I Need Everyone's Help!

[The Reefer91]

my dad and i have been having a lighting argument, with the results being that he believes that light is light and watts are watts no matter how you cut it, and that intensity doesn't matter at all.

he thinks a 400 watt PC light is the same as a 400 watt MH light over a 120g tank(48x24x24"), and that the only difference is looks. this is all because of an article he read online.

i know that isn't true and everything i have read and heard says the opposite. if everyone who reads this could simply post that they agree that not all lights are the same and that light is light no matter hwo you cut it, it would be greatly appreciated.

all you have to do is state your name. thank you in advance

- a desperate fishkeeper

 

[scapes]

mh's are FAR superior than PC's. all lights ARE NOT the same

 

[Blown 346]

400 watts of PC and 400 watts of metal hide is a huge difference. The halides would far overtake the PC's anyday. Intensity from both 400 watt PC's and 400 watt halides is also a huge difference. Intensity is very important.

 

[The Reefer91]

the article was a part of the Conscientious aquarist, which stated that

"The winning technology is Compact Fluorescent and full-spectrum fluorescent lighting with boosted output fixtures. There is no improvement in sight for natural photosynthetic light-energy capturing mechanisms"

 

[Reefing102]

I agree wit Blown 346. But to add to it the PAR of PC's is only a few inches far less than halides with atleast 18 inches of PAR if im not mistaken.

 

[The Reefer91]

come on people, i need more posts.

 

[FlyboySMB]

When you talk about a light using "Watts", you are talking about how much power that light consumes. Power = Voltage x Current. This is simple ohms law. Watts tells you absolutely nothing about the light output, weather it be spectrum or intensity which are the characteristics you are interested in when comparing lights. Light output is measured in lumens and wavelength of light. Look more closely at the spec sheets for MH & PC lights, specifically, look at a 400W MH & a 400W PC & write down the lumen output (more lumens, more intensity) and the wavelength (this will not be a single number, but a range that describes the spectrum of light that is generated by the luminecent output).

I knew my Masters in Electrical Engineering would someday be of use!

 

[The Reefer91]

haha, i'm glad it is

 

[Macimage]

Flyboy is completely correct. Lumens indicate the output of light and Watts indicate how much power they use.

400 watts of metal halides put out much more lumens than 400 watts of PC lighting.

Joyce

 

[jsf668]

If I was to rank them..It would be. #1- Metal Halide, #2- T-5's, Last---Power Compacts. If you want to keep Soft Corals and LPS's, you could do that with power compacts. If you want to keep more light demanding corals ( SPS & Clams ) go with something else.