# Lighting for nano?



## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

???

i thought WPG always applied.... Cuz if you use the right light source, the PAR value's should scale as well. 

its just not scalable from one light source to another... example.. u cant take a WPG on a MH and transfer it to a compact fluorescent or LED's...


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## TedP (Mar 25, 2011)

I have a Catalina 10" 2x13w fixture on legs over my 2.5. It's a lot of light but I am cranking the CO2 now. There's some algae but it's not bad. Still a young tank though.


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## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

i have a 10W led on my fluval spec which is 2.5 gallon.

and its too much light, cuz im not injecting co2.. :\


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## FriendsNotFood (Sep 21, 2010)

http://rexgrigg.com/mlt.html

Lighting is so confusing. According to some people (see above) the WPG rule only works properly on medium-sized tanks. Nanos allegedly need a lot more light. I have 10 watts over my nano right now with no CO2 (Excel only) and no algae but plant growth isn't great so I was wondering if I could get away with bumping it up to 15.


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## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

lies.. nano's do not need more light.. the light requirements ur thinking is probably applicable to a different range of lighting. 

nano's have a lower depth which requires less light for penetration @ required PAR values. 

Here lemme show u the difference between a high powered LED's and non high powered. on my spec. 

This is factory lighting:









This is a single 10W:









look at the penetration to the floor bed... 

This is a single 10W on a 10gallon:









again, notice how deep the light goes.. 

If anything the larger tanks require higher powered lighting because of the depth your working with. WPG rule doesnt apply when your talking about off shaped tanks... ie.. shallow depth tanks... 

now u can see the havok that 10W LED is causing on my nano with algae because im not injecting CO2.


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## FriendsNotFood (Sep 21, 2010)

I think the WPG rule not working for nanos just means you can't rely on the same WPG ratios as bigger tanks. For instance, I have 10W over 2.5 gallon which would be 4WPG and considered high light for a bigger tank but not for a nano. Otherwise my low-tech tank would be an algae farm. That's how I've always understood it anyway. Right?


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## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

FriendsNotFood said:


> I think the WPG rule not working for nanos just means you can't rely on the same WPG ratios as bigger tanks. For instance, I have 10W over 2.5 gallon which would be 4WPG and considered high light for a bigger tank but not for a nano. Otherwise my low-tech tank would be an algae farm. That's how I've always understood it anyway. Right?


as i said it would totally depend on the depth of the tank.

This is why u see guys like hoppy always talking about the PAR values given off the light. 

Or this is how i started learning it as from the guru's here.

Its about the penetration and the PAR values u can get on the floor bed which matters more then actual watts of lighting.


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