, jellyman keep your comments about that to yourself, but for that general rule to be so poor it sure does work for a lot of people.

 

[AndyB4784]

read this, hopefully it will answer your question (or create some new ones).Lighting Banter and the Problem with "Rules of Thumb"

 

[jhnrb]

Simply put if you take the 46 gal. and do not subtract for substrait or rock you can use the rule of thumb as previously noted. Enough light will be provided to do what you want as long as you also consider the spectrum and the animals you want to keep. The T'5s should do very nice on the 46 bow front system. For clams and most sps corals though I still recommend MH.

 

[JellyMan]

I don't want to sound like a know it all jerk, jellyman keep your comments about that to yourself, but for that general rule to be so poor it sure does work for a lot of people.

What the he!! are you talking about I was agreeing with you dumb@$$