Toward a standard understanding of aquarium lighting

[DeeDeeK]

Hey, these last few posts were great! I never considered the much greater absorbtion of photons by water as opposed to air. A standard of useful output to surface area might be just the thing. It could be simple, a tad more reliable, especially if combined with some sort of consideration for depth. I do wonder how significant the absorbtion of light by water is at fishtank depths (generally under 30"). I only mean that as a question, not a challenge.

Yes, much of what is being tossed around on this thread is off-putting to the average hobbyist. What I'd like to see are a couple of more useful methods to the old WPG, including one easy enough for the average hobbyist to use without too much challenge. I'm sure such a beast exists. Other considerations I've posed as have others ignore the average hobbyist. There is a considerable segment of more dedicated and at least informally scientifically oriented hobbyists who can benefit from greater dialog and dissemination of information amongst us all. Disagreement spurs the development of new ideas and the resolution of clashing ideas into syntheses which may be better than either alone. Out of all this nerding around might come some simplified approaches which are better than WPG but still easy to use.

Also, some of the considerations are aesthetic. Want much brighter light at the surface than the bottom? There's a way to do that. Want very even light levels from top to bottom? We know ways to do that, too. The contributions we've had from some hobbyists more knowledgeable than myself have added to our tools for approaching these things. Develop the idea, understand the issue thoroughly, then simplify I say.

Again, super postings you guys!

 

[Flear]

i kinda skipped through.

from a discussion i have had on another forum, ... light intensity lost as the water depth increases

i had an inspiration, ... regardless of reflector, taking a guess/assumption of a 45degrees (left and right, pyramid shape), taking a guess/assumption of 1" from light there's 100% of the light hitting.

at 2" that same amount of light has to cover 4" wide
at 4" it has to cover 8" wide
at 8" it has to cover 16" wide

by 8" the amount of light hitting anywhere is 1/16 the intensity.

the total light has not changed, nor has any been lost, it's just covering a larger and larger area so the intensity drops at any point.

personaly i think of a tank as it's footpad, ... how many square inches is it taking up

some tanks are 12" tall, some are 18", some are 24", ... custom tanks enter a whole new game. 10 gallons can be 4" deep, ... a single light is really, really bright on the substrate

a typical round tank, for some reason are built to be tall, very tall for their size, ... by the time the light hits the substrate, a lot of light has been lost for no reason other than it's outside of the tank.

i didn't get, but at times i wonder why, ... i didn't get a light that is longer than my tank is.
a 29 gallon tank, 30" wide/long, ... lights are 22" (actual length of bulb) if the light is centered the edges all look dark in the tank, if it's over to one side the other side looks very dark.
part of me is thinking i should have gotten a 36" light setup

such simple basics, but people do get caught up on inch per gallon, what i have seen for the LED lights out now, they seem to be minimal lighting, and top dollar