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Old 27-02-2005, 12:28 AM   #1
jameslow
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Default planted light Question!!!

the amount of light needed by the plant is depent on the brightness or the amount of wats that the bulb use?....... can i use a 9w bulb but the brightness is very bright is it possible? or it must use those PL light which has very high wats?
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Old 27-02-2005, 01:23 AM   #2
|squee|
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I'd say it's dependant on the brightness, the light intensity that the plant gets. If a 9W metal halide light can put out brightness equal to a 36W FL light, I don't see why not use the 9W one.

P.S. This is just a assumption I made. Need someone with the know-how on light nature here
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Old 27-02-2005, 02:16 AM   #3
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i think they have a detailed posting in the sticky regarding lighting. very informative, should take a look.
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Old 27-02-2005, 02:26 AM   #4
badman
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jameslow
the amount of light needed by the plant is depent on the brightness or the amount of wats that the bulb use?....... can i use a 9w bulb but the brightness is very bright is it possible? or it must use those PL light which has very high wats?
the brightness of the bulb will be proportionate to the watts. even if u are getting lets say extra brightness, it will only be slightly brighter than the normal ones. u can use 9w bulb if u have a small tank else, 9w will be insufficient for even a 2ft x 1ft tank
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Old 27-02-2005, 01:30 PM   #5
ChiroHorn
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Lightbulb 2 watts/gallon

To get good plant growth, aim for a minimum of 2 watts of light/gallon of water. Good luck.
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Old 27-02-2005, 01:43 PM   #6
BettaFaNatiC
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how much gal is a normal 2ft tank? normal FL 2ft light est. how much watts?

thanks
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Old 27-02-2005, 02:00 PM   #7
andrewtyr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BettaFaNatiC
how much gal is a normal 2ft tank? normal FL 2ft light est. how much watts?

thanks
there is a calculator in the AF site for you to do calculations. FL comes in all sorts of wattage. And it is specified on the tubes.
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Old 27-02-2005, 02:04 PM   #8
obsidian
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BettaFaNatiC
how much gal is a normal 2ft tank? normal FL 2ft light est. how much watts?

thanks

It depends on wat kind of plants U keep in ur 2ft. Lets say if U keep high-light plants such as tonina or ludwigia "cuba", u might need a higher light for them to do well. Say bout 3watts/gallon

However, if U are only keeping plants such as java fern or moss which don't require that high light, perhaps 1 watt/gallon might suffice.

For 2ft volume, just do a measurement of the length breadth depth , then convert it to gallons. Then finally multiply the watt/gallon ration as mentioned above to ur tank volume to obtain ur light wattage.
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Old 27-02-2005, 02:56 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jameslow
the amount of light needed by the plant is depent on the brightness or the amount of wats that the bulb use?....... can i use a 9w bulb but the brightness is very bright is it possible? or it must use those PL light which has very high wats?
Hi,

How much light is needed depends on your tank size and the height of your tank. Do furnish us with more details before we can advise. Normally, the smaller the tank, the higher the wpg needed. As the tank size becomes bigger, the height of the tank does not increase significantly so the amount of wattage increase will not be that much as initially.

Cheers,
Lawrance
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Old 27-02-2005, 11:28 PM   #10
NickSeth
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it really depends on your plants. if they dun need strong lights, algae may bloom or your plants may even "melt" but if you want to create a glosso lawn, or something like that, then u will need very strong lights.

I am using lights with a total out-put of 220watts for my 4 footer. my ec.quad, cryps and other ECs are thriving, but all my app melted away.
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