How many led watts per gallon

Previously, a light bulb or fluorescent tube lamp was classified by how much electricity it used Wattage. However, this makes it very difficult to compare different kinds of light sources, because light bulbs, fluorescent tube lamps and LED lighting are not directly comparable on this point.

It is advisable instead to find the number on the packaging which tells you how many lumens the light source produces. Lumens refer precisely to how much light a particular light source gives off, rather than how much energy it produces. The value is written on the packaging for all light bulbs, fluorescent tube lamps, LEDs, etc. To make it simple, we explain here how many lumens we recommend per litre of water in an aquarium for a selection of plants from the Easy, Medium or Advanced category.

How much light is enough light? That all depends upon which plants you have chosen for your aquarium. If you have chosen nothing but "Easy" plants, lumen 0. For "Medium" plants, we recommend lumen 0.

The picture series shows the same aquarium 54 litre starter set with A standard T8 tube of 15 Watts, B T5 tube of 24 Watts, and C 2 x T5 tubes with 24 Watts per tube, in order to visualize how much more light is given off by using a T5 tube rather than a T8 tube, the same amount as you get from switching from one tube to two tubes.

A simple and cheap way to use the light optimally is by always using a good reflector read more about reflectors here as well as by ensuring that the temperature - especially during summer - does not get too high inside the lamp read more about the amount of light given off and temperature here. The table shows the amount of light lumens from one 15 Watt T8 tube in a starter set compared with sunlight, typically that found in the living room - there is more light in the aquarium than in the living room, but considerably less than plants would experience under natural growth conditions.

Remember to use reflectors in your lamp so as to get up to 4 x better use out of the light! Many cheap starter sets are delivered with a standard lamp without reflectors. Luckily, it is possible to buy reflectors separately and mount them afterwards in the vast majority of lamps. Our calculations show that a good reflector can give up to 4 times better utilization of the light.

Note that there is a large difference in the quality of reflectors - we have tried to illustrate this with a photo series! It is easy to ascertain in the shop which reflector is best. Mount the reflector on a fluorescent tube lamp and look at the reflection of the tube in the reflector. If there is no black band visible in the reflection, the reflector is "perfect". If black stripes appear in the reflection see the example on the right in the top picture , it means there are areas of the tube from where the reflector cannot catch the light - which reduces the utilization of light.

As a rule of thumb however, even a poor reflector e. Type 1 is far better than no reflector at all None! These parameters will help you to determine the PAR and spectrum you need to supply into the tank. However, for your benefit, here I have come with a list on the minimum range of PAR you will need to ensure in your reef tank for the healthy growth of corals:. When it comes to the recommended time of LED lighting , I would recommend you to ensure a full photoperiod lasting for 9 hours.

In this 9 hours, 7 hours should be of core spectrum period, 1 hour of the ramp-up period, and the remaining 1 hour of the ramp-down period.

To get an accurate result you have to make sure that your PAR meter is of high quality and capable enough to output exact PAR value. Understanding the PAR map is the most essential thing that can help you place the corals in your reef tank at the right place. If you own a PAR meter you can easily determine at what height the corals should be placed so that they remain within the range of the recommended PAR value for example, to for SPS corals.

However, do you know where to get the PAR meter? First of all, see if any of your local community owns one and can lend you to use for your reef tank. There are many reef communities that offer its members the required tools including the PAR meters for their members.

However, if you cannot use the first method, you can buy or rent it from any recognized suppliers or manufacturers. Beef Reef Supply, for example, sells and also lets the tank owners use PAR meters in exchange for rent. To get the full security money back, you are supposed to give the PAR meter back within the 7 days of renting. You can also buy combined reef monitors such as the Seneye Reef Monitor. Apart from finding the PAR value, combined reef monitors can monitor free ammonia, pH level, temperature, etc.

While the general lights merely add beauty in the aquarium, the functional lights work as an important factor in completing the biological process inside the reef tank aquarium. Aesthetic lights might seem beautiful to the aquarists, but it does not help the tank inhabitants in any way. On the other hand, functional lights are very crucial when it comes to fish and coral growth.

No matter which purpose you want to serve, you need lights. With a particular primary lighting setup, you can either create the natural lighting conditions to preserve a healthy ecosystem in the reef tank aquarium, or you can adorn the tank with creative and dramatic lighting effects. Aquarium lights, when used for aesthetic purposes bring out the amazing and vibrant color of the fishes and corals.

The scale of CRI ranges from 0 to While 0 signifies the least natural daylight condition, signifies the highest presence of it. If you want to get the visual effects close to the natural sunlight, you have to buy full-spectrum bulbs or bulbs that are capable of emitting all the wavelengths of the visible lights.

The more the effects and proximity to the daylight you get from a bulb, the higher will be the CRI range or value. But, you should know that a high CRI value does not indicate that a bulb will output the best color. Many color-enhancing bulbs use the warmer color spectrum ranging from red to yellow to give you the best augmented and enriched color experience.

When it comes to visual quality, the color temperature of the bulb is another important aspect to consider. Color temperature is generally signified by K-rating and measured by degrees. Lights that have lower K-rating produce warmer color spectrum such as orange, yellow, and red. On the other hand, lights with higher K-rating produce cool colors.

Like freshwater aquariums, lighting is essential for photosynthesis in reef tanks. The plants and corals in the reef tanks are photosynthetic organisms that need light to manage their foods. When we are talking about sustaining lives in the tanks, the intensity of the bulb is a crucial factor to consider.

Many aspects affect the intensity of the light. When you select any light fixtures, the total wattage plays an important role. The higher wattage translates into greater light intensity.

Simply put, the higher wattage a bulb will feature, the greater will be its lighting effect. So, if you have got a reef tank aquarium that requires a high intensity of lighting, you should go for light fixtures that can serve you with higher wattage output. Usually, you will need 2 to 5 watts of lighting not LEDs per gallon for freshwater aquariums.

However, if you have got a fish-only aquarium, just 1 to 2 watts not LEDs of lighting per gallon will do. But, when it comes to reef tank aquariums, and you are going to use LED fixtures, things are going to be different.

However, the amount of necessary PAR varies from reef to reef for a variety of reasons. But, how do you calculate the watts a gallon receives from the light fixtures? It is not very difficult to find out.

Just divide the supplied wattage with the number of gallons you have set in the aquarium. And that result you will see is the answer. For example, if you have got a gallon aquarium where you have set watts lights, it means that the aquarium inhabitants receive about 2. Though this amount of light can be adequate for any freshwater aquarium, it is too high for fish-only aquariums and too low for reef tanks or saltwater aquariums.

However, as we mentioned earlier, this is an old method applicable to old metal halide lights and does not work well with LED fixtures. Lighting requirements may vary for a lot of other reasons such as differences in fish species, types of corals, tank depth, and many more. So, make sure that you study the lighting requirements for different species and then supply the wattage accordingly. LEDs are popular in the modern world due to the benefits they offer.

Freedom of Choice : You are at liberty to buy LEDs that differ in price ranges, types, styles, brands, and models. No matter what your budget, choice, or requirements are, you are likely to get LEDs that are suitable to meet your needs. You can choose them either for aesthetic use in tanks or to meet functional purposes such as keeping the corals healthy.

You do not need to carry high electricity bills at the end of the month. So, though they might seem costly to buy at the beginning, they give you the cashback when you use them for the long-term. Less Heat: Another advantage of LEDs is that they do not emit as much heat as fluorescent and incandescent lights. The light-emitting diodes rather than the use of bulbs help LEDs stand apart from the crowd. The low temperature will keep the fish and corals in good health.

Because excess light or heat can create stress in them and create an imbalance in the aquarium ecosystem. Your comments are also reassuring SuperColey So 44W LED x 1. Still less than I have on my current tank, but judging by what you've been using still sufficient.

I hopefully won't have to buy any more lights. Hoping to start work on the set up at the weekend. Thanks again, Al. Yes these are quite good. Not using the most efficient LEDs ie any Cree above 1W but they quote lumens and more interestingly T5 and T8 equivalent so you can work out if they are going to be brighter than your existing lights.

Just watch out for algae if you are moving from ye olde T8s as the light increase to these LEDs or T5 is quite a jump. Joined 11 Oct Messages 4, Location Guernsey. Beware the dreaded algae - the good thing about many LED units is that they can be adjusted for intensity. Changing from T8 to T5, as stated is a big jump and yes algae started to appear, so rotated the T5 reflectors around to lower tank light level for a month or two until I got algae under control.

Appeared on my Anubias, rocks and front glass. OK, that all sounds promising then If its a fairly big jump from 75 Watts of T8 to these 44W LEDs then that should be good as they won't be replacing the T8's but will be going over a new tank which is a little bigger and most importantly in this respect a fair bit deeper than the ones I have the T8's on.

Hopefully with all that taken into account things will be comparable, or maybe even slighter brighter lighting in the new tank. I'm hoping to start work on the new tank at the weekend and this will be my first properly aquascaped tank so I'm just trying to get my head around how all of the new, up to date equipment will compare to the dated equipment I've used in the past. I haven't decided whether or not to inject CO2 yet.

I might try it without at first to see how I get on and then add it later if needs be. I guess that will depend largely on the types of plants I want to grow. Baby steps to start with so the weekend will be spent constructing the cabinet, positioning the tank and other hardware so that I can make everything fit in nice and neatly and then maybe making a start on the hardscape I need to go out into the hills to collect some rocks for that as well though so there won't be any rush Thanks for the help.

Michal Member. Joined 7 Sep Messages I have my doubts about those tube replacement LEDs. I don't really get why other than a sales point they would get LEDs and then try and use them like a flourescent when the strength of LED is being able to spread all the light out rather than confine it to a small linear area but that is pure speculation.

I have never used them nor seen them in action. I just question the logic of not using a strength of LED simply to make them look like something people are familiar with On the tubes T8 isn't that far behind T5 at all.