Lighting advice for nano tanks

[MD Ocean Girl]

Hi! I'm new to the saltwater hobby and the site, and I'm loving all the advice everyone freely gives. I have a 10 gallon half moon tank that had a betta fish (I've got two freshwater tanks besides the 10 gallon). I promised my boyfriend that if he built a stand for the 10 gallon, I'd convert it to a nano saltwater tank. Needless to say, I currently have live sand, live rock, and cultured water from his tank in my 10 gallon

The tank is a half moon, 17 inches high, 18 inches wide at the back, and 11 inches from the back to the middle of the half circle. I've got a filter, heater, biocube protein skimmer, and a koralia nano 425 powerhead in the tank. The tank came with a 24 bulb LED arm fixture, but it's not very bright. I'm looking to do mostly softies, probably mushrooms and zoo's and such in the tank, but I'm having difficulties finding a light that would be suitable. Does anyone have any suggestions for a light fixture for this tank? Should I go LED? Metal Halide? T5? Power compact? What brand?

Thanks so much!

Karen

 

[aquadonkey]

Welcome to URS Karen!
And congrats on your first SW tank!
I'll let the experts deal with the question

 

[kendaroo]

If you're just going to do softies, I wouldn't even consider the metal halide. It takes up a lot of energy and puts out a lot of heat & light you won't need for a softie tank. I'm not sure how to mount a light over a half-moon tank. Would you have something hanging, since you can't really do legs?

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

I'd most likely either mount it with an arm to the back of the tank, like the current light is, or build a canopy for it and hang it...because you're right, there is no way to do legs.

I'll definitely skip the metal halides. Any suggestions for what might work best?

 

[block head]

i'd just keep the 10 gallon a basic as posible. i'd use the stock light and try a few shooms or non photosythetic corals . nano's are fun if u keep them simple. after a while you'll be able to upgrade, or challenge yourself with more difficult coral.

 

[zooman72]

Coralife makes a 12" compact flo. fixture (36W - 2 18W 50/50 bulbs) that is OK, but hot and not long lasting (in my experience). Current used to make a nicer 12" fixture that was similar but better, but they no longer make them, although used ones can be found from time to time - I have one on a nano and it is pretty good.

Current does have a clamp-on 70W MH that I have seen in person and is not bad, and this fixture would not produce the heat that a 150W or larger would of course. LED fixtures are still pricey, but a single 21W PAR 38 LED bulb from NanoCustoms would probably work quite well on your set-up. Probably would need to go with the 60 degree optics to get a nice spread of light. These bulbs can be used in any standard incandescent light fixture, they would last for quite some time, and they are comparable in price to that listed above.

As you can see, there are quite a few options, so read up and good luck...

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Thanks so much for all the advice everyone! I'll definitely continue to do some research. I have another question.....how many watts per gallon should I be shooting for to grow shrooms, zoo's, etc?

 

[jfl14609]

From your ideas I personally would just put a power compact bulb over it t-5 would be ideal but I am hot sure they make one that small

 

[cardiffgiant]

Coralife makes a 12" compact flo. fixture (36W - 2 18W 50/50 bulbs) that is OK, but hot and not long lasting (in my experience). Current used to make a nicer 12" fixture that was similar but better, but they no longer make them, although used ones can be found from time to time - I have one on a nano and it is pretty good.

Current does have a clamp-on 70W MH that I have seen in person and is not bad, and this fixture would not produce the heat that a 150W or larger would of course. LED fixtures are still pricey, but a single 21W PAR 38 LED bulb from NanoCustoms would probably work quite well on your set-up. Probably would need to go with the 60 degree optics to get a nice spread of light. These bulbs can be used in any standard incandescent light fixture, they would last for quite some time, and they are comparable in price to that listed above.

As you can see, there are quite a few options, so read up and good luck...

+1

I think that this is a very practical and efficient way to light a small tank. You can easily grow SPS with a 21W bulb that uses a standard incandescent fixture and lasts for 50,000 hours.

I'm using the Evil PAR38 LED 40 optic over my frag tank, which is 1/3 of a 29 gallon that s tied into my sump. I had to move a couple of SPS down lower and into more shade because they were getting way too much light. I think that a 60 optic would be the better way to go for your application.

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Thanks so much! I'm definitely going to look into that light.

Speaking of frag tanks, my boyfriend and I recently set up a 20 long frag tank. It has a 2ft 4 bulb T5 HO light fixture over it. We're looking to do mostly softies and probably LPS for now to frag, as I'm new to this, and he hasn't quite graduated into SPS yet. Enough light to grow corals and frag them????

 

[cardiffgiant]

that's what I'm doing