Watts per gallon, just for fun...

[adrian]

Ok, so the old saying is still making its way around the hobby, the old watts per gallon rule, I guess were just going to have to live with it, so lets have some fun with it, lets see who has got what as far as watts per gallon goes, with my new lights Im at 13.6 WPG <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> This is with 2x400mh and 2x110VHO, this is a 75 with mostly sps and clams. Tell me what your WPG, type of lights, and what kinda corals your keeping

 

[ren]

ok but ... Its being worked on lol - 125gl tank currently 2 ho flo's - 80W and a 15W flo - total= 95W less than 1. Have ballasts for 6 VHO's and am gathering the ends and bulbs hopefully today to switch over to 6 110W vho's. So currently .76 and ASAP 5.28 No corals yet - due to lighting lack cept for a leather that came on a piece of LR and is growing wildly - got it up high.

 

[q]

790 W over my 75 = 10.53 wpg 4 VHO 2 175W MH
In the process of stocking SPS and LPS.

 

[ebeckels]

2 96 watt PC over my 46 bow
Watts/ gallon = 4.17

 

[lettheirberock]

3.5 WPG of NO.[soon to be vho] i have a colt(which has grown double the size since i got it). yellow polyps,brown polyps,various shrooms,spiney gorgonian,pearl plate and some flower anemones.

 

[jodeman]

Got a 250w Mh over my 45 hex ==5.5watts per gallon
I only have 1 green star, it's doing great, will be adding more later. (tank is only 6months old and this is my first attempt at sw)

 

[triggerfool]

Exactly 2 watts per gallon. I got a eclipse twelve with a 24 watt power compact.

 

[kris walker]

225 Watts VHO (2 actinic, 1 aquasun) over 29 gal = 8 Watts/gal. Have softies and LPS. Xenia and shrooms are currently splitting.
sam

 

[jond]

225W of VHO over a 37gal. 6.08W per gal.

 

[justinl]

6.62 VHO WPG over a 37 and 3.6 PC WPC over a 30.

 

[stupid_naso]

How does the WPG rule works for compact? There's one reply that uses compact, but that confuses me. I have one 18 watt compact for 10 gallon. So that's should be about 1.8 WPG. One of the guy in my lfs told me that the compact lighting is equivalent to 50 w, so does that mean I have 5 WPG? Can anyone explain? <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />
stupid_naso

 

[kelly]

I though I was the lowest on the forum, but I guess not... Thanks Ren, I am up to 1.5 WPG, I just upgraded for Christmas from 1 WPG. I have 3 40W NO on an 80 gallon tank. I do not know why but everything grow and reproduces. I have a 150/300W bulb in floor lamp across the room if that counts, although it is not usually on.
Maybe next year, I will upgrade again, but to almost 4.5 WPG. Looking a retrofit kit with 2 175W 10,000K MH bulbs, and 2 NO 40W bulbs... How is that for an upgrade from 1 WPG?
I am not extremely familiar with MH bulbs, what would be a good Kelvin rating for MH?
Thanks

 

[adrian]

The K temp of a MH bulb depends on two main things, first what color do you like, blue, white, yellow? Second are you going to provide actinic supplementation? Price, and the corals being kept also play a vital role, but to a lesser extent. For example, if you like a crisp white tank you could use two 10K bulbs with no actinics, if you like a blue tank you could use actinics with the 10ks, or use 20K which are very blue by themselves, some even use actinic whites to tone down the blue. Lower kelvin bulbs are genrally cheaper, brighter, and longer lasting than higer K bulbs, but higher K bulbs are known to produce incredible colors in corals, mostly relevant to sps. To get the best of both worlds, alot of reefers use low K bulbs, 55-65K with actinics to provide the blue, this way the bulbs are relatively cheap to replace, very intense, and the actinics provide the color. HTH

 

[kelly]

Thanks Adrian,
I actually thought that the 10,000K bulbs being white would appear brighter. I am planning on supplementing them with 2 actinics or possibly 2 50/50 bulbs when I get the retrofit kit.
I forgot to mention that my 7gal tank is actually better lit wattage wise then my 80gal tank. I has over 4.5 wpg. I have a 32W PC retrofit kit on it.

 

[wamp]

I have 6.472222222222222222222222222222222222221 watts per gallon on my 180.. soon to be 7.77777777777777777778...
Hope to see the diffrence ...
PS.. I need a good 10000k metal halide bulb.. I want a crisp white not blue.. any suggestions?

 

[mlm]

I have 3 110 watt vho and 2 55 watt power compact on a 55 gallon tank. = 8 watts per gallon.

 

[royce]

I am about to have 8 WPG - 440W VHO over a 55g. I just have 1 small finger leather that was a gift from my lfs friend and a swf sea mat polyps on the way.

 

[ironreef]

10k-20k buy only german they are the best =usiho,ab ect. Blueline,sunbust =chinese? Lack par but still cost $$ .Aquline Buske (sp) still ahve good par and are white. ushio is good but maynot be as white. I have 8wpg and house sps= purple monit dig. brown monti cap with purple rim. ora monti cap,red monti cap,green acro millipora ,green pocillopora,pink seratopora,puple tip acro,captive rose anemonie,clams ,frogspawn,open brain, green sinularia. ricorda green/blue ,green poloyps starburst tired now there a few other sps got rid of most my softies just keeping the 2 I mentiod and the ricorda shrooms

 

[adrian]

Yeah, I would second the German Ushio 10k, very nice color, and good intensity, not a bad price either

 

[kris walker]

Just to add since we are on the WPG thing, this guideline would be better if we had values for each type of light. MH are the most efficient in that they put out more lumens per input watt then any other type commonly used. So how about the following for hard corals (lower for only soft corals)?
MH: 3+ Watts/gal
NO: 5+ Watts/gal
PC: 5+ Watts/gal
VHO: 6+ Watts/gal
What do you all think?
sam