Originally Posted by
earlybird
"The general rule of thumb for a reef system calls for 3 to 5 watts per actual gallonage of water" (Carner
about.com ).
For my 29g I'm planning on buying Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent Strip Lights. From what I hear they are good lights and will be able to sustain soft corals.
I am sorry to say that the 3 to 5 watts per gallon doesn't mean anything anymore. Iam not saying this to you, I am mostly saying it to the LFS stores that keep telling new hobbyist this crap. That is old school from years back, and it doesn't even make sense. Really think about it folks.
3-5 watts of what. Florescent, Power Compact, T-5, VHO, MH.
None of thier wattage is even the same. If I put 200 watts of floresent lights on my 55gallon tank I guantee you I still would not be able to keep most corals, I wouldn't be able to keep a clam or an anemone, And if I used T-5's, I beleive the shorter bulbs are 34watts,(I may be wrong, but I know the 48in ones are 54watts) so if the 36 inch ones are 34 watts,
that is 34x4=136 watts. Well that isn't even 3 watts per gallon. But I could keep my clam and anemone. So you see with the different lights the watts carry a different punch.
That is some misleading, And so many new hobbyist buy the power compact thinking that 260 watts will give them enough light so they can get corals,anemones, clams. when in reality, the only thing they can get is mushrooms, and green star polyps.260 over a 75 is 3 1/2 watts, thats enough, Then they find out that isn't enough for what they want then they need to go buy a new light. I just had to say that, Sorry, much better now.
