watts per gallon?

emilsanto · 05-24-2006, 12:32 AM

i need some advise on lighting for a 125 gallon tank. if i was to use pc flouresents how many watts per gallon do i need. i plan on just fish and some live rock and sand.? and can i keep some corals with just power compacts
thanks

dobejazz · 05-24-2006, 07:15 AM

For Fish Only With Lire Rock Normal Fluorescent lighting will be fine. Watts per gallon is kind of misleading since other factors affect the lighting like the depth of the tank. You could keep some low light corals if you upgrade to PC's

motorslave · 05-24-2006, 08:43 AM

I agree, with PC's you could keep a variety of soft coral depending on howmany bulbs you use. With a tank of 48" long or more you may want to consider VHO. They are very versatile and in a pinch you could use a standard tube (like at Home Depot) and the ballast will overdrive it. With the PC you can only run the bulbs its designed for. Also you can get away with less bulbs using VHO.

Robert

Jflip2002 · 06-21-2006, 02:54 AM

Bump this thread.... I could use some more info too! I need light in a 36" wide 26 gallon tank. I have 3 clowns, and a bunch of soft corals, a torch and a flower pot.

Geoff · 06-21-2006, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jflip2002

Bump this thread.... I could use some more info too! I need light in a 36" wide 26 gallon tank. I have 3 clowns, and a bunch of soft corals, a torch and a flower pot.

the depth of the tank is more important than the length of the tank. soft corals will be fine with just about any lighting above NO flourescents. the same with the torch. as for the flower pot, good luck. their survivability in our systems is very poor. i am assuming this is a Goniopora spp.

G~

Jflip2002 · 06-21-2006, 03:57 PM

The tank isnt very tall.... 18"? My flower pots have been doing well, relatively speaking. Its only about 60% of the size it was at the fish store, where it was under MH lighting, with tons of flow. It has tons of flow right now, but its on the bottom of my tank in the sand. I should probably get some of that putty stuff, and stick it higher.

Im probably going to go 130 or 190 in PC lighting pretty soon, within the next month, when everything dies off that shouldnt be there....

numan · 06-21-2006, 07:46 PM

The rule of thumb is 2 watts per gallon

jdbassin · 06-21-2006, 07:51 PM

Well the rule of thumb is misleading to. you have to take into consideration the depth of the tank. The type of lighting, The par rating of the given lighting. Consider it this way say you have a 15 gal tank thats 16 inches deep 2 watts per gallon is only 30w but in a 55 also 16 inches deep 2 w per gallon is 110w so an animal sitting the same depth under water sitting under 30w or 110w would be a huge difference, Just my .o2

Geoff · 06-21-2006, 08:22 PM

right now i have 820w over my 125g which is BB. when i had a DSB i had over 1100w of light over a 125g. i do plan on adding another 175w MH to it, but it is for better light despersion.

this will be an SPS/clam tank so high lighting in necessary.

for softies you can easily get away with 4w per gallon. for that depth tank you can use any form of light you want. if you go much deeper than MH's will start to be more of a necessity.

G~

cclayton · 06-21-2006, 08:35 PM

This shows how misleading the watts per gallon is. I've always heard 3-5 watts per gallon. I like VHO's, ecspecially if you're retroing them under a canopy. I know Aqua Medic has some 72" T5HO Fixtures that would look great.