hole in the wall
- Thread starter jp80911
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each of them is 27 watts ? i don't think that is enough for the plants when they say it ouputs the equivalent of 100 watts they are comparing it to an incandescent lamp so it's still only 81 watts of flourescent (0.4 watts per gallon) id suggest stepping it up to about 1 watt per gallon for good growth.jp80911;4437820; said:
and don't kid yourself you know it'll be a p tank soon enough.
I must coment on how nice the tank looks with the "spotlight effect" excellent job.
Thanks Zander, I like the spotlight effect myself, it actually turn out better than I thought 
really not sure how light requirement is generated, I mean the output wattage is just an energy unit, doesn't matter what type of lighting is used (HID, MH, LED, flourescent, etc). probably lumen is what's important here. each bulb outputs 1750 lumen and I basically plant all the plants within the light spots.
so far the plants are growing pretty good with the lights so I'll see how that goes, I have plenty additional lights around to add to the tank so if can upgrade if needed.
the lights doesn't look as bright in the picture is because the few big piece driftwoods in the tank and some small driftwoods and almond leaves in the sump, the water has a little tea color black water effect to it which made the light doesn't look as bright.
right now it's a black arowana tank but you are correct, it might very well turn into a p tank. (picking up a potential resident this weekend, so excited. but it won't go into this tank anytime soon.)
really not sure how light requirement is generated, I mean the output wattage is just an energy unit, doesn't matter what type of lighting is used (HID, MH, LED, flourescent, etc). probably lumen is what's important here. each bulb outputs 1750 lumen and I basically plant all the plants within the light spots.
so far the plants are growing pretty good with the lights so I'll see how that goes, I have plenty additional lights around to add to the tank so if can upgrade if needed.
the lights doesn't look as bright in the picture is because the few big piece driftwoods in the tank and some small driftwoods and almond leaves in the sump, the water has a little tea color black water effect to it which made the light doesn't look as bright.
right now it's a black arowana tank but you are correct, it might very well turn into a p tank. (picking up a potential resident this weekend, so excited. but it won't go into this tank anytime soon.)
Yeah i was just saying you can put in 27 watts and have an output of 100 watts it's just that because flourescents are more efficient than incandescents, 27 watts of flourescent will give off the same amount of "radiant energy" as 100 watts of incandescent which is great if your putting them up in your house but incandescents were never suitable for planted aquariums anyway so saying they have an output of 100 watts in incorrect. Incandescents have an efficiency of 3% which means that 3% of the input wattage is turned into light so a 100 watt bubl will give off 3 watts of actual energy the rest is turned into heat (which will become radiant energy by itself in the form of infrared waves but that we can't see that and neither can your plants so all it will do is heat up your tank) flourescents have more variable efficiencies typically it's about 20% but compact flourescents are a little lower so it also equates to about 3-4 watts so it looks like the manufacturer actualy got the specifications right on this one.jp80911;4440851; said:Thanks Zander, I like the spotlight effect myself, it actually turn out better than I thought
really not sure how light requirement is generated, I mean the output wattage is just an energy unit, doesn't matter what type of lighting is used (HID, MH, LED, flourescent, etc). probably lumen is what's important here. each bulb outputs 1750 lumen and I basically plant all the plants within the light spots.
so far the plants are growing pretty good with the lights so I'll see how that goes, I have plenty additional lights around to add to the tank so if can upgrade if needed.
the lights doesn't look as bright in the picture is because the few big piece driftwoods in the tank and some small driftwoods and almond leaves in the sump, the water has a little tea color black water effect to it which made the light doesn't look as bright.
right now it's a black arowana tank but you are correct, it might very well turn into a p tank. (picking up a potential resident this weekend, so excited. but it won't go into this tank anytime soon.)
Im such a nerd for having the efficiencies memorized lol
And just so you know if the blackwater effect is making your lights appear dimmer you have to take that into consideration it is blocking out some of the light your plants could be using. Thats why very few high end planted tanks have a blackwater effect going.IT's not just "Im putting in this much light the dark colour of the water is making it look like less' it's "Im putting in this much light half of which is absorbed (and converted to heat) by the dark colour of the water."
people created the watts per gallon rule for t12 flourescents which are very close in efficiency to compact flourescents but the rule simply doesn't work for other lighting sources (unless you multiply the value by the difference in efficiency for example LED's are about twices as efficient as flourescents (40% efficiency) so i would half all the normal WPG rules/ratings I.e 1 wpg for low light becomes .5 watts per gallon)
im going to be going with a DIY array of 3 watt LED's to grow plants in my p tank, it won't be cheap but it'll pay for itself in not having to replace bulbs and drawing less power in no time at all.
Hopefully anyway
Anyway take care.