Show your wife what a great guy you are by offering to let her buy what she wants for Christmas, and, of course you will relieve her of the worry of finding something you will like, by buying what you want for Christmas.:redface: This has worked extremely well for me.
Same here, I'm getting one for my 72 bow front (almost same dimensions as your 75, but with a curved front). From all the research I've done on here and Google, it seems like it's the way to go!
I wish it was that easy. I tried that 2 years ago and she said it's not fun doing it that way. But after last year I think I'll try it again and say "see this way we wont spend money on anything to just sit in the closet and collect dust."
Yes, but from what I've read about the values they don't seem to drop much at all going through water. Well not at least just 20" or so of water.
I did some experimenting back when I first got to use a PAR meter. I found that the intensity with water is a bit higher than without water. Eventually I figured out that the air to water interface acts to slightly focus the light, increasing the intensity, plus, for most tanks, you get some light reflected off the front and back glass, which also increases the intensity. After that I started just measuring PAR out in the air.
I have 2 36" Ray II fixtures on a 50 gal. Only drawing 29 watts for the daylight 290 LED model, these things throw an awesome amount of light. After what Hoppy said, I'm considering hanging mine from the ceiling. Radiant heat is almost non existent. I can pick one up in the center and it is barely warm. I'm a fan!
So why do those fishes under the water develop their own light systems. What the sun doesn't have enough PAR, LOL. So at what point does water hinder light intensity rather than enhance it?
meh.. you can throw a lot of science on this, but home aquariums are not controlled science experiments. Any manufacturer will state their highest, most desirable numbers in a controlled setting, but it's really not 'real life' In the same way my car is suppose to get 40 mpg, but only get's 30. I guess the auto manufacturer forget that in real life people don't drive in wind tunnels, and they don't keep a constant speed of 50. And the biggest surprise is they actually have other people in the car too. On thing your forgetting is the tank the light goes on is not empty there will be hardscape and other plants in the way, there will be surface movement and water that isn't crystal clear like the air. Some light can also be reflected up and out or away from the plants. So give me PAR through air and an empty tank and I'll give you a Jeep that think's it's a Prius.
