Is DrFoster's and Smith's Reef Lighting rule of thumb, fact or opinion????

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devest8r

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Read on Dr. fosters and smith this morning that in order to have a prosperous reef setup you need 4-8 watts of light per gallon..... Read the (About) section on this page.. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-lighting-fixture-bulb-accessory/ps/c/3578/3733">http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-lighting-fixture-bulb-accessory/ps/c/3578/3733</a>

Now I may be wrong but if you go by this.. A Truelumen Pro 12Inch stick is 9.1 watts to break into the 4watts per gallon you would have to have 5 sticks=45.5 watts... @ $80 bucks a stick plus the transformer is about $52.. You would have about $475 bucks in a nano Led kit...:mad2: Please someone tell me this is wrong....:mad2:

Edit: Oh sorry.. the tank I was using in the math was a 10g....
 
The watts per gallon is thrown out the window for led. Check out rapidled, and aquastyleonline for DIY led kits, on my 40breeder I have 36 3 watt LEDs dimmed down
 
I believe that the guide is giving you a rule of thumb for more traditional aquarium lighting (Metal Halide, T5, CF). LED's are more energy efficient, so you shouldn't need the whole 4-5 watts per gallon.
 
To give you a point of reference, I'm running LEDs at 1.728 watts per gallon and I'm getting about a 250 par reading on my sand bed at maximum intensity. (125 gallon tank). So yeah, this rule is not good for LED's.

Edit:
thesilence87;730999 wrote: I believe that the guide is giving you a rule of thumb for more traditional aquarium lighting (Metal Halide, T5, CF). LED's are more energy efficient, so you shouldn't need the whole 4-5 watts per gallon.
Click to expand...

Another reason for the difference is that LED's are supposedly more fine tuned in the color spectrum. so, supposedly, all the light is good light (instead of having light that maybe doesn't really do anything).
 
If pushed to guess, what would any of you think the suggested LED watts per gallon would be?
 
1w per gallon would probably be a rough estimate the true number would probably be fractional but you also have to consider the tank dimension as well i don't think wattage / per gallon is a good way to guess lighting. Also pending how tall the tank is optics used etc...etc..
 
It's more difficult to calculate (due to differences between other lighting/LED's), but I'm going to go out on a limb here.

I will say a good place to start is 1 to 2 watts per gallon.

Now,

If you have-
-a deeper tank (more distance for light to spread)
-sps (higher light requirement)
-LED's that have over 100 degree dispersion angle (lower 'intensity')

, then that number will likely be higher.

I have a 180 watt w/ Cree's on a 20 gallon high (runs @ about 100W), and 24 watts on a 20 gallon (doesn't cover entire length though). Both are growing corals. Interestingly the 24 watt tank has some sps in it, but is shallow (20 long).

So, I have ~1.5W/gal and ~5W/gal. Both seem to do well.

Next I have a 120 watt (China special) that's going over a 20 long. So we'll see how that does at ~6W/gal with sps. I expect it to go bonkers! :wow2:
 
I have 20 3w CREE's over a 29gal biocube so 2w/gal essentially and I don't even run the 8CW's at 100%. Trying to change that though. It's plenty bright.
 
Ok... I'm getting lost on these Cree led's can someone post a link to point me in a direction? Please! Lol
 
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