Lighting

[Imperator160]

First of all, I just joined the forum today. Used to be over at FishForum.com, but those people are hard to deal with. You guys seem loads better.

Secondly, I'm starting a ten gallon reef tank this summer. I know it's small and will probably be difficult but I have some experience with them and I think it will be fun. I think I have an idea of what light I want to buy for it, but I just wanted to see what you guys would recommend. Any suggestions?

 

[tecwzrd]

Welcome to AA Moved the post over to the hardware/equipment forum:

What kind of corals were you interested in i.e. Medium or High light corals?

 

[Imperator160]

I'm thinking mostly polyps (stars, gold, etc.), some mushrooms, but I'd like to keep something like an acro or monti in there, so it'll need a good amount of light.

 

[macman7010]

Imperator,

If you are planning on keeping high light corals, like Acros and Montipora you are going to need some Metal Halide lighting. Current USA has the new SunPod out which is basically a standard Metal Halide light (150 watt 14k) with a lot of LED moon lights. Also current has smaller versions of their more powerful Halide/Compact Flo. units though they are more expensive.

You could also look at getting a Nano Cube that has the Metal Halide lighting integrated in with it.

 

[tecwzrd]

Standard 20" long tank I assume so a Dual Satellite or 150W MH pendant placed about 10" high would work well for most corals.

 

[roka64]

WELCOME TO AA!!

Looks like you got some good advice, I just wanted to welcome you.

 

[Lance M.]

15 watts per gallon wouldn't be too much? I'd think that would burn up any mushrooms you have unless they are ricordea and the tank is shallow so placing on the bottom wouldnt help that much imo. They do make 70 watt MH's. Wow I just looked at the price difference between a 70 watt and 150 watt SunPod HQI and its only $20.

Those Dual Satellites are 20'', 2x40watt compact flourescents. That would be 8 watts per gallon- $125

Coralife has 20'' 96 watt Quad Tube Aqualight- $120

JIMO I would go with the Coralife 96 watt fixture cause I would be afraid to burn up mushrooms (which may still happen) with the MH and the coralife is $160 cheaper, which you could spend on lr and livestock. All the fixtures I have are Coralife and I love them, I have a 65 watt over my 52 gallon FW, a 32watt over my 10 gallon nano-reef since low (mushrooms) light might get t-5's later, and 130 watt over my 20 gallon nano-reef. I've never had any problems with Coralife. All the prices I quoted were from the newest DrsFosterSmith.com catalog.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I have to agree with Lance. I personally wouldn't stick a MH fixture over a 10 gallon tank, and I'm just speculating that you will have issues with light acclimation and heat. I've never attempted it before. The Coralife 96 watt Quad PC Fixture might be just the perfect thing you are looking for. If you keep your sps corals at the top of the tank, you shouldn't have a problem growing them. That way you won't have to worry about over lighting your low light corals.

If you still want to go with MH, grab the 70 watt MH clamp fixture, that's less to worry about and might work. I wouldn't go with 150 watt though, but again, that's just my opinion.

Welcome to AA.

 

[tecwzrd]

Whole point of raising the MH 10" if they go that route. If they are seriously considering Acropora it does best in species only tanks anyways but you're right a 70W would work fine as well.

The Dual Satellite can be had for $100 at www.bigalsonline.com and the Coralife for $111 at www.aquariumguys.com and either is fine.

 

[macman7010]

That's right, raising the halides 10-12 plus inches above the tank would eliminate the intense over illumination that is caused by placing halides 2-6 inches above the water's surface.

Acros's and even Montipora are both highly demanding in the light department but also require pretty precise supplementation as well. The 70 watt fixture would work, though I would still recommend the 150 watt if you are shooting for those corals. I have seen countless small, (10-20 and 30 gallon) reefs that implemented 150 watt halide lighting and had a thriving colony of both SPS and LPS corals.

One thing that is very important when bringing corals into a high light environment, even SPS species, is acclimation, only running the lights a few hours per day until the corals get used to it. Also supplementing with Iodine can help the corals naturally repair from over illumination.

 

[Imperator160]

Thanks for all the replies you guys. I don't think I'm going to go with a halide just because of the light intensity, the heat, and the cost (I'm a poor college student). I'll probably try out the Corallife PC fixture. I've seen them do a good job at work with some sps, even though it's probably not the best for them. I figure its a shallow tank so light saturation should be good. If not, I'll probably just steer away from any sps.

 

[tecwzrd]

Sounds good and keep us posted

 

[Imperator160]

Update: Tank is up (I went with a 15 gallon). I have 93 watts of light over it with a five watt light over an AquaClear 70 to create a little refugium. There's about ten pounds of live rock in there right now. It is cycled and I just added some nassarius snails and some blue mushrooms that came from my roommates live rock.