Do Glass Tops Affect Watts Per Gallon?

[Steveo McNello]

Hello again everybody.

Recently I built my canopy, got my lights going and planted my 125. I'm just wondering if the glass tops prevent any light, or minimize my true watts per gallon. Assuming the glass doesn't get in the way, I'm running 2.88 wpg.

Anybody have any input? I use six 60 watt daylight CFL's. If need be I could add a piece of wood to the back [to prevent jumpers] and take the glass off. I have a HOB filter as my second filter so it would still allow air to move in and out of the canopy.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[nes999]

i dont know the answer to ur question but the watts per gallon rule of thumb has be phased out. you might want to go to the planted tank section. theirs a ton of good info over their.

 

[philfreenode]

Never affected me much unless I get algae or lime deposits on the glass

 

[Steveo McNello]

Yeah I keep the glass tops very clean for that reason.

 

[insanity0x1]

lol i dont understand..glass has nothing to do with WPG..thats electricity...lights..pumps..heaters..lol watts per gallon was a general rule of thumb for heater size

 

[Steveo McNello]

The guy at my LFS store told me a while ago when I was getting into plants that WPG was the amount of light needed.

 

[insanity0x1]

normally lights are measured in Kelvins (light "temperature") rather than watts. higher on one light spectrum scale is for groth of plants etc, then lower on the other scale (blue scale etc) for coral growth because they need the light for photosynthesis.

 

[Steveo McNello]

Oh alright. Sooo will the glass matter?

 

[insanity0x1]

nope.. the glass lids just help with jumpers and somewhat evaporation

 

[Juxtaroberto]

Oh alright. Sooo will the glass matter?

My guess is yes, but the effect is negligible. I think if the glass tops were something like 6 inches thick, then it would really start mattering, especially with the iron ions in the glass making that green tint, but as for glass tops, no.