Aquarium Lighting

When choosing aquarium Lamp,there is much more to consider than watts per gallon.In fact the 2-6 watts per gallon for a reef or freshwater plant aquarium,less for fish,more for many corals;a very basic start but that is very general and quite out-dated due to the variety available modern lights with varying lumens per watt lights,different wavelength,focused lumens, PAR output,etc.. Sadly the watts per gallon“rule”for aquarium lighting is still thrown around today despite all the technological advances in lighting which often makes this grossly inaccurate.

As you will read more later in this article a watt is simply a measurement of energy not light output or even quality.Even comparable lumen output at the lamp is no longer a good measure of lighting parameter performance due to focus and restrike; a good example is a modern LED  which has a vastly higher lumen output than a comparable wattage CFL at 20 inches.