lighting question

[OceanMist]

how does the wpg rule work with flourescents, do flourescents spread light evenly?,

for example say you had a tank with 500 watts (example) over half the tank and no lights at all over the other side, surely the side with the lights over it is going to be far more light intense that the other side?

I only ask because my (to be) tank will only have flourescent light over the side with rocks on, ...

so will there be half the amount of light over the entire tank ... or all the light over one half? does that make any sense?!

either way it doesn't really matter as i'll probably only be keeping liverock.

 

[Devilishturtles]

You'll only have light over that half of the tank. But a word of advice, you can find regular flourescent strip lights on ebay for cheeeeeap! It might be worth a look.

 

[melosu58]

Questions like that show that the WPG rule does not always apply. I think it`s a little bit outdated

 

[lando]

how does the wpg rule work with flourescents, do flourescents spread light evenly?,

Poorly. In general, the wpg method of light calculation is not too reliable. More important is the type of light. Some light sources, such as MH, are for intense since they originate from a single focal point. This will allow the light to penetrate the water more deeply then a CF or NO fourescent light.

for example say you had a tank with 500 watts (example) over half the tank and no lights at all over the other side, surely the side with the lights over it is going to be far more light intense that the other side?

Again, it depends on the type of light. Even with NO flour. lights, it may look a bit odd. You will surely have a dark side. If it were me, I would light the entire tank evenly so it will look better. If you intend to have LR only, light will not be an issue. Concentrating your light on the side with the LR is not needed.

 

[OceanMist]

i didn't realise live rock was not light dependant, anyways, I don't really want to spent a fortune on Halide fixtures and what not (for the moment anyway),

the problem is that I had my tank custom made so its not a standard shape, and its almost as wide as it is long, so to spread the light evenly I would need more lights than i'm prepared to buy at the moment, so I was thinking i might just add NO fluorescents at the front because I can pick them up pretty cheap, and they would only be to view the fish, and buy PC's for the back where the rocks are, would I be able to add any soft coral if i place it high on the rocks??

 

[Scottm]

if its close to the pc's then yeah I would say so. probably safer to do mushrooms and zoas though.