2 x 20w power-glo tubes

[GraemeK]

I have 2 x 20w 24" power-glo tubes in my tank.

Does anyone know how much light in watts they are producing? they are lighting a 30gal tank and appear to be very bright.

 

[Jawz]

as stated 20w each, just the spectrum is very close to pure daylight. i could be wrong so wait fo rother responses

 

[Tigurius]

Power-glo tubes are 18000k. And they are 20 watts each. I'm not sure how the kelvins effect the plants.

 

[GraemeK]

nor me...
the reason for concern is one of my pants which requires very high light is bending towards the front of the tank...and it looks silly. problem is i cant get any more light into the tank without ripping the hood apart!

i may have to ditch the plant and go for a medium light loving plant which should do better.

thanks

 

[RedTurquoise]

The kelvin or color temperature does not relate to amount or intenisty of light you have. The kelvin/color temperature is the appearance the light gives for example, red or blue! The kelvin of sunlight at noon is around 5500K therefore basing your lights around this value will be good for plants. Many hobbyists including myself actually mix lights by using higher K lights like 6500K but this if more or less for appearance.

More importantly for growing plants is the intensity meaning how many light you have. The simplest method is using watts per gallon (wpg). In your case, you have 40W (2x 20W) total. Now we need your tank capacity. By finding the wpg, you can choose plants that will thrive in your tank.

Low lighting - 1-2wpg
medium - 2wpg
high - 3-4wpg

HTH

 

[GraemeK]

the tank is a tropiquarium 88 and is 33gal i think.

it has white plastic reflectors in the hood and the tank is very very bright! each tube as stated is 18000K

G

 

[RedTurquoise]

Well, you basicly have 1.2wpg which in a plants world is considered low lighting! The brightness effect is no doubt the very high K value which is a lot more 'white' light than a lower K value. Of course to plants, intensity is much more important than the K value.

 

[GraemeK]

oh...
well i'll have to see how my plants get on then! other than that i'll have to rip apart my hood and put some after fit lighting in.

thanks.