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Re:400w over a 33 gal tank
Hi Damian,
I have some first hand experience with this one! Dont do it!
I upgraded my tank from 55 gal to 120 gal, and went from 200 watts to 615.
I was really proud of the setup and thinking everything was going to be
great. I am finally done with my green water problems after buying a UV
sterilizer that I never needed on my 55. Also, I have decreased the wattage
from 615 to 440 (I have an expensive MH bulb that I don't even turn on!!)
at 440, everything grows great (1 foot growth of rotala indica in 8 days!)
Someone told me that having 615 watts on this system was like driving a
sports car really really fast. You can get great results but you can crash
very easily. One drop too much fert or one day behind on a water change and
the system goes haywire. Very unforgiving with that much light. I am very
happy with my 4 watts per gallon right now. I'm going to think long and hard
before I turn on that MH bulb again!
Robin
> Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2001 16:46:27 +1000
> From: Damian Barton and Jenine Plunkett <jpordb at ozemail_com.au>
> Subject: Lighting options: 400W over a 33 gallon tank?
>
> Hi folks
> I have an approx 33 gallon tank (18inches high X 14inches wide X
> 36inches long) over which I have four 30wat flouroescent tubes that are
> now about 7months old. I'm not sure about tube costs in America but here
> in Australia the cheapest price on only just suitable tubes is $17.44
> per tube (brand; NEC GE Biolux) which means I'm looking at forking out
> $69.76 : [ . On the other hand I have a HPS fixture and ballast that I
> could get a conversion lamp for (at a similar price with a colour
> temperature of 4000K). The thing is however that I can only use a
> 400wats lamp (it currently has a Son-T Agro 400wats bulb in it).
>
> I figured out that I would have approx 12 wats per gallon?
>
> Hmmmm is it just me or does that sound slightly ridiculous? *lol* I
> might be able to grow whatever I want with this setup but at the same
> time I'm thinking that that level of lighting is just plain wrong and
> something bad is going to happen- like an evil mutant strain of algae
> will take over! Keeping up nutrient levels and Co2 would probably be
> crucial (and my crypts might not appreciate that amount of light) but
> are there any other factors I should consider? Should I abandon the idea
> or could it actually work?
> T.I.A.
> Damian (off to check out all the info on difficult high light demanding
> plants : )