Lighting Rating

[TrickySpot]

Hi Guys,
 
My new vision 450 came with 4 x 54 watt bulbs (they cover blue/green spectrum - checked!), and I've added a reflector to each. The reflectors say they double the output, so if we say that's truthful, that would give me 432 watts for a 450L tank.....is that enough to class my tank as high light? I'm putting HC cuttings in as I write this and after checking again and again, I'm starting to doubt myself

  Also, not all the tank is water, I've put a minimum of 2 inches of substrate in, more some places, so that'll decrease the literage as well?
 
Thanks in advance!
 
Tricky

 

[TrickySpot]

Anybody

 

[TallTree01]

Your tank has 432 watts for 120 gallons.
That's a little under 4 watts per gallon (wpg).
Technically, the scaling goes:
0-1 watts is essentially nothing - very low, 1-2 is low, 3-4 is medium, 5+ is high.
So yours is at the high end of medium range. That's pretty good for most plants. It is important to fertilize and add co2 Whereever appropriate too.

Hope this answers your question!

 

[TrickySpot]

Your tank has 432 watts for 120 gallons.
That's a little under 4 watts per gallon (wpg).
Technically, the scaling goes:
0-1 watts is essentially nothing - very low, 1-2 is low, 3-4 is medium, 5+ is high.
So yours is at the high end of medium range. That's pretty good for most plants. It is important to fertilize and add co2 Whereever appropriate too.

Hope this answers your question!

 
Brilliant! Thanks a million! This 'scale' is not widely published - or at least I couldn't find it! CO2 is in, basic ferts are going in, but I'll need to look more into them to understand fully whats going on.

 

[TrickySpot]

Just BTW, how do people then get to a 5+ tank?? There is no more room in my hood for bulbs or fittings....is a custom hood in order? And I specially got the Juwel with the nice lid so my Balas don't go jumping around the lounge.....if you build a custom lighting unit, do people just put a glass 'lid' on??

 

[TallTree01]

Not everyone have hoods. You can get really powerful lights. Some people just have lights hanging over the tank. Most are DIY lighting fixtures I think. I've never had a really high light aquarium tbh

 

[TrickySpot]

TallTree01, on 08 May 2014 - 10:38 AM, said:

Not everyone have hoods. You can get really powerful lights. Some people just have lights hanging over the tank. Most are DIY lighting fixtures I think. I've never had a really high light aquarium tbh

 
Thanks! I'm seeing LED strips which are waterproof, I guess they could be stuck onto every suitable surface to increase lighting if needed. Hemianthus callitrichoides seems to need high light, hoping I have enough! I guess time will tell! I have CO2 going in at about 15-18 ppm, and adding general ferts......I need a week or two to see how to HC reacts to the tank to decide what to do next 

 
Tricky

 

[TallTree01]

Would you consider doing a journal on your tank on the forums? I ,for one, would love to see pics and know how you get on.

 

[TrickySpot]

Would you consider doing a journal on your tank on the forums? I ,for one, would love to see pics and know how you get on.

 
there is a thread, but I must be really stupid, I don't know how to add photos...it keeps on asking me for a URL, the photos are local, not online 

 
Anybody enlighten me as to how to add photos to a reply?

 

[TallTree01]

I upload my pics through photobucket ( http/s1359.photobucket.com ) and then copy and paste the IMG code across. Dead easy to use and free too.

 

[Mamashack]

Your tank has 432 watts for 120 gallons.
That's a little under 4 watts per gallon (wpg).
Technically, the scaling goes:
0-1 watts is essentially nothing - very low, 1-2 is low, 3-4 is medium, 5+ is high.
So yours is at the high end of medium range. That's pretty good for most plants. It is important to fertilize and add co2 Whereever appropriate too.

Hope this answers your question!

Thanks TT, been looking for something straight forward like this to explain the ratings!

Just BTW, how do people then get to a 5+ tank?? There is no more room in my hood for bulbs or fittings....is a custom hood in order? And I specially got the Juwel with the nice lid so my Balas don't go jumping around the lounge.....if you build a custom lighting unit, do people just put a glass 'lid' on??

You can also get plastic divider mesh and place on top of the tank which would stop jumping and let light thro tho probably not as much as plain glass.

 

[TrickySpot]

 

Your tank has 432 watts for 120 gallons.
That's a little under 4 watts per gallon (wpg).
Technically, the scaling goes:
0-1 watts is essentially nothing - very low, 1-2 is low, 3-4 is medium, 5+ is high.
So yours is at the high end of medium range. That's pretty good for most plants. It is important to fertilize and add co2 Whereever appropriate too.

Hope this answers your question!

Thanks TT, been looking for something straight forward like this to explain the ratings!

Just BTW, how do people then get to a 5+ tank?? There is no more room in my hood for bulbs or fittings....is a custom hood in order? And I specially got the Juwel with the nice lid so my Balas don't go jumping around the lounge.....if you build a custom lighting unit, do people just put a glass 'lid' on??

You can also get plastic divider mesh and place on top of the tank which would stop jumping and let light thro tho probably not as much as plain glass.
 

 
The mesh is a good idea, I did get some which I've cut to shape to fit into the tank, and I'll put this in when doing maintenance to stop the balas jumping. I was also thinking of perhaps a thin sheet of aluminium to put across to divide the tank into two temporarily....the fish happy on one side, cleaning going on, on the other side!