tank deapth relevance in watt/gallon

[dclegern]

if anyone can explain this to me?

3 w/gallon in a 60 gallon short-----
3 w/gallon in a 60 gallon tall------

same lighting throughout? or does it drift as the tank gets deeper?

[Gseclipse02]

you cant really use watts per gallon

what kind of lighting are you using ? pc/t5/mh?

[justahobby]

I've only begun to read up on lighting which is sad since that is arguably the most critical part of our tanks. I just get glossy eyed when I start to read about par, kelvin, etc. The lighting drops drastically after the first few inches and then steadily decreases the deeper you go. Someone will post here that can explain it all to you.

Here you can see how my #'s drop with depth. My tank is 21" tall.

http://maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=57070

[dclegern]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaam that's crazy.
Since all my rocks, shrooms etc etc are 7-8 inches under the light, I may as well be using a flashlight.
I wonder if my ballast will hold more wattage ????????/

[justahobby]

What type of lighting, ballast. How deep is your tank?

[dclegern]

24" deep, rock piled up 2/3 of the way.
see if this pic. comes through!!!

I have no idea how to add more light. I just bought that big ol' t-5 sundial.

[justahobby]

Softies don't require a whole lot of light. How are they doing? Do they stay alive, move for higher ground, multiply? How many bulbs are in the fixture?

[dclegern]

the shrooms are the main issue. low, med, or high in the tank, the just sit there.
Alive and well, no movement. The xenia however almost died at the bottom......when put at top.......Bam!!! pretty as can be.

[justahobby]

What, did you expect the shrooms to dance? LOL..... j/k. Give em time and see if they multiply.

[dclegern]

ok Justahobby, i'm assuming i'll need to find another fixture here soon.
But here comes the stupiddddddddddddd question?

10k vs. actinic. all four bulbs in my light are 36 watt...........But are the actinic doing the same for my light parameters as the white lights?

[jrsatx20]

read here.
http://www.melevsreef.com/par_readings.html
this might help a lot. marc is a great guy knows his stuff.

[justahobby]

4 T5's over a softie tank sounds fine. You may think about raising your rock work to make them happier since your tank is semi deep. You could keep the bottom open for non-photos like sun coral.

There is much debate about if and what actinics do for coral. I have read everything from "just for looks" to " that's what they are most dependent on". Personally, I take a middle ground since I witness my coral responding to the light when I turn on actinics.

Again, there will be plenty more people that (hopefully) will come along and give you more accurate answers to your lightning questions.

[Big_Pun]

i run a single 250w hqi in a sunlight supply pendant about 6 inches above water, tank is 36lx24hx18d, and i have a lil of all types of coral only thing ive noticed is key is the flow softies usually dont like alot but .some of my zoas like good flow