FishForums.com - View Single Post

MyraVan · 02-23-2007, 04:11 AM

You know, I'm not really convinced by this need for smaller tanks to have more watts per gallon. The thing is, smaller tanks are generally much shallower than larger tanks, and so the light is much less attenuated by the time it gets to the bottom.

I have a 10 gallon tank lit by 22 watts of T8 bulbs. (I'm quoting the actual power consumption of the bulbs, not what they are *supposed* to consume. The lighting is actually two "14W" bulbs, but they obviously don't actually use 14W each!) It's not the brightest tank on earth, but plants do grow well in there, and it looks nice. Sure I can't grow riccia sumberged, but I'd don't have a burning desire to do this anyway.

I also have a 2.5g tank which I have currently set up with no light at all. Well, no artificial light; it sits right next to a south-facing window. Still, the plants are growing, slowly. Except for the dwarf sag, which is doing its usual thing of trying to take over the tank.

So I really am not convinced that 20W of usable light would be a good amount of light over a 5.5G tank, unless you are after a fast-growth, high-tech tank. If you (kastotrin) are, then go for it. If you have reef tanks, then you know something about nutrient management, etc, so you'd probably have better luck at it than someone who's only kept freshwater fish before.

02-23-2007, 04:11 AM	#10
MyraVan Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 861	You know, I'm not really convinced by this need for smaller tanks to have more watts per gallon. The thing is, smaller tanks are generally much shallower than larger tanks, and so the light is much less attenuated by the time it gets to the bottom. I have a 10 gallon tank lit by 22 watts of T8 bulbs. (I'm quoting the actual power consumption of the bulbs, not what they are supposed to consume. The lighting is actually two "14W" bulbs, but they obviously don't actually use 14W each!) It's not the brightest tank on earth, but plants do grow well in there, and it looks nice. Sure I can't grow riccia sumberged, but I'd don't have a burning desire to do this anyway. I also have a 2.5g tank which I have currently set up with no light at all. Well, no artificial light; it sits right next to a south-facing window. Still, the plants are growing, slowly. Except for the dwarf sag, which is doing its usual thing of trying to take over the tank. So I really am not convinced that 20W of usable light would be a good amount of light over a 5.5G tank, unless you are after a fast-growth, high-tech tank. If you (kastotrin) are, then go for it. If you have reef tanks, then you know something about nutrient management, etc, so you'd probably have better luck at it than someone who's only kept freshwater fish before.