Watts?

[Hellathafish]

What does watts have to do with the lights? From what I have learned it is related to how far the lights go in to the tank. Is that a correct assumption or am i way off. I am confused, been doing way to much thinking on this I think.

 

[neilanh]

Watts is a measure of power consumption, equal to something like 1 joule per second or something. Bulbs are measured in wattage as a guide to how much light they're consuming, and therefore gives an idea of how much light output they are making.

A 25 watt bulb uses less energy than a 100 watt bulb, but puts out rougly 1/4 the amount of light as well.

Wattage has nothing to do with tanks, just the bulb. We then use the wattage of the lighting to determine how much light is on the tank.

For instance, if you had a 10 gallon tank, and a 50 Watt bulb, you'd have 5 watts per gallon of water. This is a guide we use to determine what we can do with the lighting and how much lighting we need. It's just a guide, there are no set in stone rules, however, when it comes to lighting an aquarium.

 

[melosu58]

Watts per gallon. It`s a widely used idea on lighting for aquariums. IMO it`s a little outdated nowadays because of the new technology on lighting these days. I still like to use it as a broad view to those that are new in aquaria. As you get on in the hobby then you can talk about things like Par and intensity for lighting. On the Watts per gallon there used to be rules like you had to have 3-4 wpg for soft corals and 5-7 for SPS coral. Those are just examples. But with PC`s , VHO`s, T-5`s, LED`s and MH`s it has become more complicated. JMO