On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:06:11 UTC, "D&M" wrote:

I've seen the rule about 2w per gallon of water, question is, what's with
the specialty lighting, such as powerglow and aquaglow, is that a way to
artificially increase energy output for the plants without increasing the
wattage?

Just curious as I have a 40w in my 90g, it's an Aquaglow. it's an oddball
size, 42". It's the highest wattage light I can get in a 42". I can switch
to paired 24" flourescents, but I'd need to cover the entire top of the tank
with them to get anywhere close to the wattage required.

What ideas can you guys give that actually increase the wattage that high or
do the specialty lights actually do the trick? Is there an aquarium branded
light that goes that high wattage, or do you switch to shop lights and make
your own set-ups?

The real secret is Power Compact fluorescents. They are In right now,
and for a good reason. For instance, you can get 55 watts in a 22-inch
package (including the the extra length of reflector and end-cap). I have
an oddball arrangement in my 55-gallon tank, with 2 55-watt lights over
one end and one over the other end, but getting bright light over the
whole tank would be no problem.

Try looking at
http://www.ahsupply.com/index.html
There are lots of sellers, but I like these guys because they stock bulbs
with color temperature in the range of natural sunlight (5500 K) whereas
most suppliers just have reef-worthy lights of 6700 K and above, and I
don't _want_ my freshwater planted tank to look like like a reef wannabe.

These things aren't cheap, though.


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