What if (lighting experts)

[FamousGuy]

Say someone put a 96w (3 feet) over a 2 foot tank, would that just be a huge waste of light(from the overhang) or would it be better than a 55 or 65w that fit the tank perfectly?

[Physh1]

There would be no benifit to using it over a 55/65 watt bulb. The only reason I might do it is if I had it and was on a budget crunch. It would be also be kinda a pain to look at along with all the extra light in the room .

 

A 96 watter isn't so much brighter than a 55/65 in intensity it just has the ability to cover more surface area.

 

Cameron

[yrureefing]

It would not make a difference. Like physh1 said it would only be a pain.

[SLOreefer]

if you want to run a 96w just get a power quad or something like that.

[Physh1]

Ah...very good point. I forgot about those.

 

Cameron

[Toyfreek]

It sure dosen't look great (I'm doing it right now with 2x55W over a 7gal bow) But you do get the added intensity of the higher wattage. I would go power quads though if I didn't already have this nice JBJ pendant.

GL,

Toy

[mxpro32]

judging by the difference in my 32w and my 55w the only difference is the size of the tube. the amount of light coming from each part of the tube is the same. if you mark off a section of the larger bulb the size of the smaller bulb it looks the same. it would be a waste in my opinion.

[Toyfreek]

MXPRO,

That is not so easy to say, Generally The higher the wattage the more intense the light. What you can see means nothing as intensity isn't something the human eye detects easilly unless there is alot of difference. Say you got two boats, one goes 60MPH while the other goes 70MPH you wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless there was a side by side comparrison and even then it would be difficult. If you lit a swimming pool with a zillion 9W PC's you would not get the same penetration/Par as you would from an equal amount of wattage from larger bulbs.

Bigger bulbs got more Intensity therefore more penetration ability. Also the larger the bulb the more PAR (photosysthetic active Radiation) In most cases.

YMMV,

Toy

[Physh1]

Once thing that has been forgettone here is that wattage is simply a term used to describe the power the bulb requires to fire!!!

 

For a true answer we need to compare the lumen outputs to figure out if a 96 burns brighter than a 65 or 55 or 32.

 

Just because the wattage is higher does not mean it will burn brighter!

 

Cameron