Low, Med, Hi lighting level defined

[Haskellf]

Whenever I look at the corals and fish lighting requirements, they list it by Low, med/moderate, to high lighting levels.

Can someone please explain to me how do I define these in Kelvin? Is an Acitinic lightsource considered moderate? Is a 10K considered high lighting level compared to an 8.8K? Would a moonlight be sufficient as a Low Lighting level source?... confused here. Thanks in Advance.

 

[Anonymous]

light level is not related to Kelvin temperature. Kelvin temperature is related to the color of the bulb, not intensity.

For low light, I would say is about 12 inch from 2 or more NO or PC bulb. It is about the level for fish only tank... enough for you to read underwater, kind of.... :?

For hi light, it is a few inches from a 250W MH or brighter. Medium is anything in between. Just a rule of thumb, so be forewarned.

 

[Anonymous]

a good start would be wetwebmedia.com
they have a lighting 'section' with a ton of info and links...click on marine articles or just do a search of their site and you can read a ton of faq's too!

 

[Len]

When people refer to low, moderate, and high light, it's really laymen's definitions for the intensity of light, not the kelvin rating. It's rather ambigious terms used for simplicity, but it's always best to quantify it by telling people what kind of lights you're using on what size tank.

For example, 400W metal halide over a 40 gallon tank would surely be considered by everyone as "high light" levels. Two 96W power compacts would probably be regarded as moderate, while two 30 watt fluorescents is definitely low. Again, it's pretty qualitative, subjective, and ambigious Can't blame you for being confused.

 

[Anonymous]

Do we have a poll or similar to what we've got for pumps regarding lumens output and intensity?

 

[taikonaut]

If there is such a poll, people need to realize that it is just a rule of thrum, not something with a concrete cut-off number.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, it would make some sense, though, to somewhat define High, Medium, and Low intensity lighting, in terms specifically of lumens. Even if we're the first to do it (though I doubt that), it would be vastly helpful. For instance, give a range, "Low intensity lighting will be that which goes from 2 lux to 150 lux" so on and so forth. That would help at least give folks an idea of what they're shooting for.

 

[shr00m]

i think its a good idea, of course its not concrete... and people should realise that, but its better than the wide descriptions like low moderate and high