Lighting on a future softie tank?

[zoiereef]

Hey everyone, I currently have a 10 gallon planted tank that I hope to convert to a nice little softie tank in the future. I know nano tanks really aren't the best for beginners but I want to try it out on something small first. I have a 75 I got for a really good price that will eventually become a reef but I don't want to make that investment until I'm confident in my abilities to care for the coral and fish.
So this brings me to my question, I am currently using a little finnex stingray to grow my plants and I was wondering if this would be good enough to grow some soft corals? If not I've always been very attracted to the kessil a80s, but then wouldn't that be overkill haha? If neither of these would be suitable what would you suggest?

Sent from my 5056N using Tapatalk

 

[zooman72]

1. The Finnex would probably grow certain types of soft corals, but they would not look very good under that color output. One of the marine-spec Finnex lights would be a better choice.

2. The Kessil A80 is only 15 watts, and is certainly not overkill for a standard 10 gallon aquarium - in fact, they are marketed as meant for smaller nano's and pico's.

3. Other lights will work just as well, providing different options (i.e. automated dimming vs. on/off), and you might also consider the 18" Current Orbit Marine for example - a bit less $$$ than the Kessil, with a remote control and automated/ adjustable presets. Not the shimmer of the Kessil though, but less expensive (add $100 for Kessil's controller too).

It simply depends on what you want the light to do (i.e. bells and whistles) and what you want to keep under it.