# Watts/gal, lumens per sq inch or other



## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Whats up guys,

First id like to say hello this is my first post and it looks like this is a really nice and active forum and im looking forward to contributing! I am 22 years old and have been keeping freshwater aquariums in one way or another since I was 5 and I like to think I am an experience Aquarist. At the moment i have a 110 gallon Oscar tank, a 29 gallon community tank, a 22 gallon cube and a 10 gallon planted tank.

I am going to be taking down the 22 gallon, its pretty unimpressive. Just a golden goruami a few barbs ( that i would take back to the LFS if i could catch ) and a couple of tetras. All plastic plants, pretty lame sauce, so i am going to take it down and set up a 29 gallon i have laying around and turn it into a planted tank. 

I used [Ebay Link Removed] bulbs on the light hood i made for my 10 gallon planted tank. They are 560Lumen 6.4 Watt LED bulbs and i have 3 of them on my 10 gallon tank and am super happy with them, great light out put, low heat, low energy draw, win win win across the board. I want to use these same bulbs on the 29 gallon im going to be starting up but i have a question as to how many i need to use...

So on my 10 gallon i have 3 of them which gives me a total of 1680 Lumens for 8.4 Lumens per square inch and 1.92 Watts per gallon. To get the same lumens per square inch on the 29 gallon i need to use 6 bulbs, that gives me a total of 3360 Lumens and 9.3 lumens per square inch, but only 1.32 Watts per gallon. So my deliema is that i want to get the same kind of growth in my 29 gallon as i get from my 10 gallon, so do i go for the same wattage per gallon or lumens per square inch. If i want to get the same wattage per gallon i need to use 9 bulbs that would give me 1.98 Watts per gallon...


For those interested in the Light hood i made here is a video showing what i did:






and a picture of my 10 gallon planted tank thats only been setup for a month


----------



## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

Read the lighting sticky because all that you've said isn't really important for aquatic horticulture.


----------



## aquabruce (May 10, 2012)

Welcome to the forum.

Nice hood build.

The watts per gallon rule isn't really a good way to judge lighting anymore.

Try to find the PAR value for those lights. Here's a good thread to read up on.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=184368


----------



## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

i cant find the PAR value of the bulbs


----------



## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

Replace them with bulbs that will fit and are suitable for aquatic horticulture.


----------



## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

just because you arent familiar with these lights doesnt mean they arent suited for " aquatic horticulture ". Like i said i have them on my 10 gallon planted tank and they do an amazing job.


----------

