Lighting Question

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bizzy928

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Mar 12, 2003
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Hello,

I just did a search and I didn't find any answers to my specific question.

10 Gallon
1 Month fishless cycle
No fish

I was thinking about gettin two CF bulbs that are rated for 60w while consuming only 14w.

If I install those that would mean my tank is getting 12 watts of light per gallon of water.

I have not decided if I am going to get plants or not yet...

However, I'm concerned about the fish. Is that going to be TOO BRIGHT for them? Or is it okay?

I am thinking about getting a Dwarf Lobster and maybe a school of barbs.

THanks!
 
Some fish are more sensitive to bright light than others. Look up the species profile; sometimes it will say something like "appreciates diffuse light" or floating plants or something.
 
No lighting system puts out more watts than it uses.

I believe the "60 watt" figure your using is the marketing comparing the bulb to a standard incandescent bulb. The CF bulb is most likely just a 14 watt bulb.

Two of these would give you 2.8 watts per gallon.
 
Originally posted by slipknottin
No lighting system puts out more watts than it uses.
Click to expand...

Could you please explain scientifically?
From my point of view, the variable we are looking at is Light Output.

Lets say we have:
Compact Flourescent
Input = 14w
Output = 60w Equivalent

Incadescent
Input = 60w
Output = 60w

Now what is the difference between the light outputs? ~0watts of light output.

So if we were measuring output of 1 CF and 1 Incadescent bulb in a 10 gallon tank using the above specs for the bulbs, the output would be 60w/10g = 6watts of light output per gallon for each type of light.

That is why they invented flourescent bulbs in the first place. You have less energy consumption and more light output compared to leading incadescent bulbs.

PLEASE correct me if I am wrong.
 
i thought light intensity was measured in lumens.

http://www.energybooks.com/pdf/D1150.pdf

my other assumption is the wattage on incandescants is mostly heat. that you dont need.

i just bought some 19w 6500k spiral flourescents that put out 1100 lumens. ( the equivalent of a 75 watt bulb according to the packaging. )

i plan on using 7 of them on my 125g with one grow light for the planted corner.
 
lux/lumens or foot-candles/candlepowers/candelas

The candela is gradually being replaced in the states.

1 foot-candle is approximately 10.74 lux.

sunlight on an average day ranges from 32,000 to 100,000 lux
TV studios are lit at about 1,000 lux
a bright office has about 400 lux of illumination
moonlight represents about 1 lux
starlight measures a mere 0.00005 lux
 
Since not everybody is aware of the amount of lumens a 60w incadescent light has, and the amount of lumens a 14w CF has, I used "watts" as the measure of light because everybody probably has a vague idea of how bright a 60w incadescnet is...

So back to my original question :)

Do you think 12 watts per gallon of light is too much?

Thank you.
 
:rolleyes: I already told you, its not putting out more light than your using. Its mechanically impossible for it to do that. Your making a comparison to a very inefficient lighting source. Id say 99.9% of the people on this website are using fluorescent lighting. It is standard for us to use the actual wattage rating of the bulbs, not a comparison to incandescent lighting.

You only have 2.8 watts per gallon. And for most fish, it shouldnt be a problem. Its still only 28 watts of light. watts per gallon is a horrible rule of thumb.
 
I've got two 13 watt CF lights on my 10 gallon planted tank. They seem to be working fine so far (~1 month). You should be alright with two 14 watt CFs.

edit: There are some threads regarding CFs in the planted tank section that you might find interesting. I think there's a way you can search for certain topics.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by slipknottin
:rolleyes: I already told you, its not putting out more light than your using. Its mechanically impossible for it to do that. Your making a comparison to a very inefficient lighting source. Id say 99.9% of the people on this website are using fluorescent lighting. It is standard for us to use the actual wattage rating of the bulbs, not a comparison to incandescent lighting.

You only have 2.8 watts per gallon. And for most fish, it shouldnt be a problem. Its still only 28 watts of light. watts per gallon is a horrible rule of thumb.
Click to expand...

Can you point me to a website of reference please?
 
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