lighting on a 10 gallon nano

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hisc1ay

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Nov 7, 2002
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Richmond, VA
Forgive me for making yet another thread about reef lighting, but I couldn't find the answer I'm looking for and I didn't want to hijack someone else's thread.

The bottom line of my question is how much is too much light? I know I want at least 55W, but do I want 1 bulb or 2? Would 65W be too much? My plan is to keep some LR, a few corals, some cleanup critters, and one fish or two small ones (I haven't decided what kind of fish, so if you want to suggest go ahead). I'm checking out other people's nano setups to get an idea of what I want.

I found a PC 2x65W (65 watt 10,000K Daylight and 65 watt True Actinic 03 Blue Compact Fluorescent Lamps) and moon lights on ebay for (relatively) cheap. It closes in 4 days.

Thanks!
-jason
 
Several hundred watts over a 10gal would be to much. ;)

a dual 65W PC fixture may be to long for a 10 gal. I belive the 65W bulbs are 23" long and cant recall the lenght of a 10gal at the moment. That would give you plenty of light for just about anything over the 10gal nano. Even the potental for clams and SPS corals. A single 65W bulb would also do good for the majority of corals out there in the aquarium trade.
 
Cool. I have to measure my tank, but I believe it's a standard. Most of the bulb sets I've seen are 24", so it's possible that it's too long (for some reason I think 20" is the correct length...I need to check). I was looking for a 55W light, but I saw this one and thought I'd ask about it. I really like the moon lights. :)

But what you're saying is that 130W total is fine.

I'm pretty excited about this little nano reef. Stocking the 30 gallon seemed like too much of a risk to me, as the 10 would limit the amount of livestock I'd be able to get which will come into play if I decide to go house shopping in the spring (which is a plan of mine). When I finally solidify my headquarters, I plan on either converting the 30 gallon I have or getting a 55 or bigger to start getting *really* serious about reefkeeping. ;)

-j
 
I have been on nano-reef.com, and there are a lot of people that have a 96W Coralife PowerQuad, which I can get on hellolights.com for like $88. What do y'all think? I'm still going to keep my eye on that setup on ebay, and I'm hitting my new favorite LFS tomorrow.

-j
 
Hi! I'm looking for the right lighting for a 10g nano as well for my sons room. The lighting you were talking about "hellolights.com for like $88"... is it already put together and fit the standard 10g tank?

Thanks!
Kimberly
 
Coralife makes an awesome light. I have had almost no reported problems with there lights from customers. The power quad would be a great choice for your 10G
 
Yep powerquad would be good. Its nice cause you get alot of light out of a short bulb.
 
I'll probably be getting that then. I wanted the moonlights to be part of the light unit, but I see that they make a separate 1/2W moon light that you can attach, so I guess that's ok. I saw those moon LEDs at the LFS that I'm visiting later today and I thought it was the coolest thing. :)

I guess it's becoming official though. I just moved the critters from the tank I want to use into my other fresh tank. Lights, water, and sand....then I regroup the funds and get my PH and rock.

-j
 
The moonlight is actually 3/4 watt and it attaches real easy to the aqualight!
 
I built a DIY fixture for my 10 gal. The 96 watt is a good deal but I did not want that much.

I made a 2x32 fixture with a $7.50 electronic ballast from HD, end caps, clips and 2 20" 50/50 PC bulbs from premium aquatics. Cost about $50.
 
Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. Keep 'em coming at least until next week. :)

I stopped by my new favorite LFS yesterday and told the owner I was making the plunge (last time I was there, he and this other customer were bustin' my chops to get into saltwater), and we talked for a while about what I would need and why I would need it. It was nice to know what he was talking about (research is useful! :)). The light I'm getting as of right now is from his store. I can't remember the name, but he swears by the light and uses that brand but lower wattage on some of the tanks in the store. It's a 96W 24 inch PC with one daylight and one actinic and it also has lunar lights within the unit. It's $1 more than the PowerQuad before shipping, and he mentioned that a lot of the time when he would order PQs for customers they would come in broken. Plus I like shopping at the LFS when I can. So next week I will be stopping by to get my light.

This is kind of off topic, but it's my thread so I can do that. :) Another cool thing (I think) about this LFS is that they have huge RO units (like, hundreds of gallons) for fresh and salt, so he'd sell me 8-10 gallons of water from one of his coral tanks in the front of the store at a discount. That way I'll have some bacteria and whever else good comes out of established water. I'm going to buy like 5 lbs of rock from them too (the rest of my rock will be from Liverocks.com) and some type of crustacean like a couple shrimp or something, to keep the cycle from falling apart. Then after my rock has been around for a month or so I'll get a fish. Still not sure what kind though. :)

I'm pretty excited about this move to salt. I know a 10 is very small for this, but that also means I'm prepared to do the work it takes to keep it thriving. I would rather have a 10 set up and work on it for a few months until I move than set up a 55 or larger only to have to move it next Spring.

If anyone's interested, I'll be posting pics of this as I go along in my gallery.

-j
 
I would rather have a 10 set up and work on it for a few months until I move than set up a 55 or larger only to have to move it next Spring.

I felt the same way. My 10g tank has been up for about 6 or 7 weeks now. It is the happy home to a few snails and crabs. But I have to move it tomorrow to my new house 8O During the move, I am going to upgrade to a bigger tank. A 15g tank :p Once I reestablish everything, I can buy the rest of my clean up crew, setup my fuge, get an auto topoff... Then, I can get FISH. Hopefully around XMas the tank will be doing good for two Clowns :D
 
The good thing about my setup is that I've pretty much dedicated that 29 gallon to freshwater. The by the time I move, the fish I have will be waay too big for a 10 gallon tank, and I want to get more angels anyway (going to the LFS today :mrgreen: ). That means I'll be looking for at *least* a 55 when I move eventually. With the markets the way they are here, I hope to purchase my first home in the spring. Then I can get my dog too! I'm done renting. :)

-j
 
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