10g lighting

J

jbob

New member
hi guys,
ok this is my first thread. i have a 10g tank with some green striped mushrooms and some pollyps. all i have for lighting is the standard 15w al-mart light. i have upgraded the bulb to one with more of a blue spectrum. the tank is the standard 10g walmart tank also. i was wondering what kinda light system would be best for this tank and where would be the best place to get one. i want to stay with florecent bulbs due to heat. i want one with multiple bulbs too so i can have both white and blue light. any suggestions would be great.
thanks josh
 
i have a 10g with a walmat hood with the two sockets for the incandescent bulbs and i just bought two 26 watt power compact bulbs from the hardware section
 
the one i have has only got the one bulb. would i be able to keep the same hood and just get a better light? i want to be able to have corals that require more light that what i'm providing
 
Your question is pretty wide open, considering the variety of lighting choices available. Could run from power compacts to metal halide, since you only state that you want to keep corals that require more lighting than what you have. What kinds of corals? In a 10g, if you're talking things like shrooms, zoanthids, GSP, xenia, stuff like that, and you want individual white and actinic controls, then I believe Current USA makes an Orbit power compact fixture that is 20 inches long and has two bulbs, one white and the other actinic that are on individual controls. I think it's like 80 watts total. Something you could look into anyway.
 
You can always get this for around $90. This is what my cousin uses on his 10G nano

esu53101.jpg


http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...roduct_Code=ESU-53101&Category_Code=Aqualight
 
That's what I currently have on my 10g, but it doesn't allow for separate controls of actinic and white lights.
 
My sister used this light on her tank and kept a few sps... they weren't brilliantly colored or anything, but looked good. I have it on my 10 gallon too now, but I don't have any real sps in there... the zoos & lps that I have look great.
 
I kept an orange monti cap under the coralife fixture. Growth was incredibly slow, and color was only so so, but that could be attributed to other factors and not just the lighting. Still, if you're thinking SPS as in acros, I would suggest you start looking metal halide.
 
Oh yes, I would suggest replacing the Coralife bulb every 6 months. My sister went a year and it was a huge difference compared to when she only went 6 months between bulb replacements.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9607460#post9607460 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by theevoys
Oh yes, I would suggest replacing the Coralife bulb every 6 months. My sister went a year and it was a huge difference compared to when she only went 6 months between bulb replacements.
Click to expand...

Agree wholeheartedly with this. :cool:
 
so you think metal halide would be best? you dont think it would be too much heat? can i build a metal halide setup for fairly cheap?
 
Well, the heat issue is going to be somewhat dependent on your application. If you close it all up inside a fairly tight canopy, then yeah, could be a problem. If you have a more open application with maybe a fan installed, then not so much. I just ordered a 70w MH setup from Illuming dot com. I was really considering the 150w, but was really concerned about my softy corals not being happy about it, so I'm trying the 70w out. Mine will be in a canopy that has an open top and open back on it. I will monitor the temps after installation. If there is a problem, then I will try the fan route. Either way, evaporation will have to be monitored closely.

With regards to building one, I don't know about on here since I haven't looked for a thread about that, but I know over on Nano-Reef dot com, there is a thread about building a 70w pendant in their lighting forum. I just put together a closed loop on my 10g and the saltwater for it is brewing right now. Hopefully, I can pull things together over the upcoming week and get my livestock transferred over from the holding tank back to the display.
 
150w mh or even 175w is fine on a 10g had 175 on 1 in the past and a fan blowing across the water, no heat issues, and 1 thing to remember in the wild even softies get more light than we can provide on our tanks , the big issue with nanos and mh is the evaporation so ATO is a good thing to look into also. I used PC lighting once and will never use it again it sucks
 
I'm about to re-do my 10 and am currently debating between T5's and metal halides.


The T5's are difficult to find in anything under 24". Cadlights has a few bulbs at 11", yet I can't find anything else here.

I think I'll end up with the 150W or 70W MH from illuming and then some actinic supplementals.... Screw into regular sockets would be nice for the actinics... anyone know of such bubls? Ones that don't need a separate ballast?
 
Hey Rosseau, I have found the screw in PC bulbs at Premium Aquatics, but I've only found them in 50/50 and not straight actinic. I've looked at some other places, but haven't found them. I keep changing my mind....just wrote Illuming to see if I could switch my order to the 150w instead. :rolleyes: :lol:
 
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