LED lumens
- Thread starter Zoa Te
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Dkuhlmann
New member
LED's aren't measured in lumens they go by watts. A general rule of thumb is 3 watts per gallon of tank size. And to add that typically we don't use the full 3 watts depending on what your settings are on the light fixture. Many high end LED's use 5 watt led's and again they don't use all available watts. So an example would be for a 40 gallon tank an LED of 120 watts would be what you're looking for.
Ron Reefman
Active member
Dkuhlmann's answer is pretty good. I don't use watts because I have a PAR meter and it measures the Photosyntheticly Active Radiation from your lights which the algae (zooxanthellae) inside your corals use to do photosynthesis. But a good led with 3 or 5 watt leds will work out fairly well at 3 watts per gallon over an 18 to 24" deep tank. You can get away with less over a shallower tank. I have a 180g reef and I have 2 fixtures with a total of 198 leds at 3 watts each.
Ron Reefman
Active member
Yeah Ron, that's the I don't have a PAR meter answer:thumbsup:
I understand. I got mine a long time ago in a group buy here at RC. I've been using it for 6+ years and loan it out for coral frags. That's why may tanks are so full! :rollface:
Dkuhlmann
New member
Ron I wish that I had access to one to see what my lights are putting out. Three weeks ago I got an Ocean Revive Arctic T247 and it's a lot brighter than the Chinese Black Box that I was using. I totally burned to death half of my Acan frags by having too much light. My CBB was running at 100% blues and 60% whites. So when I saw how bright the new ones were I decided to set them at 60% blues and 40% whites...
Now I've got them set to 60% blues and 20% whites and everything is growing well. The other acans that weren't burned up have recovered completely and looking better than ever before, But I don't know what the PAR is. My lights are over a 40b 36x18x17 and are 13" above the tank. If you have any idea as to what PAR might be say per 1/4 of the tank from surface to sandbed with the current settings of 60/20 I'd appreciate it.
Now I've got them set to 60% blues and 20% whites and everything is growing well. The other acans that weren't burned up have recovered completely and looking better than ever before, But I don't know what the PAR is. My lights are over a 40b 36x18x17 and are 13" above the tank. If you have any idea as to what PAR might be say per 1/4 of the tank from surface to sandbed with the current settings of 60/20 I'd appreciate it.
Ron Reefman
Active member
My T247 is over a 10" frag tank and the egg crate rack is 2" off the bottom and covers the entire tank. It's 14" off the water, so close enough, but I'll only be able to get surface, 4" and 8" deep readings. But that should give you a start. More later this morning after things start to light up.
My best guess is that the switch from the Black Box to the T247 was just too big a shock. But with time to acclimate, 100% blue and 60% white isn't out of the question over a 17" deep tank... a bit high maybe but only just a little. I run my T247 at 100% blue and 10% white and the corals are 8" or less (mostly less) under the surface. don't have many Acan corals and they are all in my 180g reef, but the last one to go thru my frag tank wasn't happy either. But I have lots of frogspawn, hammers, duncans, acros and monti in the frag tank with no problem.
My best guess is that the switch from the Black Box to the T247 was just too big a shock. But with time to acclimate, 100% blue and 60% white isn't out of the question over a 17" deep tank... a bit high maybe but only just a little. I run my T247 at 100% blue and 10% white and the corals are 8" or less (mostly less) under the surface. don't have many Acan corals and they are all in my 180g reef, but the last one to go thru my frag tank wasn't happy either. But I have lots of frogspawn, hammers, duncans, acros and monti in the frag tank with no problem.
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