Lighting question for smaller tank

[urbanhellfire]

Originally Posted by Pier Pressure

Very informative, thank you. This was a great thread to start as I have been wondering about lighting since I got into the saltwater hobby.

....and my wife says iam good for nothing.


I looked at the sun blaze lighting and it looks like it might be a good idea but this is where I show just how little I know about light.

A 2' pc fixture can be rated at lets say 2 x 65w.
A 2' T-5 HO fixture can be rated at 2 x 24w.

I know lumens mean everything, but on alot of Forums you hear people say you need X amount of wattage per gal.

Now if thats true would you not be better off going with the higher wattage bulbs?

Now iam going to stand back and put on my flame suit ( so I dont get burned )

[Whatigot]

Originally Posted by urbanhellfire

....and my wife says iam good for nothing.


I looked at the sun blaze lighting and it looks like it might be a good idea but this is where I show just how little I know about light.

A 2' pc fixture can be rated at lets say 2 x 65w.
A 2' T-5 HO fixture can be rated at 2 x 24w.

I know lumens mean everything, but on alot of Forums you hear people say you need X amount of wattage per gal.

Now if thats true would you not be better off going with the higher wattage bulbs?

Now iam going to stand back and put on my flame suit ( so I dont get burned )

Lumens is important, but par is more so.
very simply put, par is the ability of any given light source to penetrate the depths of your tank.
Higher wattage does not always mean higher par.
if you do a search under "halides" you will find some very good articles and discusiion on this....

[urbanhellfire]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

Lumens is important, but par is more so.
very simply put, par is the ability of any given light source to penetrate the depths of your tank.
Higher wattage does not always mean higher par.
if you do a search under "halides" you will find some very good articles and discusiion on this....

Lots of good stuff when I searched Halides, Iam guessing par is the light reflecting hood that forces the light into the tank so little light is wasted?

From the top of my sand bed to the bottom of my bulb is about 10" , now I can see this being a issue for someone people with deeper tanks but I think with this smaller tank I should be just fine one way or another

[Whatigot]

at 10" deep, i would use pc's.
thats just personal choice.

[urbanhellfire]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

at 10' deep, i would use pc's.
thats just personal choice.

I would not want to try and light OR clean a 10' deep tank.....

Iam leaning towards the pcs...... today anyways.