How many watts do you have?

[coral88]

I’m curious to know what type and how much light people are using, And what they call the amount of light they have(low, medium, high).

 

[coral88]

I’ll start

Low light 65w CF, 20g L mushrooms and zoas
Medium light 93w CF/NO T5s 20g zoas and LPS
High light 720w VHO/MH 100g zoas, LPS, SPS

 

[surfn]

FWIW...the watts per gallon rule has no meaning in the saltwater hobby. way too many other variables.


i have a 250w radium run on an HQI ballast (runs closer to 300-330watts) on my 50g cube that is 20" deep. i believe my tank to be very high light.

 

[ficklefins]

5 x 39w T5 fixture = 195w over a 30g.

 

[J. Montgomery]

2 x 175W and 1 x 250W (600W Total) over a 55. It's very high light.

 

[bamachamp92]

i have four 250 14k pheonix, 8 54 watt t5, over a 320 gallon tank im thinking about getting more light
1432 watts

 

[coral88]

FWIW...the watts per gallon rule has no meaning in the saltwater hobby. way too many other variables.


i have a 250w radium run on an HQI ballast (runs closer to 300-330watts) on my 50g cube that is 20" deep. i believe my tank to be very high light.

I didn’t say anything about rules

I would call your tank high light and reserve the very high light label for people running 10w or more per gallon. But thats just my opinion. I asked the question because I want to hear the opinion of club zoa in general.

 

[Russellaqua]

I consider low to be 3W or less/gal, high to be 7W+/gal

 

[480greefer]

My new setup using 2400w of MH, 500w T-5, 880w VHO . Thanks god i am moving to CO

 

[edwing206]

I got 2x250 watts over my 55 gallon. Surprisingly, no heat issues.

 

[rocko918]

5x 54 watt t5's over a 75 gal you do the math.

 

[gastone]

I run a 250w radium on an HQI ballast (pushes around 330w) with 4x24w T5 for supplementations on a 42 hex.

I asked the sun what it thought... he took off his shades and said, "whoah that's bright".

 

[surfn]

I didn’t say anything about rules

I would call your tank high light and reserve the very high light label for people running 10w or more per gallon. But thats just my opinion. I asked the question because I want to hear the opinion of club zoa in general.

here is an example why watts/gallon is meaningless in the saltwater hobby. i have about 330w over a 50g, and J.Montgomery is running 600w over a 55g. yet my tank is MUCH brighter.

it all has to do with the demensions of the tank (especially the depth), what kelvin bulb (BIG difference in brightness b/w 20k and 10k bulb), the reflector, and whether you hang the light in a pendent and lose allot of light spilling over into the room (or capture all the light and focus it into your tank).

 

[J. Montgomery]

here is an example why watts/gallon is meaningless in the saltwater hobby. i have about 330w over a 50g, and J.Montgomery is running 600w over a 55g. yet my tank is MUCH brighter.

You just think yours is brighter b/c of your faux-canopy!

(though in all seriousness, Al does have a bright tank with a single bulb placed in the middle of his "cube"; since my tank is 4" long, it requires more bulbs to illuminate the entire tank; the 55 is an awkward size for a reef tank)

 

[sdietz2469]

i run 2-400 watt 2k radiums in lumen bright minis off coralvue electronic ballasts, and 4-110 watt super actinic vhos on my 120 gal show(4ft tank)-toatal of 1240watts- high light
4-75 watt vhos(2-actinic white 2-super actinic) on my 29 gal softy tank-total of 300watts-medium light
2-helois NO t5s(i think they are 24 watts) on my 46 gal shroom/octopus tank-a whoppin 48 watts-VERY low lighy

i do agree that watts/gal dont mean much, i think it is also the type of light that you use in ex my 120 is approx 10 watts /gal and i cosider it high light, but my 29 with 10 watts/gal is med light..... this is due to the amount of usible light that i find between the vho annd halides..... halides are way more intense.......
shane

 

[jonbar1]

150w HQI pendant over a 12g AquaPod...I consider it very bright

 

[reefermadness]

Same Radium setup...so about 330watts...An 8 bulb t-5 fixture another 432watts...

432+330= 762 watts on a 135 gallon. Also run three 39watt 10Ks on refugium... Close to 850 watts.

How nice are the radiums? Man the growth in three weeks has been awesome!

 

[killingseed2000]

458 w , 2 x175 mh , 2 54 w t5's. and its bright over my 75 gal

 

[reef-lover]

150w hqi on a 29 gallon softie tank, and 400w MH on a 55 gallon lps-sps.

 

[gflat65]

(3)-250W DE 14K Phoenix, (2)-160W VHO (03's) over a 125-high light
(2)-175W elec 14K Ushio, (2)-110W VHO (03's) over a 120-med-med high-by the response of the LPS-many not happy. SPS have nice beginning color, but they show more color after a few weeks in the 125.
(2)-175W Iwasaki 14K (mag), (2)-95W(?) VHO (03's) over a 40B-seems like too much, but color loss may be due to tank conditions (doesn't cycle water as much as the tank it is hooked to).
(4)-T5 (Tek reflectors) over a 40B-seems to be perfect for everything in it (softies, zoas, LPS, one or two SPS).
(4)-T5 (cheapo single reflector with bulbs very close together) over a 22-~9" of water column-seems to be fine for Acans. They were much less happy in the 125. Closest coral is ~3" from water surface. There has been some color change (some good, some not as desireable).