Is this enough light?

I would think so, I have a 24" dee[ 180g and my mushrooms and polyps are doing fine about 12" up from the bottom and all I have right now for lighting is 2 24" 20w Dayglo's and 2 very old (3 years) 24" 20 watt Coralife 50/50s. But I am also new to SW so I may be way out in left field too. I just ordered an Outer Orbit 72" 3 x 150watt MH, 4 96watt dual actinic and 8 moon lights too. Should be here this week. But I really don't thik most mushrooms and some polyps need a whole lot of light.

I'm sure someone will tell me how whacked I am and give you a real answer though, s if nothing else this will give ya a bump.
 
I was told to get that fixture by many other people as well but I am a noob so I think i want to still with just 'shrooms for now, which that fixture is too much light.
 
I have the same 96 watt fixture over my 15 and my shrooms and zoa's and my couple of acros grow great. I replaced the bulb with the sunpaq bulb which is a lot brighter but costs more than the original replacement.
 
Definitely not too much light as I said before my softies do great under it where they barely survived before with 2 fixtures on it, a 2x18w and a 2x13w.
 
the 96w quad lighting system will be great for a 10gallon softy tank, when my 10gallon was up I used that lighting system and it worked great. definately spend a couple more bucks and get it.

-Mike C. aka ZURCSREEF
 
Thanks guys that fixture looks awesome but I think I found one I like better. would this 2x40 fixture be good for mushrroms (not too much light?) softies, and polyps? I like it better than the other fixture because it is 16 less wattage (which is a concern for energy savers like myself) comes with a lunar light ( :rollface: LOVE lunars) and I can get it for $90 bucks at an LFS. What do you think?
 
I would bet money the 2x40w fixture draws more power than the 1x96w fixture due to the fact it has two seperate ballasts. Ballasts are transformers and rob power that creates heat.
Plus you will be replacing two bulbs in the future rather than one, it will cost more money in the long run both in power and replacements.
96w is NOT too much light for softies in a 10G tank like everyone is telling you. What are you worried about?
 
Because people were referring to softies alone not mushrooms. I thought mushrooms and softies were different like how LPS and SPS are different. I just want to absolutely sure because I have never done reefs before and Im afraid I will nuke my tank if I kill a shroom with too much light.
 
Mushrooms will migrate to wherever they are happiest. If its too bright they will move down the rock or find a ledge with shade. Light generally will not bother them. I have blues, greens, reds, bullseyes and others within 2" of the surface under that 96w light, I even changed the bulb last week so its brand new and nothing was affected at all.
 
Here is my 15G with the 96w Power Quad Aqualight on it. Note the Sebae Anemone that the clown is hiding behind is 14 years old now. If things were not happy they would have died long ago.
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Its a 3.2 MP Vivitar 3725 that I am replacing with a brand new 6.1 MP Canon A540 as soon as I sell a 60G tank I have advertised. This one does not do colors justice no matter how I adjust it or what mode I take them in.
 
You've had that sebae anenome for 14 years? It's pretty small, that would have to be by far the longest living anenome I have heard of.
 
It had just eaten so was closed up. Its in its third tank and third room of the house since I bought it. It started out in a 20H bare bottom with 4x15w NO fluorescents and a modified Skilter back when thats about all that was available. next was another 20H with 2x55w PC and later 3x65w PC and a CPR BakPak. Then it went in the 15G with the 2x18w PC and I later added another 2x13w to it. It always been very healty and never been sick a day in its life. It even on its second clownfish, the first was a Tomato clown and he was mean as heck, drew blood when you reached in the tank for any reason. I finally found a nice big tank for him as he was getting huge.
 
thats is major good luck AZ, Sebae are light mongers and require much more light than a PC can deliver. If yours has survived, thats great. I tried with pcs and lost two. I have t5s now and they thrive and split.
 
This anemone started out in a 20 high with 4x15w NO fluorescents. 2 Vitalights and 2 Philips actinics. It was just as happy back then. It went from that to 2x55w PC and later 3x65w PC before I sold that system and put it in the Via Aqua its in now. It started out with the 2x18w and didn't look real happy so I added a 2x13w and it was much better but finally settled on the 96w powerquad and its doing great, never moves and eats quite well.
 
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