# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Lighting Questions....Please Help.



## Detox (Feb 26, 2004)

I am interested in a 29 gallon setup. The setup will currently comes with the standard canopy and 30" striplight. I am aiming to turn the setup into a planted tank. Unfortunately the current strip light only has one 20W flourescent tube. 

I went to Big Al's today and looked at alternative lighting options. I pulled a 30" 55W Compact Flourescent "All Glass" Strip light from the shelf and it fits perfectly on the 29 gallon setup. 

I told the employee my intentions of a planted tank and mentioned my concern of watts per gallon. I said the 55W is nice but that is still less than 2 WPG, he said no you are much over 3 watts per gallon because the power compact is a couple of times the wattage of normal flourescent bulbs. So based on his theory a 55W compact flourescent bulb over a 29 gallon will give me 3+ WPG.

Can anyone please confirm this.

Thanks

Detox


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## Detox (Feb 26, 2004)

I am interested in a 29 gallon setup. The setup will currently comes with the standard canopy and 30" striplight. I am aiming to turn the setup into a planted tank. Unfortunately the current strip light only has one 20W flourescent tube. 

I went to Big Al's today and looked at alternative lighting options. I pulled a 30" 55W Compact Flourescent "All Glass" Strip light from the shelf and it fits perfectly on the 29 gallon setup. 

I told the employee my intentions of a planted tank and mentioned my concern of watts per gallon. I said the 55W is nice but that is still less than 2 WPG, he said no you are much over 3 watts per gallon because the power compact is a couple of times the wattage of normal flourescent bulbs. So based on his theory a 55W compact flourescent bulb over a 29 gallon will give me 3+ WPG.

Can anyone please confirm this.

Thanks

Detox


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

We're in the same situation as I also have the tank you have. Lighting is bad to say the least. I recently got a fixture that is 2X55W PC. Unfortunately its bulbs were meant for marine tanks, so I ended up ordering two new bulbs specifically for plants. For your question, I think it is true that pc's are more intense than NO's, however, it's still not enough in terms of giving the plants what they need. I think it is true, however, that in really big or small tanks WPG rule doesn't really apply. It's more about the intensity of light. In our case, however, we have 29-gal, and for the most part wattage per gal rule still applies as it doesn't qualify to be a really small tank nor a really big tank. Also, you need to consider the coverage area. A single bulb, pc or NO, is simply not enough. You got corners and sides plus maybe front and back. Two bulbs would definitely be better in terms of coverage and option. I am getting a 5500K and a 6500K. Hope any of my rambling made sense









Paul


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## Detox (Feb 26, 2004)

I really appreciate the quick response. However I am now receiving conflicting responses (I posted the same question on another board)

Points people agree with:

1. The PC is slightly more efficient (due to intensity) therefore I could probably calculate the 55W as approx 70w

2. PC will definetely not be 3 times more powerful than a normal flourescent.

Conflict:

One 55W PC over a 29 gallon is adequate lighting to grow most plants. Perhaps some plant such as red plants may have trouble.

No I am really confused.


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

No worries







The conflicting part is not really anything you should worry too much about. The thing is this: it all depends on how serious you want to aquascape your tank. If you want to do something that resembles Dutch or Amano style tanks then your tank will be that of a high maintenance tank. This means pretty much everything should/would be high quality and high tech gadgets. Things such as pressurized CO2 injection, power compact fluorescent(which according to many should be higher than 4WPG), many intense colored plants, etc... In terms of lighting, therefore, you are aiming at its intensity, rather than its wattage. Our tanks, the 29-gal, is 16 inch deep for the most part. Regular NO bulbs simply will have harder time penetrating, especially when compared to the compact fluorescent ones. Size is another issue. Our tanks are 30 in long, and it is so much easier to find PC bulbs that are adequate for that kind of length than regular NO fluorescent bulbs. The light that came with our tank is a 24" 20W bulb. You could get away with 2 or even 3 of these bulbs if your plants are not light demanding. 2 bulbs would give you 40W and 3 would give 60W. There are many low light demanding plants that would do nicely under this set up; Anubias, Crypt, Ferns, Moss, Duck Weed, and many others.

All in all, it all comes down to your personal preference, really. There are 'general' rules, but for the most part personal experience often varies. You just have to do some experimentation. I hope all these didn't make you all the more confused If I were you I would do this first. Figure out what kind of plants you are interested in keeping, if that is your primary concern(in this case, plants and not the fish is emphasized) Do the home work and if some of them dictates higher lighting than the one you currently have then the answer should become obvious. Budgeting then, becomes your second foremost concern. If you are at all handy in wood work and carpentry, then AH Supply (http://www.ahsupply.com/) is an excellent place. It lets you customize lighting; many members in the forum have this as do I. Good luck with your endeavour!

Paul


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

A fluorescent watt is a fluorescent watt. I don't care if it comes from a T12 or a T5 bulb. It's still a watt. PC bulbs are not magic. If they were 70 watts they would be sold as 70 watts. The fixture you have is 55 watts. And it has in the past had a flat reflector that IMHO is not the best. So that light is going to give you less than 2 watts per gallon. Anyone that tells you different is blowing smoke up your butt.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I pretty much agree with Rex. I don't think a power compact flourescent is significantly any brighter than a normal flourescent, watt per watt. Watt is not a measurement of brightness... lumens or foot candles measure brightness, but on a average per watt basis I think both types of bulbs are pretty close.


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## Steve Hampton (Feb 13, 2004)

While I'll agree that a fluorescent watt is a fluorescent watt...that is only a measurement of power, not intensity.

PC's produce quite a bit more intensity than a typical T-12 fixture. If you compare a 3X40W magnetic ballast fixture to a 2X55W electronic ballast fixture the difference is substantial...even if they both have the same reflectors. Ballast have a huge part in determining how much those watts of power are converted into lighting intensity. Anyone that has switched from magnetic ballast T-12's to electronic ballast T-8's can also attest to a significant increase in lighting intensity. 

Wattsage is a nice general way to estimate how much lighting is needed for a planted tank. However, different types of fluorescent lamps and ballast combinations will often produce very different results. In freshwater planted tanks the differences aren't as obvious as with Saltwater tanks. The difference between normal output 200W of T-12 lighting compared to 220W of PC lighting can mean life and death to some of the animals.

As a last example, compare a three foot tank. A T-12 fixture with 3X30W will look dark when compared to a 96W PC beast. All fluorescents fixtures and lamps will not produce the same intensity watt per watt.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

To support Steve's point (not that it needs supporting), here's how I understand it.

"Watts" is the measure of the power consumed by a bulb/tube . In computer terms, it is the "input". As aquatic plant growers, We are more concerned with the output, the intensity of the light, which, unfortunately, is harder to determine, so we are stuck with "watts per gallon" because there is not much else. 

"Lux" measures the light intesnity at a distance from the light source. If this were readily available it would eliminate a lot of
the controversy about different kinds of light, the effect of tank depth, and a host of other light-related issues.

It would be nice if someone with the resources, including a waterproof lux meter, would undertake this project.

Bill


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## feefeefish (Apr 5, 2004)

I just bought the same fixture for my 29g today from Big Al's. I didn't go crazy over wattage because the room the tank is in is very bright year 'round. I was thinking that the ambient room light would add to the wattage. Is this ever calculated in considering lights for planted tanks?


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

That is a good question, but I still think it's highly unlikely....unless several factors are taken into consideration. One, the room light is very near the tank. Two, the plants develop emersed leaves, which will be more readily functional to absorb the room light. Three, the type of light of the room light. Obviously, if you have metal halide or fluorescent bulbs with Kelvin reading in the range suitable for growing plants then the plants might have better response, even if it's a little distant. Still a good question to ask and think about, though









Paul


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## nino (Oct 2, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Is this ever calculated in considering lights for planted tanks?


I agree with Paul. The bright ambient room light won't help at all unless you use Metal halides as the light sources and have one over the ceiling above the tank







You could try this method to prove it. Take a picture of your tank with your ahsupply fix. right on top of the tank. Then raise it 6" and take another pic. Then raise it another 6" (12" total) and take another pic. You could see that the loss of intensity is more like "inverse square law" (not very exact). From 12-24", the loss of intensity is closer to 1/4 rather than 1/2. Raising another 6" and you may only have 1/16 of the initial intensity.


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