Natural Light and WPG

[blizzack1]

Hey guys,

I have my first ever planted tank underway (about 2 months old), and I've just started EI dosing this week, and supplementing w/ Excel.

It is a 10 gallon tank, and I have a 27w CF GE bulb over the tank.

So, I figure it is a medium light tank.

However, it is right by a large window, and gets a significant amount of light on sunny days, though only about 30 minutes or so of direct sunlight.

I'm just wondering how much natural sunlight impacts my 'wpg'.

I know it is difficult to guess, but does all this natural light bump up the tank into what is considered 'high-light'?

Thanks for your help!

Josh

[BigDaddy]

Don't consider 27W over a 10 gallon as medium light.  The WPG rule breaks down on smaller tanks, and a 10 qualifies.  I would consider it on the higher scale of a low light tank or the lowest scale of medium light

The direct sun will have a major impact, I would be more concerned about temperature issues with a 10 than the light itself.  If you have it well planted and are using EI, the time the tank is in direct light might chew through your ferts a little faster.

For a first time planting.. having to deal with direct light is going to mean you won't have any "hard and fast rules" to fall back on with the lighting being so variable.

[blizzack1]

Don't consider 27W over a 10 gallon as medium light.  The WPG rule breaks down on smaller tanks, and a 10 qualifies.  I would consider it on the higher scale of a low light tank or the lowest scale of medium light

The direct sun will have a major impact, I would be more concerned about temperature issues with a 10 than the light itself.  If you have it well planted and are using EI, the time the tank is in direct light might chew through your ferts a little faster.

For a first time planting.. having to deal with direct light is going to mean you won't have any "hard and fast rules" to fall back on with the lighting being so variable.

Thanks BD.  I understand about the wpg rule breaking down, though I have been able to grow glosso , so I figured I had to be somewhere in the medium light range. 

I will keep my dosing on the lower-end of the EI for sure then.  I just wanted to make sure that the window placement + 27w light didn't equal some crazy 4 'wpg', recognizing that wpg is an imperfect measure.

I don't have a heater in the tank,  as I have white cloud minnows and shrimp.  I will probably be keeping the blinds closed in summer to keep the heat down in general.  The whole tank is never in direct light, just a beam that moves across for about 30 minutes or so. 

Cheers.