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#1
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Watts up?
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? |
#2
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Watts up?
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. -- http://www.dandrake.com/ In the days after September 11, Yahoo searches for Nostradamus outnumbered those for Osama bin Laden and Sex, combined. |
#3
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Watts up?
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. -- http://www.dandrake.com/ In the days after September 11, Yahoo searches for Nostradamus outnumbered those for Osama bin Laden and Sex, combined. |
#4
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Watts up?
On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 07:06:11 -0400, "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? No, the powerglo and aquaglo don't put out any more light than any other type of tube. They are simply different spectrums, and the difference has more effect on the tank's appearance to our eye than it does on plant growth. 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 Compact Fluorescents pack more wattage into a smaller space. Check out www.ahsupply.com for their light kits. An alternative is "overdriving" conventional tubes. You can get a relatively inexpensive ballast from home depot. It can run 1, 2, 3 or 4 4 foot T-8 tubes. But, if you wire two sets of leads to each tube, the tube will run brighter. Much brighter, but not twice the wattage brighter. The tubes will supposedly burn out sooner, but using cheap standard home-lighting T-8 tubes that is really no big deal. Chuck Gadd http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua |
#5
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Watts up?
If you're a DIYer, Mort specifically just wrote up an article about
overdriving the regular T8 and you may find that making your own hood is the way to go.... If not, I'd suggest AHSupply... "D&M" wrote in message ... 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? |
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