totally light confused

[MickeyA]

ok so the light question do i have enough? am i in the low med or high light?
what am i looking for watts, lumen?
Ive looked everywhere and everything tells me i have low light. i have a 10w 490 lumen 6500k spiral CFL over a 1.5g tank what light category would i be in?

 

[Atxpunx]

10 watt cfl over a 1.5 gallon tank is very high light

 

[MABJ]

ok so the light question do i have enough? am i in the low med or high light?
what am i looking for watts, lumen?
Ive looked everywhere and everything tells me i have low light. i have a 10w 490 lumen 6500k spiral CFL over a 1.5g tank what light category would i be in?

+1 high light. How tall is the aquarium?

6500k is perfect.

 

[MickeyA]

I have to measure how deep it is the box said product height 13.5 inches but I has a 2 inch shelf on it so breaking out the old ruler cause I also have 1 inch of dirt and 1 inch of sand so if it's 13.5 it'd be 11 inches to the bottom

 

[MABJ]

I have to measure how deep it is the box said product height 13.5 inches but I has a 2 inch shelf on it so breaking out the old ruler cause I also have 1 inch of dirt and 1 inch of sand so if it's 13.5 it'd be 11 inches to the bottom

You're more than fine. I think your plants will thrive wether you put ferts in there or not.

 

[MickeyA]

At work I'm trying to do the math and 8/8/13.5 ends up to be 3 gallons and that can't be right since the package says 1.5g so I'll measure it when I get home I think it's more like 7/7/7.5

 

[MABJ]

At work I'm trying to do the math and 8/8/13.5 ends up to be 3 gallons and that can't be right since the package says 1.5g so I'll measure it when I get home I think it's more like 7/7/7.5

Or you could do the age old water test lol. How many gallons can it actually hold xD

 

[MickeyA]

I broke out the good old ruler the actual water depth from top to bottom is 7.25 inches with 2 inches of dirt/sand 5 inches cause it's .25 inches from the top full so and my light is about 3 inches above the tank.

 

[jetajockey]

It's hard to gauge how much light you have with spiral CFL's because of restrike and also reflectors, or lack thereof. If someone was calculating WPG then sure you could say you were way high light, but in reality it's probably not, and could be much less.

Your best bet is to just wait and see.

 

[aqua_chem]

Smaller tanks also need more light. With anything below 20g, you need to supply more light than guidelines would have you believe. Yet another failing of the wpg "rule".

 

[MickeyA]

Well I wasn't looking at the watts per gallon I was looking at the lumen and based on calculations I read sq"/ lumens I'd need a 23w 6500k 1300lumen bulb to make the tank medium lighting even though it's only a 5 in water depth the formula seem a little off cause it's taking out water depth mean I could use the same bulb I'm using if my tank was 2" long 2" wide and 24" deep which doesnt seem right

 

[mohican]

Your water depth consumes the whole tank; water doesn't stop on top of gravel. Gravel and decor may take up volume, as far as total gallons, but it does fill voids within substrate.

As for lighting, there is no magic formula. The WPG is a general rule but there are soooooo many other factors to consider before select lighting. Check out this link for more confusion
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

 

[MickeyA]

I changed the bulb to a 15w 6500k 900 lumen cfl