Still Need Your Lighting Info!

[madrefkepr]

Hi everyone!

I think I have the software to help me with this, so here goes!

I need data from everyone about the lighting used on your tank.The hope is to come up with ranges and averages of types and amounts of light used on reef tanks. Please take a minute to send me an e-mail with the following info:

Tank depth (top to bottom)

Footprint of tank, in square feet (length in inches X width in inches x.0069). Please round UP to the nearest square foot.

Main type of lighting used (NO, VHO, PC, MH)

Total Watts of main lighting (we will not be considering supplamental lighting like actinics)

Which of the following have you had success in keeping for 1 year or more: LPS, SPS, Softies, Clams, and/or Anemonies. If you have not kept any of these animals for 1 year or more, please send me the rest of the info!

Hopefully, some results will be posted this weekend. Results I hope to end up with are:

Min/Max/Avg number of watts per square foot of tank by standard depths (18",24" etc), broken down by lighting type.

Min/Max/Avg number of watts per square foot, at standard depths, for different types of corals (or anemonies or clams), broken down by lighting type.

Thanks for your input!

 

[madrefkepr]

I guess you could put the info in this thread, if you prefer. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone!

I think I have the software to help me with this, so here goes!

I need data from everyone about the lighting used on your tank.The hope is to come up with ranges and averages of types and amounts of light used on reef tanks. Please take a minute to send me an e-mail with the following info:

Tank depth (top to bottom)= 18"

Footprint of tank, in square feet (length in inches X width in inches x.0069). Please round UP to the nearest square foot.= 4

Main type of lighting used (NO, VHO, PC, MH)= MH

Total Watts of main lighting (we will not be considering supplamental lighting like actinics)= 350w

Which of the following have you had success in keeping for 1 year or more: LPS, SPS, Softies, Clams, and/or Anemonies. If you have not kept any of these animals for 1 year or more, please send me the rest of the info!= LPS, SPS, soft, and clams

Hopefully, some results will be posted this weekend. Results I hope to end up with are:

Min/Max/Avg number of watts per square foot of tank by standard depths (18",24" etc), broken down by lighting type.

Min/Max/Avg number of watts per square foot, at standard depths, for different types of corals (or anemonies or clams), broken down by lighting type.

Thanks for your input!

my supplementation is a large percent of my wattage (30%) . why are you leaving that out?

 

[madrefkepr]

Podman,

Thought about supplamental lighting for quite a while. There are 2 reasons I chose not to include it. First, it somewhat confuses the issue. When the question is asked, "how much lighting do I need...", I don't believe I have ever seen or heard an answer such as "350 watts of metal halide, and 100 watts actinic". The second reason is, (and there are exceptions), the usual supplamental lighting is actinic, and although I have never measured the intensity of a tank with/without actinics, I don't think actinic bulbs contribute much to overall lighting intensity. This would just be an observation, and I'm sure I may be corrected. At the very least, the importance of actinic lighting is very questionable.

Thank you for your input!

 

[madrefkepr]

I don't think actinic bulbs contribute much to overall lighting intensity.

Okay, it's very late, and that would be far from a valid statement. I can't believe I said that...

However, I don't think actinics provide much benefit other than asthetics. Corals may benefit from the increased intensity of this spectrum, but it seems the amount they benefit has been called into question as of late.

 

[liquid]

You mean something like this? http://www.reefs.org/cgi-bin/survey/sur ... e=lighting

Shane

 

[madrefkepr]

Exactly like that. Showoff!

I knew someone had to have done it before. Looked all over the net, and it was right in front of me the whole time. How embarrasing.

 

[madrefkepr]

Actually, now that I've had a chance to really look it over, it's not quite what I was looking for. I was hoping to break it down by lighting type. For example, if I have a tank 24 inches deep, and an area of 648 square inches, how many watts of pc lighting would I need to keep sps? how many watts of vho? how many watts MH? You get the idea. Is the raw data from that survey archived somewhere?

 

[madrefkepr]

Liquid has informed me that there is no way to go back and resort the data from the survey in the manner that I planned. I still think this would good info to have available, so I am still willing to undergo this project. I do need many more replies, than the one I have so far (Thanks, Podman!), so please take a moment. Thanks!

 

[Chucker]

Actaully, all of the data is around, but it'd be messy as hell to parse out.

Even so, it wouldn't answer the questions you pose in your first reply - all the survey does is tell you what lighting folks have, not what they're doing with it, and whether or not their application is correct for the animals they keep.

 

[madrefkepr]

Out of 148 views as of this writing, it seems Podman is the only one willing to share his info. This project has been scrapped.

 

[Rich-n-poor]

well if actinics are useless then I only have 55 watts on a 37 gallon 24 inch deep tank. I guess everything should be dead by now especially my LPS since i have like 1.6 watts per gallon.

or I have 110 on the same tank counting actinics which is around 3 watts a gallon and everything has thrived for 18-24 months

rich
_________________
Mercedes Benz L series truck

 

[LFS42]

Hi everyone!

I think I have the software to help me with this, so here goes!

I need data from everyone about the lighting used on your tank.The hope is to come up with ranges and averages of types and amounts of light used on reef tanks. Please take a minute to send me an e-mail with the following info:

Tank depth (top to bottom) 18"
Footprint of tank, in square feet (length in inches X width in inches x.0069). Please round UP to the nearest square foot. 5

Main type of lighting used (NO, VHO, PC, MH) VHO

Total Watts of main lighting (we will not be considering supplamental lighting like actinics) 380 watts total (2) 36" 50/50 (2) 36" actinic

Which of the following have you had success in keeping for 1 year or more: LPS, SPS, Softies, Clams, and/or Anemonies. If you have not kept any of these animals for 1 year or more, please send me the rest of the info!
Toadstool 2+ years
Finger leather 1-1/2 years
Galaxia 1-1/2 years
Mushrooms 2+ years

Hopefully, some results will be posted this weekend. Results I hope to end up with are:

Min/Max/Avg number of watts per square foot of tank by standard depths (18",24" etc), broken down by lighting type.

Min/Max/Avg number of watts per square foot, at standard depths, for different types of corals (or anemonies or clams), broken down by lighting type.

Thanks for your input![/b]

 

[madrefkepr]

Rich,

This was the reason for conducting the survey. I believe that watts per gallon is an outdated concept. The reason being, the lighting used today, be it vho, pc, halide, etc., has a higher intensity than the no lighting mainly used when the wpg rule started. I also have less than 2 watts per gallon, and although my system is only 6 months old, everything is doing fine. I never said actinics were useless, I said the benefit of such lighting has been called into question, and not only by myself.