Re: Measuring Effective Light

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Bill astutely pointed out:

> The "Flourex Light'  thread reminds me of a similar
> discussion about a year 
> or so ago.  My contribution to that was to suggest that
> watts per gallon was 
> at best a rough estimate of the light available to
> plants, and that there 
> should be better measure.   Compact fluorescent
> technology apparently has 
> further weakened the wpg tool.
> 
> I had suggested that we hobbyists, through
> experimentation or calculation, 
> determine the amount of light energy from various
> bulb/ballast/reflector 
> combinations that actually reaches the bottom of the
> aquarium, measured at 
> various depths.  This could be made available in the form
> of a spreadsheet 
> and end for all time much of the questions about various
> kinds of light.  
> Almost, anyway.
> 
> It would take some effort to set this up initially, but
> relatively little to 
> maintain it.
> 
> The response I received then was less than overwhelming. 
> Maybe this is a 
> good time to bring it up again?  If I had the skills I
> would do it, but maybe
> Wayne and/or Scott and/or Tom and/or the many other very
> knowledgeable people 
> here could take a stab at it.

I, too, think Bill's idea is a good one.  And, yes, no one
on the list seems to have taken on the challenge.  If those
with relatively high interests in the technical aspects
didn't bite, how do you think the rest of the hobbyists
feel at doing any of the research?  For comprehensive
table, it would take more than interest, or skills, or
expertise (I confess to having only the first of the
three), it would take personal time.  And it would take
some agreement on a method of standardization :-\ .  

But without a doubt, a relatively simple table that could
be easily understood and used would quickly become as well
known as the pH-KH-CO2 table.

Scott H.

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site
http://webhosting.yahoo.com/