liberator123
Aquarium Advice Activist
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2013
- Messages
- 159
I tried to figure out a way to "compare" the different lights based on apples for apples kind of thing (t8, t5ho, LED). I have no idea if I did this right or not, if it was a total miss, but just hear me out. I did a lot of reading to do this lol...
-60 watts of incandescent light is compared with 15 watts of fluorescent, so I will use 15 watts as a constant value for my calculations. (7-8 watts for LED)
-We used to follow the rule for t8/clf fluorescent 1watt/gallon low light, 2watt/gallon mod light, 3watt/gallon high light
-Thus, a 10 gallon tank will need 30 watts for high light... so 2X 15watt fluorescent bulbs
-t8 is almost equal to cfl in terms of watts
-From source:
"Type of Bulb Lm/W
Incandescent 5-18
Halogen 20-25
(CFL) lighting 45-75
Fluorescent 45-125 (t12-t5HO)
LED 10-150"
-From source1 source2
4 t5ho approximately equal to 6 t8ho in terms of total lumens. (though not exact, there is a 2000 lumen difference)
-In their example, t5ho would be about 1/3rd more or %50 more effective. This almost makes sense if we take the highest lumen/watt cfl rating (75) and the highest t5ho rating (125). (about %60 more effective)
-Commonly, a 15 watt 6500k t8 tube is about 60 lumens/watt (based on many comparisons in google). However, there were many different t5ho lm/w values, and there isnt such thing as a low watt t5ho like 15w, but mostly were around a 40-60% more efficiency (8X-9X lumen/watt). Therefore, these are not exact values, just estimates (like almost ALL electric related values... *american homes give out 110-120 volts, not a set number anyway*)
-So I assume that many t5ho is about %50 more effective than t8. Thus a 15watt t8 should equal to a 10watt t5ho
-Thus: 2x 15watt t8 = 2x 10watt t5ho = high light 10 gallon tank
-Therefore, the watt/gallon rule for t5ho is 2 watts/gallon high light, ~1.3watts/gallon mid light, ~0.7watts/gallon low light.
-Now lets try to apply this to LED: Source: 15watts CFL = 8watts LED.
-Depending on the Lumen count of the LED you are getting, you can calculate approximately how much Watts/gallon you will need for low/mod/high light. Note that LED is kind of wierd to calculate because there are many different sizes... and 10-150 lumens/watts is such a big range... Not to mention, it is digitally based technology.
-example: an 8 watt LED 6500k (most of the bulbs I look at are at this kelvin) bulb I found online is 640 *here*, another I found 7 watt LED Tube (size of a t8) that was 7 watts for 700 lumen *here*, even another, 8 watts for 760 lumen *here*. I will take 7 watts for 700 lumen, so that is 100lumen/watt.
So, if LED 100Lm/w = Fluorescent 60Lm/w, then LED is 67% more efficient in terms of wattage.
Another calculation is as follows: 8watts LED = 15watts Fluorescent, thus 16watts LED = 30watts Fluorescent (which is high lighting for 10 gallons following 3watts/gallon rule). So if 30watts/10gallon divided by 10 is 3watts/g, then 16watts/10gallon divided by 10 is 1.6watts/gallon. 1.6/3= 0.53 x 2= 1.06. Therefore, LED "should" be 0.53 watts/g for low light, 1.06watts/g for moderate light, and 1.6 watts/g for high light.
Now, one must factor in the effectiveness of each watt (lumens/watt) in comparison to the Fluorescent bulbs (which is what we are using as a constant). Since the particular LED tube had a 67% more effectiveness for each watt, that means the watt value of the total watts should be 67% more. That 8 watt LED true watt value would be 13.36 watts. That would mean: that single 8 watt LED tube "should" give middle between moderate and high light for a 10gallon tank. (1.06-1.6watts/gallon : 10.6 -16 watts/10gallon)
So, for one to "calculate" the watt/gallon rule for a non cfl/t8 tube, one should also factor in the effectiveness of the t5ho/LED, which are not all the same so it seems. The way I did it was to compare the Lumens/watts. Of course the limitations of my research was that I do not have any experience with any of the t5ho/LED tubes for aquariums (im actually still a newbie in the hobby). In addition, I do not have any means to test my hypothesis as I do not have a PAR machine to see if my theory is correct. What I found in the rough estimates of my calculations are:
Type, Low watts/g, Mod watts/g, High watts/g
t8/cfl, 1, 2, 3
*t5ho, 0.7, 1.3, 2*
*LED, 0.53, 1.06, 1.6*
*(however one must calculate the effectiveness of Lumens/watt in compared to t8/cfl to get the "true" watt value of the bulb/fixture you have)*
I would like to apologize if my hypothesis is completely wrong since I never factored in PAR (I wanted a way to see if watts/gallon rule can still fit in the newer technology). At least I tried... tell me what you guys think!
-60 watts of incandescent light is compared with 15 watts of fluorescent, so I will use 15 watts as a constant value for my calculations. (7-8 watts for LED)
-We used to follow the rule for t8/clf fluorescent 1watt/gallon low light, 2watt/gallon mod light, 3watt/gallon high light
-Thus, a 10 gallon tank will need 30 watts for high light... so 2X 15watt fluorescent bulbs
-t8 is almost equal to cfl in terms of watts
-From source:
"Type of Bulb Lm/W
Incandescent 5-18
Halogen 20-25
(CFL) lighting 45-75
Fluorescent 45-125 (t12-t5HO)
LED 10-150"
-From source1 source2
4 t5ho approximately equal to 6 t8ho in terms of total lumens. (though not exact, there is a 2000 lumen difference)
-In their example, t5ho would be about 1/3rd more or %50 more effective. This almost makes sense if we take the highest lumen/watt cfl rating (75) and the highest t5ho rating (125). (about %60 more effective)
-Commonly, a 15 watt 6500k t8 tube is about 60 lumens/watt (based on many comparisons in google). However, there were many different t5ho lm/w values, and there isnt such thing as a low watt t5ho like 15w, but mostly were around a 40-60% more efficiency (8X-9X lumen/watt). Therefore, these are not exact values, just estimates (like almost ALL electric related values... *american homes give out 110-120 volts, not a set number anyway*)
-So I assume that many t5ho is about %50 more effective than t8. Thus a 15watt t8 should equal to a 10watt t5ho
-Thus: 2x 15watt t8 = 2x 10watt t5ho = high light 10 gallon tank
-Therefore, the watt/gallon rule for t5ho is 2 watts/gallon high light, ~1.3watts/gallon mid light, ~0.7watts/gallon low light.
-Now lets try to apply this to LED: Source: 15watts CFL = 8watts LED.
-Depending on the Lumen count of the LED you are getting, you can calculate approximately how much Watts/gallon you will need for low/mod/high light. Note that LED is kind of wierd to calculate because there are many different sizes... and 10-150 lumens/watts is such a big range... Not to mention, it is digitally based technology.
-example: an 8 watt LED 6500k (most of the bulbs I look at are at this kelvin) bulb I found online is 640 *here*, another I found 7 watt LED Tube (size of a t8) that was 7 watts for 700 lumen *here*, even another, 8 watts for 760 lumen *here*. I will take 7 watts for 700 lumen, so that is 100lumen/watt.
So, if LED 100Lm/w = Fluorescent 60Lm/w, then LED is 67% more efficient in terms of wattage.
Another calculation is as follows: 8watts LED = 15watts Fluorescent, thus 16watts LED = 30watts Fluorescent (which is high lighting for 10 gallons following 3watts/gallon rule). So if 30watts/10gallon divided by 10 is 3watts/g, then 16watts/10gallon divided by 10 is 1.6watts/gallon. 1.6/3= 0.53 x 2= 1.06. Therefore, LED "should" be 0.53 watts/g for low light, 1.06watts/g for moderate light, and 1.6 watts/g for high light.
Now, one must factor in the effectiveness of each watt (lumens/watt) in comparison to the Fluorescent bulbs (which is what we are using as a constant). Since the particular LED tube had a 67% more effectiveness for each watt, that means the watt value of the total watts should be 67% more. That 8 watt LED true watt value would be 13.36 watts. That would mean: that single 8 watt LED tube "should" give middle between moderate and high light for a 10gallon tank. (1.06-1.6watts/gallon : 10.6 -16 watts/10gallon)
So, for one to "calculate" the watt/gallon rule for a non cfl/t8 tube, one should also factor in the effectiveness of the t5ho/LED, which are not all the same so it seems. The way I did it was to compare the Lumens/watts. Of course the limitations of my research was that I do not have any experience with any of the t5ho/LED tubes for aquariums (im actually still a newbie in the hobby). In addition, I do not have any means to test my hypothesis as I do not have a PAR machine to see if my theory is correct. What I found in the rough estimates of my calculations are:
Type, Low watts/g, Mod watts/g, High watts/g
t8/cfl, 1, 2, 3
*t5ho, 0.7, 1.3, 2*
*LED, 0.53, 1.06, 1.6*
*(however one must calculate the effectiveness of Lumens/watt in compared to t8/cfl to get the "true" watt value of the bulb/fixture you have)*
I would like to apologize if my hypothesis is completely wrong since I never factored in PAR (I wanted a way to see if watts/gallon rule can still fit in the newer technology). At least I tried... tell me what you guys think!