# WPG NO style



## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

I get the overwhelming feeling that I just dont have enough light in this tank. I get great growth and pearling. but i wonder often if i'm really driving thses plants enough.
the 3.4 wpg i have is from a 48" inch shoplight totalling two 40 watt bulbs for 80 max and a 20 watt light thats actually more to the 29 gallons size.

i wonder of the 80 i have how much am i actually losing by having the ends hanging over a bit on each side... or is that a nil point?

my lilaeopsis is awfully tall and its too soon to tell but i worry that my HC will be too.

Ian


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## shalu (Oct 1, 2004)

Well, you are getting 30" out of 48", about 50watt, and due to no good reflector, it is more or less equivalent to 20-25watt PC with AHSupply reflector.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

ah i see... but i dont get what you mean by no good reflector. it's got a huge reflector. that cant be right.

80 or rather 50 of it is in the 48"'s and 20 is in the 24" t-12 as well. i've got a 20watt PC over my ten and it's no whwere near as bright as all this.

that means i have 2.4 watts... hmmm


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## SnyperP (Dec 10, 2004)

Visual brightness and light intensity are two different things. Probably one of the reasons why 48" shoplight looks so bright is because it is...48 inches! =p You said you have a 29g tank? Is it a 29 tall? That might some of the issues right there. Shoplight t-12's have less penetrating power than nearly all the other lights out there. They may have huge reflectors, but they are designed to diffuse light into the whole room. AHsupply reflectors are designed to be a very narrow light spread....some say it's too narrow!


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

well being that i sat it right across the top i figured... well here... oh and the tank is 18" tall but it's only 16" to the substrate less in the rear of the tank
well here i'll show you









well i dont know what to do cause i cant afford special lighting, i'm all DIY on the cheap if i'm going to have it at all. not a choice just my only option it took me forever to get pressure co2 going and to be honest i'm still waiting on a credit app to lease a tank from airgas for $10 a month so. people always say stuff like the money you pay now will save you money later, or even better that the money you save now will cost you more down the road, but see to people who only have X amount now thats not really helpful. so if anyone has any ideas that dont include more expensive lighting i'm all ears, and please dont write back saying that this $150 light over at "y" site isnt that expensive. 150 for a light is expensive...
i have school and it comes first. and it leaves me with very little.
Ian


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## SnyperP (Dec 10, 2004)

I completely understand where you're coming from. It is expensive! I've was scrapping together pennies together for almost 3 months to save up for my CO2 system. My lighting is 2 2x13 kits. One i bought almost a year ago and another i bought to supplement the older kit when i got a larger 20g tank. I bought a bag of eco that sat in my closet for a month until i saved up more money to buy a 20g tank. My stand is an old used stand that has been floating around my family for almost a decade! I'm sure my story is not unique around here and many others have pieced together their setups as well! Would i do it again if i had the chance? Without a doubt. This hobby is extremely gratifying. Don't be discouraged. Maybe it was too early for you to have gone pressurized? I was doing DYI for almost a year on my 10g and a few months on my 20g.

Anyways, back to your lighting issue. What about overdriving your current setup? It'll essentially run your lights at a higher power output providing more light (and heat). You have to remember that doubling your power will not double your lighting. There are diminishing returns. I believe there is a power over at PT if you want to look over there.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

Yeah I looked at that awhile back. Not sure i'm confident doing that, and no one had instructions on my paticular lights. lol
i just dont want too burn the old house down.

i do have another shoplight. if i do the same thing to it that i'm doing with this one, and maybe some reflector bending. according to shalu i should have more like 110 watts. which would be a true? 3.8 watts

thats the question... how do i get a real number as to wattage in these lights?
or do you shalu have a formula or something. i only ask so i can do this accurately.

Ian


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## SnyperP (Dec 10, 2004)

That's one of the things that has seemed to always confuse me. People always recommend specific WPG to certian hobbyists, but they never specify what type of lighting. I'm sure there is a huge difference between reflected and unreflected lighting, in pc vs t-X vs mhs. 

I'm not sure if adding another shoplight over the tank will help the problem. I'm not even sure if it would fit width wise. I'm very curious if you could just take your existing shoplight and essentially shorten it for 24" bulbs. Would this essentially doing the same thing is ODNO? Maybe you should ask over at PT, they seem to do more dyi ODNO style lighting over there.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

you mean back to front? they do. i already put them up there.

i know what your saying. i just happen to have one of those odd shaped tanks you know. i dont know.

i saw these shoplights made with thos PC bulbs that have one connector and four bulbs. i dont know if they are the same wattage or anything as the coralife that have the same footprint...
if so they would be 96 watt i think, they are straight pin base i think.
but i dont as to whether that would make any difference.
I suppose i could OD them or shorten it.. but i dont know welding or anything so i dont know how i would recconect it once shortened. and i've been over at TPT and Pm'd some poeple about it, but i never got any answers only links to places i had seen but didnt really answer the real questions.
i'm going to keep looking though as to whether just shortening it will be the same as OD'ing

i guess i'm just stuck with this until i can someday afford a pc fixture, or build one or something.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

Whats everybody think of this?
http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=144

it's 36" though, so unless the feet sit at 30" i dont think it will fit my 29 gallon, and the next size down is 24"

?
Ian


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## shalu (Oct 1, 2004)

You are better off spending a few more dollars for the AHSupply 1x96w kit, it will provide more than DOUBLE the light of the kit shown due to the reflector. Yes, you will be wasting a few inches of light.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

the issue there is that i dont think i'm skilled enough to make a hood that will sit right and or fit. AH Supplies site makes it look easy... but..

Ian


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## brad (Jul 10, 2005)

I was looking at that light too. When I figured out how much they charge to ship, it came to nearly the same price as the AHSupply. Choosing between the 2 is a no brainer. Kim from AHS did warn me that his 96 watt kit is ALOT of light.

The research I did on that light from aquatraders turned up alot of people who's fixture burned out after a couple of months. Broken bulbs on arrival, bulbs that seemed in tact but just didn't work....... It went on and on. The only thing that seemed worse than the light was the customer service Aquatraders provides.

I understand your delema with not being able to build a hood, but a new light fixture that doesn't work doesn't sound much more appealing.


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## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

well... i'm gonna have to figure something out. i have all this high light planting done and no high light hehehe

Ian


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