# Sorry, I'm just really confused ='(



## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

I'm sorry for asking this question over and over again, but I'm having difficulty understanding this. 
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=535&item=340466&prDeTab=2#A

So would this be 90Ws or 26Ws?

Are watts an energy/electricity thing or is it the output of lights. And if it's an energy thing then whats up with WPG (watts per gallon)? Plus, what's up with compact lights always saying "Replace 90 watt PAR38 size outdoor floodlight with 26 watt bulb" I DON'T GET IT!?!?!


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

*Replace 90 watt PAR38 size outdoor floodlight with 26 watt bulb

*Basically that means a 90 watt regular floodlight bulb uses 90 watts of energy and produces 90 watts of light.

The Compact Flourescent Bulb uses 26 watts of energy but produces an equivalent 90 watts of incandescent light.

Incandescents was a lot of energy in the form of heat, and do not produce as much light as CFs.

For our aquarium purpose we are refering to the light produced by the Compact Flourescent in terms of Compact Flourescents energy. In this case it would be 26 watts of CF light.

-John N.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

It seems you are looking for lighting. Replacing a bulb won't help much if it's a large tank. You will likely need a completely new fixture if you want to upgrade your lighting. AHsupply.com is a great source of light options, also see drsfostersmith.com for Coralife Compact Flourescent fixtures.

What size tank do you have? Maybe we can help narrow down some fixture options. 

-John N.


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## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

John N. said:


> For our aquarium purpose we are refering to the produced by the Compact Flourescent in terms of Compact Flourescents energy. In this case it would be 26 watts.


I got stuck here...


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## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

John N. said:


> It seems you are looking for lighting. Replacing a bulb won't help much if it's a large tank. You will likely need a completely new fixture if you want to upgrade your lighting. AHsupply.com is a great source of light options, also see drsfostersmith.com for Coralife Compact Flourescent fixtures.
> 
> What size tank do you have? Maybe we can help narrow down some fixture options.
> 
> -John N.


It's nice of you to reply so late, knowing that you live in California it's 12AM!

I've got a 45 gallon tank, but the problem with AHsupply.com is that I can't order online and I can't seem to find them in LFS. I would like to get around 3.+ WPG. I already have a hood for 21''.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I have some PMs to answer and catch up on. 

I fixed typo, so hopefully that makes sense now. I'm sure someone else will jump in and explain it better than I.

Ahsupply won't be found in fish stores. Order via internet is easy. But I'm assuming you don't have access to credit card or paypal account. You can always stop by Albany aquarium, and pick up a Coralife Fixture from them. I think there's a Petstore on Broadway and 22-23rd street that has Coralife Fixtures for $$$. You'll need 110 watts of CF light for a decent setup. 

-John N.


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## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

John N. said:


> I have some PMs to answer and catch up on.
> 
> I fixed typo, so hopefully that makes sense now. I'm sure someone else will jump in and explain it better than I.
> 
> ...


Do you mean Lucky Goldfish? Do I have to buy fixtures? Could I just buy two 55 watts bulbs and add them to this?
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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Fluorescent lights match a bulb with a ballast. If the ballast is designed for 20 watt bulbs, installing 50 watt bulbs will not give you 50 watts of lighting. If the bulbs light at all they will run at about 20 watts. So, if you want to keep that fixture, but increase the light output, you need to replace both the ballast and the bulbs with compatible, high wattage units. You can use a higher wattage ballast, hooked up to overdrive the bulbs, and get more light than with a regular ballast, but the bulbs may not last as long, and there are limits to how much you can overdrive them. Don't try this unless you are willing to do the research and study to understand how it is done.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Ah yes, Lucky Goldfish is the name. Their Lighting fixtures are expensive $50-60 over priced from standard $100, but since you can't buy online I figure that's the only option.

I personally wouldn't overdrive anything. In my opinion It's just too risky if you don't know what your doing. So that leaves you with only a couple of options.

1. Buy a New 110 watt CF fixture such as the Coralife
2. Find a way to purchase online, and get an AHsupply.com kit, or purchase one online via APC's for sale area, or drsfostersmith.com, hellolights.com, bigalsonline.com.

Again, replacing the bulb in that fixture will not yield any postive or dramatic results. In fact, like hoppy said, it'll basically do nothing for you.

-John N.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

Maybe we can clear this up so there isn't as much confusion around it... The term watt for our purposes is used to quantify the energy consumed by the bulb. This has nothing to do with actuall light output. A 60watt incandecant bulb consumes 60Watts of energy and produces roughly 800 lumens. Lumens Quantify light energy, something like 1 lumen is equivelant to the light produced by one candle or something like that. Lumens and Watts are COMPLETELY different. 
The watt per gallon rule was created to ease the confusion about lumens because calculating lumens produced by our light fixtures can be complicated and really isnt that necessary as long as we can get it close. So someone figured a guidline of how much light energy we would need for our tanks at various sizes and converted this to a rough estimate of wattage needed by the average light fixture to produce this.

All that being said, the WPG rule is extrememly different when used for Normal Output flourecent bulbs compared to Compact Flourecent bulbs because the light output is very different for these two lighting technologies so they cannot be dirrectly compared the same goes for VHO, HO, MH, incandecent or really every other lighting technology out there.. Generelly for planted tanks people seem to use CFL bulbs so this is what the WPG rule is geared toward. 

So to answer your question, the boxes at the store that say 60W of lighting for 16W consumed are used to sell this product. Its labeled for replacing incadecant bulbs in your house.. A 16W CFL bulb consumes 16W but produces the same light output as a 60W incandecant bulb. This is great marketing for the average person trying to save a couple bucks on thier electric bill and do something to help the environment (whole other story)... but as far as the WPG rule is concerned 16Watts CFL is 16Watts. 

I hope this helps to de-mystify the comparison between CFL and incandecant and the terms Watts and Lumens.


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