Lumen and Lux standards are the lihting industries widely accepted numerical metod of judging lighting schemes, needs, outputs , what have you. Yes they were originally concerened with the wave lengths most visible to the human eyes vision needs. However, they are now accepted and used in all the trades in regard to lighting. Yes corals have spectrum needs that are not intune with human vision, and Par at different wave lengths are measured for different uses, such as coral needs for optimal growth, plant needs for optimal growth, and human lighting needs for office work versus relaxation and or putting on makeup. I do not doubt that for shallow tanks that T-5's put out more bang for the buck when properly choosen for K values and when each bulb has its own reflector and the spacing between the lights and the water is less than 6 inches or so. I just say again, that for a deep tank a T-5 cannot porovide adequate Lux (intensity) at proper Par. Even medium depth tanks need so many T-% bulbs as to make the cost sayings and heat differences between thema and halide pretty close to non existant. Put 8, 9 or even 10 T-% bulbs under a hood and it is not a cheap installation nor is it a mluch cooler installaion than a halide setup putting out the same par and greater lux. Actually it might be more expensive and hotter. People are even over feeding T-%'s with icecap electronic ballasts. I do not advocate halides smaller than 250 Watts be used on any tank as the cost is to high versus the alternatives such as T-5's and VHO's, or even some of the better NO tubes. However, I advocate in any tank with over eighteen inches of water over the gravel that the person use halides for maximum hard coral growth. And for SPS 250 watt halides for anything much over 12 inches of water over the gravel for maximum health and growth. Unless you do not want hard corals at the bottom of your tanks or SPS anywhere but the top third of your tank.
As far as physics or whatever. I do not doubt facts when they are repeatedly provable. Just about ever thing used in the aquarium trades was originally designed for something else and adapted to aquarium use. Trickle filters, lighting systems, skimmers, refractormeter, pH meters, testing reagents. Even our salt mixes were designed originally for the sciences. There are a lot of people with degrees that have made the aquarium hobby what it is. Very few non professionals have made many great contributions to this field. Even when the non professional comes up with a good idea it is usually the professional who puts it to paper and through the design, testing and manafacturing stages. I am not trying to exclude the non degree professionals. They make great contributions. But I will never abandon science.
When you learn the use of the proper terminology thst is already widely accepted (look at the Lux meters in Aquarium catalogs) we will have something more to talk about Ryan. The terms Lumen and Lux apply what ever the spectrum of light. When you bring up photosynsitivity your just talking lumens as a measure in that lighting range. Lux is lux, no matter what. You can have a different Lumen rating and a different Lux rating for each section (frequency band) of each light (bulb) source. I do not think you even know what point your trying to argue.
