New sizing guidelines

[kerry]

So the sq" is not counting both sides!!!

[Floyd R Turbo]

That's been a point of contention. We always say 1 square inch referring to the dimensions, not the area. Thus a 10 x 16 screen is 160 sq in and would need 160 watts of total light. It's less confusing than saying 320 sq in of total surface area lit by 0.5 w/sq on each side. 1W per square inch dimensional area split between each side of the screen. If it's one sided then it's technically 0.5w/sq. in. but double the dimensional area so same amount light on the same amount of surface area as a double sided screen.

[kerry]

OK, that would explain why I stopped burning algae when I cut my lighting in half LOL!!

[new2scrub]

my screen is now 6"x12" so 72 square inches and I have 46 watts per side. So my light is still a little low? Maybe I will try larger bulbs. Where can I get 150watt equivalent bulbs cheap?

[Floyd R Turbo]

you're over 1W / sq in so that's good. You don't care about equivalent wattage, only actual. I don't know if you could go too much larger without spending a lot.

[kerry]

you have 92 watts which is more then the 72 inches you have. I think you have plenty of light. Am I missing something???

[kerry]

OK, so Floyd got his in a few seconds before mine LOL!! So I am still thinking the light thing right.

[kerry]

Walmart had some 55Watt CFL's for under $9.00.

[SantaMonica]

1 watt per square inch is a minimum; 2 watts is the high-wattage, low-hours, long-lifetime technique

[simon wright]

right i have never been good with maths at all ops: , so the way i have my scrubber now is waterfall type 1 sided light is 30w cfl bulb large screen , but with this new size guide what size do i need now? . i feed 2 cubes of frozen a day and around 3" long x 1" wide peace of nori a day . this will stay the same in the future also .
would like to cut the lighting times down also .
thanks in advance .
i would also like to go diy led on the new screen also , so how many leds and total led wattage ?