WhAt WaTtS pEr GaLlOn!!??

[ryan]

hello... i'd like to know how many watts per gallon is reccommended??? my tanks lights are currently only 2.4 watts per gallon... like for growing glosso and riccia, how much does *HIGH* light mean??? and normally what is the daily time the lights are on? thanks a million guys!!![]

[David]

hi ryan

the rule of thumb for a planted tank is at 3 watts per gallon. However this is very subjective as it differs from tank to tank. One of the major factor is actually the height of the tank. Assuming that you have a total of 2.4 watts per gallon, but you may not have 2.4watts right at the bottom of your tank....it could well be 2watts, mid level at 3 watts, top level at 4 watts.

high light plants may require anything from 3.5 right up to 4.5watts, and the daily lighting hour range that most aquatic planters use are between 9hrs to 12hrs.....some may push up to 15hrs..but rare.

As for glosso and ricca....I'm sorry I cannot comment much for you as I dont fancy the two....[]

[koon]

I grow a lot of riccia in my tank.

I've upgraded my 5 feet tank from ~ 2.5 watt per gallon to 4 watt per gallon.
Yes, riccia can gives bubbling under 2.5 watt per gallon but not many.
I've complete riccia bubbling when I upgraded to 4 watt per gallon.

fyi, I'm using PL 6500K light.
Another factor u need to consider if you want to grow riccia is u must have sufficiet CO2.

Hope this help.
rgds

[DEA]

hi ryan
it's very difficult to state what exactly high light means
especially for riccia and glosso, as the light needs to be strong at the bottom of your tank
you'll need to tell us the height and light tubes you're using

and oh, please don't use caps in the title line, it gets to be an eyesore

[David]

hi koon

i'm curious what kind of lamp hood are you using for the Pl.....is it the quad configuration? are you using the 2ft PL tube?

[koon]

I've two 5 feet Ocean Free lamp hood with stand.
Each one fitted with 4 PL lights. Since it is 5 feet, the PL lights never cover the edge of the light hood and thus the lighting at the edge of my aquarium become very dim.

So, recently I asked Mr.Chan from Nature to modify the light to fit in extra two PL tubes to make it six 36W PL light. So total I got 12 PL lights with external e-ballast + a 2 feet light hood which contains two 36W PL lights.

Total = 14 36W PL light 504Watt around 4 watt per gallon.

rgds

[David]

hi koon

that cool...any chance of a pics of your lighting system.......

[Jason_]

This Watts per Gallon thing confuses many people. I simply ignore this number.

A easy rule to follow is :

Length of FL Tubes:
2 Feet Tank --> 1.5feet FL
3 Feet Tank --> 2feet FL
4 Feet Tank --> 3feet FL
5 Feet Tank --> 4feet FL

Number of FL Tubes :
1 Feet Backwidth --> 2 FL tubes
1.5 Feet Backwidth --> 3-4 FL tubes
2.0 Feet Backwidth --> 4-5 FL tubes

Believe me, it is as simple as it is. I have got a 5 footer tank, an I grow riccia and glosso. And I have only 4 FL tubes.

[ryan]

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On 1/5/2002 1:36:28 AM

hi ryan
it's very difficult to state what exactly high light means
especially for riccia and glosso, as the light needs to be strong at the bottom of your tank
you'll need to tell us the height and light tubes you're using

and oh, please don't use caps in the title line, it gets to be an eyesore
----------------

my tank is a 2 feet tank... height is about 36cm... But if u minus the gravel it would be only 32 cm... im using 2xToshiba daylight (18watts each)AND 2x20 watts bigboy 2feet tubes and only one of the tubes is left on... so i have 56 watts of light for 15 gallons of water... 3.7 watts per gallon now... should i turn on the other big boy 20 watt tube?? that would make it 5 watts per gallon... so i dont think i should do that,,, haha...

[David]

hi ryan

best to increase lighting gradually....a sudden increase in wattage could give you an algae problem

[ryan]

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On 1/6/2002 4:21:10 PM

hi ryan

best to increase lighting gradually....a sudden increase in wattage could give you an algae problem
----------------

OPPS!!!
sigh...

[David]

okay ryan...what happened?

[sherchoo]

Again I would like to remind you guys that the 3W/G is just a guide. Certain light tubes may perform differently. The best way would be to examine the growth of your plants. If they are growing nicely, juz let them be. If not then incerease but gradually.

Ryan,
If the 3.7W/g is doing fine then let it be. If you feel it's not enuf then switch on your additional lights. Again you be aware that this additional lights will cos algae to grow. For my 1m tank is getting 4W/g. Any less the plants don't respond to well. Go figure.....

[ryan]

hey David... i didn't increase gradually... so i got some BBA i dont know if it was due to the lights... have been having BBA for quite a while already... i'm dealing with pretty much stemmed plants so trimming is a mess... and they grow so fast, if they stop growing i get worried... the glosso even after i increased the lights are again growing upwards... i might have another problem, me using an internal filter due to tight budget... eheim 2006, so i'm kinda worried about my bacteria colonies and if its actually suitable... so far there has been no problems... but i have not checked the nitrate level yet,,,

[David]

hi ryan....

BBA is not light dependant.....it probably something else and my guess may be a sudden increase in your fishload.....remember the green neon? how bad is the BBA....if you can remove them....better and do it ASAP......if you are able to switch to an external....it may be better.

[ryan]

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On 1/12/2002 2:57:41 AM

hi ryan....

BBA is not light dependant.....it probably something else and my guess may be a sudden increase in your fishload.....remember the green neon? how bad is the BBA....if you can remove them....better and do it ASAP......if you are able to switch to an external....it may be better.
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maybe i'll buy a cheap atman... BBA not really bad... how much would it cost??? the atman external??? maybe i'll buy it tomorrow...

[stanley]

Ryan,

Last I check, the atman exsternal filter is selling for $80 at PetMart.. The lowest model should be suitable for a 2 feet tank..

Never check if the filter media is also included... I think they have..

[Bobar57]

Hi,my 2 cents opinion.
While there is a general used guide of 3(or 2 sometimes)watts per gallon,this is only a reference point that most of the time misguide all.
Watts is a measure of energy consumed(in this case to generate certain amount of light)and while some bulbs generate aprox.the same amount of lights,others don't.
I'm not talking just about differents type of bulbs(fluorescents vs compact fluorescents or metal halide,etc),even in the same category two different brands perform different,not to add the type of bulb(triphosphorous,daylight,actinic,you name it).
If you're gonna use fluorescents is better to use T8 bulbs,they generate more light per watt than T12 bulbs.If you are concerned about space,it will be a better choice compact fluorescent bulbs,you can pack more bulbs,therefore more light in your hood.
Also take into consideration the clarity of your water,the more clear,the more light reach the bottom.Also deeper tanks require more light than shallow tanks.

[ryan]

woah... so cheem... whats with the t8 and t12 thing... so if the watts per gallon is a misguide then actually we can just put lights according to the plants growth lah... sigh,,, but if therez too much light i will get algae...