How many watts per gallon my setup considered to be?

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Atl300zx

Aquarium Advice Freak
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Jan 27, 2007
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Marietta, GA
I am trying to figure out how many wpg i have on my tank since my light setup isnt traditional.

i have (2) 65w 6700k CF bulbs and (2) 65w 12000k CF bulbs.

Since 12000k is somewhat out of the usable range for plants, how would that transfer into WPG?

i have a 55g tank.

The reason i ask is b/c some of my plants such as A. Reneckii, glosso, dwarf sag arent doing well, and i am wondering if it is due to not having enough light, lack of CO2, or possibly just the very low pH (4.7).

Previously i had 4 of the 12000k bulbs. When i recently switched to 2 6700k bulbs (about 7-10 days ago) i started to notice an increase in algae on the glass.

For this who recall i am slowly bringing up the pH in my tank using Baking Soda, so that i can turn the CO2 back on. If i am not successful in doing so, i will bypass my pH controller, get a drop checker, and inject co2 that way.
 
Atl300zx said:
Since 12000k is somewhat out of the usable range for plants, how would that transfer into WPG?

K rating doesn't mean that it's not a good bulb for plants. K rating is normally used to let you know how the light will look to your eyes.

What you need to look at is the light spectrum. You want high levels in the blue and red areas. If I remember correctly, I think it's around 450 nm for blue and around 900 nm for red.
 
IME that's way too much light for a 55 gallon. I have 2 65 watt 6700K lamps running on mine (10 hours a day) and I noticed tons of algae within 2 weeks. I am not running CO2. If I were you I'd cut back immediately to avoid any more algae growth until you can get CO2 going.
 
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