watts per gallon??

seaapple

seaapple

New Member
Can someone help to figure out how much wattage my 75 gallon reef tank needs? How do u figure it out, do u multiply 75 x 4-6 watts= 300-450watts. Is this right? Then u divide it by 2, 150- 225watts per bulb? Is this how it works?! Need MH with PC or VHO's. Help.....:confused: :help: :notsure:
orplace@netscape.net
Thanx you all.....
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Wow! That's a pretty cool fomula. But I don't think I have ever seen where a constant wattage would apply. There are to many different other factors involved.
Simply, which corals would you like to keep and how deep is your tank?
 
seaapple

seaapple

New Member
Thanx for replying. Well like I said my tank is 75 gallons and it's about 18" deep. Also want to add some maxima clams, xenias, elegants, carnations, hammers and so on. So far I've been told to get a 250w MH's with PC's. Is this cool?!
Thanx, Seaapple aka Oscar!:thinking:
 
solonfairy

solonfairy

Member
for clams you will need the intensity of halides
no matter how many watts of PC or VHO you put over a clam, it will not be near the intensity that a halide can give
skip the carnation, elegance, and wait a while before you get xenia. The carnation will starve, the elegance has a poor captive record as of late, and the xenia requires a good bit of reef-husbandry experience.
 
j21kickster

j21kickster

Active Member
WPG should be thrown in the trash- It all depends on depth of the tank wattage of the light(intensity or lumens) and the desired corals- What are you looking to keep
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
WPG is a decent reference tool....as in "I have 1020 watts of light over my 100 gal display"...in my case that is 2x400 watts of Ushio 10K MH's and 2x110 watts of URI super actinic VHO's...and my lighting has allowed the addition of clams and assorted SPS types. The key is to decide on the species you'd like to keep then provide appropiate lighting source for those species.
I'd suggest maybe a 2x250 watt MH system with maybe 2x110 watt VHO's.....that combination would provide adaquate lighting for a wide range of corals...but be sure to carefully research the specific needs of all corals before you purchase them. Your list includes a carnation and elegance that have proven to be extremely difficult to maintain....

Also...there is much more to consider than "just" lighting....circulation and water chemistry play a large part also.:thinking:
 
j21kickster

j21kickster

Active Member
here is an example or why i dislike the WPG rule- Someone came in last week to the store and said that they have a little over 250 watts on an 110 gallon tank. With the WPG rule that works out to be about 2.5 WPG. Which dosent sound like anything at all. However 250 of those watts were on one side of the tank under a halide. Granted, the light was more localized, but she could keep many more higher light corals with only atotal of 2.5 WPG. Depth also isnt accounted for. But i just think that purchasing corals with the WPG rule gets people into trouble.
I agree with NM's suggestion for lighting ifyou can spare the change- that would be a nice little setup
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator

Originally posted by seaapple
, elegants, carnations,
Just a caution.
Lately Elegance Corals have been plagued with something and typically don't make it even a year.
Carnations do not require any light but I would label them as "Very Difficult".
 
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