watts per gallon

[Kwater]

now i only have light demanding animals on the left side of my tank so i only put one metal halide on the left side of the tank, along with the t5 lighting they get as well, but the t5 lights are 48 in and go across the whole tank. my queston is what is the approporiat watts per gallon for sps and clams, some of my clams and sps are towards the bottom and one clam is on the sand. so my left side of the tank is about 40 gallons at most and over that 40 gallons of my tank there is a 175 watt metal halide and 2 t5 lights which streatch across the whole tank that are 54 watts each, one white one blue (atinic). is this good?? thanx :)

 

[the reef kid]

This is why WPG is inaccurate in my opinion...lets say you have a 150w halide over a 30g, and then you have the same light over a 125...Lets say you get an acro in that 30g...why can you not have that same acro in the 125, as long as it is the same distance from the light? Oh wait, you can :)

 

[Adrastos]

lets also say that it took me two times to re-read that response to figure out what you were saying..

if we are just saying things ...

 

[Ulta]

The only way to truly know is to get a PAR meter and measure it by that. I have seen data online that measure PAR at diff points in the tank. Pretty much you can guess where the most PAR is (On tips of rocks towards the top of the tank) and place your corals in those places with regards to how much light they require. PAR drops significantly with depth. Also factor in shade, it may not be in the shade but say it might not be in line of sight of the back bulbs then that means its not getting much light from those back bulbs.

Watts/Gallon I think is just the easiest general rule of thumb to gauge adequate light for corals spread out evenly across average tank depths. But it is very vague, there are many more factors to consider.

 

[Jmck]

Well, watts per gallon is useful if you have lights hanging over your ENTIRE tank and you want to know if you can place items anywhere, I believe though that on that section where the light is strong you can have sps and clams without any issues.

 

[the reef kid]

This is actually how I have my tank, but with T5's going all the way across, and a 150w halide and a 250w halide...softies and LPS are on the left with the 150, SPS and clam is are on the right with the 250.

 

[Kwater]

This is actually how I have my tank, but with T5's going all the way across, and a 150w halide and a 250w halide...softies and LPS are on the left with the 150, SPS and clam is are on the right with the 250.

ok co thats kinda how i have my tank set up too, its just i only have a 175 watt halide, thanx for the help :)