Question about lighting calculation

Hi. I'm asking this here rather than in the lighting section because I am new and I'm just beginning again in the hobby. So, I've been looking for a clear cut answer about what constitutes low, medium, and high intensity light for corals, but I haven't been able to find one that really gives me a decent answer. A calculator would be ideal, something like "How many lumens total does your fixture emit" and "How big is your tank" which then provides a general idea of what you should keep at what distance from the fixture... but I can't seem to find one of those either!

Basically, I just want to know what level of light I have as far as corals are concerned, so I can figure out what sort of corals I will be able to keep when I decide to make the move from "FOWLR" to a reef tank.

So, anyway, let me provide my relevant data. I have a 60 gallon/227 liter tank, which measures 48 inches/122cm (length) x 13 inches/33cm (depth) x 24 inches/61cm (height.) If you need to envision it, it's about an inch/2.5cm deeper and 3 inches/7.6cm taller than the standard 55 gallon aquarium tank.

I have 3 T5HO bulbs, 2 10K Daylight bulbs and 1 460nm Actinic, which according to numbers I found online gives me a total of 15001.2 Lumens of light. Each light has its own reflector; it was listed as a selling point that allowed the tank to receive more light. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but I'm mentioning it in case it's a factor. The light is about an inch or two from the tank. I also have a 24 LED set of blue moonlights, though I don't think this is relevant to this particular thread/question, I am including it because it is there.

I know my tank is deeper than normal. I do have several different spots where corals could go, from about a little less than a foot from the light to all the way at the bottom. I would appreciate just "You have low/medium/high" lighting as well, but I'm also interested in the methodology if I have to apply this to myself or help someone else later. If there's any simple method of calculating this (I would imagine it would include lumens per square inch/foot and distance from the light or something) I would be very happy to know it.

I imagine, based on similar threads I've seen, that I may have "medium intensity" lighting, but again, I'm not jumping to conclusions as they used different varieties of bulbs and/or different wattages.

I did use the search function, but I couldn't seem to find specifically what i was working for. It's probably here somewhere, but my search terms must not have given the correct answer. I'm sorry if I'm asking a question that counts as a duplicate post or something, but I had to ask it to someone. This question has been driving me nuts for weeks! Thanks, your help is greatly appreciated. ;D

 

Lumens are useless for our applications. That will give you medium high lighting. With T5HO and MH the watts per gallon rule is out the window also. I would suggest getting one more bulb if you are looking at a SPS dominant tank or keeping crocea or maxima clams on the sand. Having one more bulb also gives you a better chance to get a better spectra mix for your corals.

 

Thank you very much!

Well, at the moment I'm not even sure what I want. There's definitely some things I'm leaning more towards than others, but nothing that I've really said to myself, "I must have this and my whole tank will be built around having this one species." It make take me a few (or several) corals to figure that out. I tried to get a fixture that seemed well put together for the price I wanted to spend that seemed to produce a relatively decent amount of light because I really don't have any sort of direction with the coral. The fish, I can reasonably sort out what I like and what is compatible, but corals are still nearly new to me! I'll probably hold out on the extra bulb until I get that direction decided upon. Can you just add a an additional bulb (and mounting/etc) to a fixture, or do you mean get an entirely new fixture?

Is there any way to improve the mix of lighting that may be less desirable than adding a light, but still better than what I have now? Like, changing a 10K bulb to a 50/50, or changing the 460nm Actinic to a 420nm, or something else of the sort? Basically what I'm getting from what you're saying is that my setup is good for general applications but if I'm looking to specialize in a certain direction, I should towards improving this mix. Am I right? Also, isn't the general rule is that the corals with higher light demands go towards the top, and those with lower demands go towards the bottom? Just making sure I have it right.

Also, it's good to know that about the lumens and watts per gallon, I really had and still have no idea how the lighting is calculated.