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Lighting for 10 gallons
I'm looking to improve lighting over existing 10 gallon tanks
and adding new 10 gallon tanks. For various reasons I need
lights that fit over the top of the tanks, rather than putting two
tanks side by side and running a single light over both of them.
I'm looking at flourescents that will fit over a 10-gallon. I
need a bulb/ballast/end-cap combination to make the thing
work.
All of the t8 18 inch bulbs I could find are 15 watt, pre-heat, and
all of the pre-heat ballasts I could find are magnetic. I want an
electronic ballast for efficiency.
These 18inch bulbs average about 410 lumens. I could use a t8
u-bent 32w bulb, but because of the shape can probably fit only
one of them. These bulbs are 2325 lumens.
4 18 inch bulbs, which would probably fit, would be 60 watts,
but only 1640 lumens. A single 32w ubent bulb is 41% more
lumens. Am I correct in thinking that I should follow lumens
and not watts?
The old formula of watts of flourescent light (2 to 4 watts per
gallon) is breaking down, since newer bulb types have different
watts-to-light ratios. Is there a rule of thumb based on lumens?
Thanks,
Rod