Juwel Rio 180 Wpg Question

[JBronsveld]

After reading topic after topic of information about everything related to starting my first ever planted tank I'm now at the point of information overload and not getting a clear picture of what I want and what I need to get there.

So I'll be asking questions which in turn will narrow down my focus and make it easier to decide

As I'm currently undecided I would like to know how my current lighting stands on the low/medium/high scale of things.

Background information: I got the aquarium from someone else and to my knowledge this person has not made any changes to it. So everything, including the lights, should be standard. No reflectors or paint.

Wether or not I will go Co2 (either EasyCarbo, yeast or pressurized) is not yet clear.
This depends on the current lighting as I dont intend to change it right now.

According the the Juwel website there should T5 lighting in the Rio 180 with 2x45W (this is also stated in the hood). I am unable to get any reading of the bulbs itself but perhaps I need to look at it a bit better.

Long story short
Can anyone tell me how much WPG I currently have in this tank?

Thanks in advance for any answers!

Jeroen

 

[alexge]

Don't use the WPG rule, its outdated and can lead to problems.
 
A better approach is to measure PAR, or try to measure lumen per square foot.
 
To calculate your GPW, simply divide your total wattage by the gallons of your tank:
180 litres = 47.5 US gallons.
90 Watt / 47.5 = 1.9 Watts per gallon
 
This might be too much light if you don't use co2, and will most likely lead to constant algae problems.