How many watts...

[Picasso]

Ok, I've got two lights and I can't figure out which is more intense because I've never figured out how to figure it out. gaaaa

light 1: Coralife: has one bulb in it that has 4 prongs/ tubes. On the bulb it says: 50/50, 96 watt. My LFS guy says this is one heck of an intense light. It is 20 inches.

light 2. Coralife: Has 2 bulbs in it and each bulb has 2 tubes. On the bulbs it says: 50/50, 65 watt. It is 30 inches.

Right now, I've got Light number 2 on my bowfront and I'm going to hang light number one over some indoor plants I've got growing and my 3 gallon Deco. The 3 gallon Deco has a little light on it that is blue and white that reads 18 watt. I hate that light because it's all blue and it isn't really enough for my little deco to grow the macro that I want. It would look like this:

How many watts per gallon is my bowfront tank getting? How many watts per gallon is my 3 gallon Deco getting? How many watts would my Deco get with the 20 inch Coralife light? How high above the tank can I hang this Coralife tank without light degradation? Finally, Does anyone know if these lights are going to help out my plants or am I just fooling myself?

Thanks a bunch!

Catherine

 

[Bifferwine]

Light 1 is 96 watts.
Light 2 is 2 x 65 watts, or 130 watts total.
Existing Deco light is 18 watts.

These all sound like PC lights.

How many gallons is your bowfront? You would just take the watts of the light and divide that by the number of gallons.

Example. The Deco tank is 3 gallons. The light is 18 watts. watts/gallons = 18/3 = 6.

I don't know why you can't grow macro under 6 watts per gallon of PC lights in the Deco. My clam and SPS coral are doing fine with that setup. Are you sure it's not something else? It doesn't take a lot of light at all to grow macro. My fuge is 35 gallons, and I run two 23 watt bulbs over it. That's just over 1 watt per gallon. My chaeto grows like crazy. Algae is not very light demanding.

 

[Picasso]

Thanks, Biff!

Some of my macro is doing great. I've got 8 different types of macro in there. My browns and my mangroves need more light and it's not going to happen with the little light. I've got the tank next to a window but this time of year, the sun is very weak, it gets dark at 4:30! I've grown chaeto practically in the dark and caulerpa doesn't need much. Some macros just need a lot.

Thanks for clearing it up!
C