Lighting calculations

[ron101]

Originally Posted by daddy01

On other forum the general rule is x Watts per gallon and I emphasize general, what I want to know is if that wattage refers to the accumulated wattage contained in fixture 65W 10000K daylight +65W Actnic 03=130Watts does it matter whether it is Blue actnic or Daylight.
Jim

As others have said, watts/gallon is such an oversimplified guideline that it is practically useless. What we are actually looking for is the amount of photosynthetic radiation, which you will see referred to as PAR, at the point where the coral is located.

Generally the higher the color temperature of the bulbs used, the less PAR they put out. So 5500K has more PAR than 10000K and 10000K has more than actinics, etc. So yes it matters.