150w HQI over a 10g

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Looks like a good deal to me Tony.

Waterdogs:
Watt's per gallon is meaningless, let's squash that one folks.
How about: Tight of lighting, Par, wattage, color temp and depth of tank for a good measure of lighting.

Sorry for the random rant, just a little pet peave of mine.

-Erik
 
I'm not a light fanatic, but watts per gallon does have meaning; 150 watts of MH over a ten gallon tank is way, way too much regardless of type, par, wattage, color temp, depth; how is that for a seat of the pants call?
No need to start a flame, but your opening remark implies you know all and no discussion is allowed...

Macbeth417 said:
Looks like a good deal to me Tony.

Waterdogs:
Watt's per gallon is meaningless, let's squash that one folks.
How about: Tight of lighting, Par, wattage, color temp and depth of tank for a good measure of lighting.

Sorry for the random rant, just a little pet peave of mine.

-Erik
 
I don't Don. I personally look at the quality of the light before hand (lumens/par to watts such as MH vs VHO ect), the height of the tank, the needs of the corals I plan to house and the temperature makeup of the bulb.

On could measure light using such things as Lumens, lux, par, Kelvin Temperature... wavelength.

But wattage is not a measurement of light energy, temperature or the wavelengths that primarily make up a specific light source.

In what way does measuring watts per gallon ALONE qualify the quality or usefulness of a light source?

-Erik
 
Please don't attack me for my views Waterdogs, I made no inferences into your character based on your post. I simply stated something that bothers me and I appreciate Don's want to discuss it rather then judge me as arrogant.

-Erik
 
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watts per gallon does have meaning; 150 watts of MH over a ten gallon tank is way, way too much
NOT a true statement. I had a 10 gallon tank with stonies and Clams with a 400 watt MH and 2 9 watt PC's for years. That tank was fantastic.


Calculating light for a tank using watts per gallon is not a good measurment. Watts is the measurment of electricity used. Lums, Par is the measurment of light.

I have a 125 gallon reef that over the course of the last 6 years has had 175 watt MH's, 250 watt MH, 400 watt MH, and various manufacture of bulbs in each wattage, the best growth was while using 175 watt Ushio bulbs. According to what your saying that should have given me the least growth, and worst color in my corals.
 
DonW said:
So how do your measure light underwater?

Don
There are a number of devices that can measure LUM's and PAR underwater. Usually very expensive but the prices are coming down.
 
Macbeth417 said:
In what way does measuring watts per gallon ALONE qualify the quality or usefulness of a light source?

-Erik

I dont think it does. Like you said there are to many other factors. It would be cool to have a meter of sorts, that you could use to set the optimum depth of a specific coral.

Don
 
I agree full heartedly Don, lets see if we can't swindle the club into paying for this gadget...

*Sets new meter to Acropora Tenius with 250watt DE XM10KK and gets his readings*

-Erik
 
WOW. Didn't mean to start a flame war, but I'm going with Aquaman and Macbeth on this one. 150w is not to much on a 10g. The only problem it would cause is heat and I don't think that will even be an issue.
WPG may have it's place, but par and lums is what you want to base your lighting on. For instance: I have a 2X36w PC hood on my 10g now(until Monday :cool: )1X36w 10k and 1X36w actinic totaling 72w. If I were to keep SPS in my tank now they would probably turn brown and eventually die, but if I used a 70w MH setup(6 watts less mind you)I could keep very colorfull SPS. I would have went with the 70w MH HQI setup, but I choose the 150w because I want to keep a clam eventually and when I upgrade to a 20L and I use the same light.

Waterdog. No actinic with the new light. Just 10k. This should give me good growth.
 
If I started a 10 gallon show tank, i'd use the 150 Watt MH also. Gotta love those MH.

- Elmo
 
Elmo. Every time I see someones tank with halides I can't believe the difference it makes over PCs. Gotta love those glitter lines. ;)
 
Each type lighting falls into class e.g. MH, PC, T-5, NO, etc; once a class of lighting is selected what do people use as a measure in almost every post - watts per gallon because it's a gauge that's available to all including the sales staff.
FWIW I use a Hamilton light hood on a 75 gallon with 2 - 175 watt MH and 2 - 96 watt PC actinics and to date I can't even put a Crocea clam at the top because it's to much for them. Would I upgrade to 250s, no.
 
If you acclimate Croceas to the lighting they can stand just about anything... I have a 55g with 2x250w 10k ushios and 2x110w Vho actinics... I have no Issues at all with anything in the tank... I have Croceas that are towards the top of the tank without issues... I have had the lights like this for well over a yr... I know a few people who have 250w bulbs over 20g L tanks and keep multiple clams and sps in the tank without issues... WPG is Usless in Mh as depth plays a major role.. You can have a 50g high which is 30" deep would a single 175w bulb work on it? No.. Why? the tank is too deep... With Mh depth vs wattage is how it is measured... Anything up to a 24" tank is 175w 24"-30" is 250w and anything 30" and over is 400w.. I believe this is the going standard for mH... WPG is completely useless unless talking about pc lighting or even vho lighting... One could have 20wpg with Pcs but would they have full success with SPS like Acros? Most people now a days won't touch anything less than a 250w bulb for any application except a Nano... They choose the biggest bulb that heat will allow for their tank.. This is the going standard...

James
 
For me what started out as a casual reply is turning into a light thread which I don't won't any part of after hearing about them so this is my last post to this thread, thanks for enlighting me a bit. :)
 
Illusion said:
One could have 20wpg with Pcs but would they have full success with SPS like Acros?
James

I agree 100% Illusion. If you based your lighting choice on WPG alone you could use cheap incadesent lighting and be set, but we all know what that would cause.
Watts is a way of measuring energy and heat load. It has absolutly nothing to do with spectrum.
Eventually science will come up with a light type that will use very low wattage, but high output.
 

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