can someone tell me more about lighting?

[powdertoastman]

ok, this is starting to get on my nerves as of late, i see alot of people on here say they have like 90 to 150 or so watts on there tanks, and list the type of bulbs, 6700k, 10k, 20k and all that. and alot of them have corals, anemones and all that good stuff, so my question is, why is it when i say i am running 160w, 4 bulbs, 2 6700k, 1 20k, and a actinic bulb, all 40w each, yet now people say i only have NO lights, and cant handle anything but low light corals, i dont understand that at all, if the other people with the same lighting are ok to have anything, can someone help me understand this?

 

[aarone]

different bulbs different intensity.
aaron

 

[powdertoastman]

how does that make it any different, if someone has a 160w setup and i have a 160w setup, wouldnt it be the same? thats why im not understanding.

 

[aarone]

wel im not a light guy but...basically the pentration level of the light. Like you could have a 40w blacklight and it might penetrate maybe a foot into a 3 foot aquarium. The LUX and lumens are important as well.
aaron

 

[dreeves]

Which light penetrates deeper in the water...the 2 "C" cell flashlihgt or the 4"D" cell flashlight? That is basically the difference....
What portions of the light are actually reaching the bottom of the tank is what is important...the quality of the light down below...

 

[col]

I may be wrong here, but 160watts of Normal Output (NO) flourescent lighting is not the same as 160W of PC or VHO lighting.
Anyone know more?

 

[broomer5]

We talk about watts a lot in this hobby, but more for comparison than anything else.
Watts are just a measurement of electric power.
My toaster is rated at 800 watts - but would make a pretty lousy tank light. It uses a lot of electricity - but doesn't give off much light. It's not designed to.
We want to brighten up a room, so we replace a 40 or 60 watt incadescent light bulb with a 100 watt bulb. This 100 watt bulb is brighter RELATIVE to the same types of incadescent bulbs.
It is more intense RELATIVE to the 40 or 60 watt bulbs.
Power compact fluorescent, VHO very high output fluorescent, NO normal output fluorescent, and MH metal halide are all DIFFERENT types of bulbs.
You can't really use the watt rating of each to compare these different types to each other. Watts just describe the amount of work or power they are designed for - not how much or what type of actual "light" they produce.
They all have different lighting characteristics, are built differently and give off different light intensity and spectrum color.

 

[col]

Yup, Broomer knows more.
But I was kinda right yeah?

 

[broomer5]

But I was kinda right yeah?
You were very right in my opinion, and typing more doesn't always mean "knowing" more
Your answer - short and to the point - is still correct as far as I can see