How To Figure Out Wattage

[Lovesfish]

How do you figure out how many watts you need to get 4 watts per gallon I would think you would divide it by the gallons you have but I'm not sure so please help me. dave

 

[crazyelece]

take your gallons and multiple by 4. So for a 55 gal tank you need 55 gals * 4 watts/gal = 220 watts.

This is just a rule of thumb though and the true wattage you need is determined by the type of light and how deep your tank is. Thus a 150 gal tall tank needs more watts per gallon than a standard 150 due to it being taller and the light needing to penetrate that depth.

 

[superman]

Preach it crazylece! This is a topic that should be screamed from the roof tops, Wattage per gallon rules are USELESS...unless the dimensions of the tank are also taken into consideration.