Watt the heck?`

Jamie

Jamie

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Jul 27, 2003
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Hi all, Still need to order my last item for the tank...lighting. But before I do I have a question. Kind of silly but here it is; I was going to use PC 96W bulbs for my 150g tank but due to their size I can't seem to fit them the way I want under my 60" canopy. I was thinking of mixing up a bunch of 55W bulbs. Though they are about 1/2 the watts I thought that I might just be able to double the amount of bulbs. Does this make sense? Are two 55W bulbs = to one 96W bulb? Will they have the same "penetration" capabilities? - I have a 24" high tank.

Thanks- Jamie

Also, does anyone in here have a 60" long planted aquarium?- If so pls share with me what you use for a lighting system. Or anyone pls share any suggestions.
 
I think I figured out my light set up/design

I still need my first question answered. For a 60" tank; from ahsupply, i can get two 2x96W kits and 1 2X36W kit. I would have the the 4 96Wbulbs parallel and centered running lengthwise with the tank then have a 36W bulb on each end running perpendicular to pick up the missed area of the 96's. Make sense? But the question at hand is willl the 36W bulbs do their jos?- are they strong enough to penetrate to the bottom?
 
yea, they will penetrate. the produce the same brightness of light, cept in a shorter distance. i would love to see a pic of your tank because im sure you have amazing depth. more bulbs the better since you got so much ground to cover.
 
Chinaboy has the concept down pat, but to expand on that a bit - what he is saying in effect is that penetration to a given depth is a function of the intensity per unit length of the source, not just the total wattage of the source. The 36W comes out to ~2.2W/inch; the 96W to ~2.8W/inch. That is not a big difference between the two PCs in useful terms (there is a bit more "end effect" on the smaller tube - the connection ends are lower efficiency than the body of the tube, and that makes up a bit higher percentage of the total on the smaller tube - no big deal). (Compare that to the ~0.8W/inch of 40W NO tubes).
 
for better coverage

I decided that I will be placing two 36W bulbs on each end. Two just fit better than one. I have the space and feel that they will do a good job. Thanks for all of the help. After all of this work, trying to create the best lighting set up, Ive continued reading about the subject and some folks are saying that even 2W/g over a large tank is too much! What I have here is around 525 Watts. This gives me 3.5 W/g for my 150g tank. I do have a nice pressurized CO2 system- just came is yesterday, (I tell ya what a deal from aquacave.com, and talk about quick :) I also will be fertilizing appropriately. I'll be using PMDD, I figured with a larger tank- this will prove to be much more economical. Fertilization was one of the hardest thing to get strait, but I think I understand it and have got everything under control. Any insight on my watts/gallon? I think I will also make this a new post.- Thanks- Jamie
 
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