Lighting For A 10 Gallon?

[Bettababe1011]

I'm planning a ten gallon tank, and am thinking about turning it into a reef. But I don't know much about lighting for smaller tanks. Also, I'm only 14, so my only income is from chore money. So what lights would work for a ten gallon, without making me completely broke?

 

[bigben2057]

What kind of corals do you want to keep? A double t5 fixture would probably be best.

 

[needmorecowbell]

What's your budget, what corals do you want, what type if lighting would you like?

 

[Bettababe1011]

I probably want some of the 'beginner' corals. Like mushrooms, stuff like that. I'll look into t5s.

 

[Bettababe1011]

Well, budget I guess depends. I can save up for the lights, and I'm not going to be getting corals for a while. So nevermind about the price. I guess I just want good lights that will work on a 10 gallon.

 

[bigben2057]

Well, budget I guess depends. I can save up for the lights, and I'm not going to be getting corals for a while. So nevermind about the price. I guess I just want good lights that will work on a 10 gallon.

Odyssea has some cheap lights for around $40. I have the 4 bulb version and love them.(others do not like them) They are as about as cheap as you could get because they are Chinese lights, they come in 24in which is a bit large for a ten but if you had a glass top it would work. They also have a 4 bulb fixture that would fit the 10 for 55, but I wouldn't go with that because that would be quite a bit of light.

 

[needmorecowbell]

I'd look into LEDs like stunner strips that could really supplement those t5s. The LEDs are like 50$ and add tons of color. You could get the uv strip for extra Fluorescence and the t5s from oddysea. I believe the t5s they have come with moonlights. That would probably be able to keep what you want, which is great because almost everybody says they wan beginner stuff and then turn into sps junkies lol. I know it happened to me

 

[bigben2057]

I'd look into LEDs like stunner strips that could really supplement those t5s. The LEDs are like 50$ and add tons of color. You could get the uv strip for extra Fluorescence and the t5s from oddysea. I believe the t5s they have come with moonlights. That would probably be able to keep what you want, which is great because almost everybody says they wan beginner stuff and then turn into sps junkies lol. I know it happened to me

The Leds need to be the 3 watt each ones and they are expensive. Id go with t5. You could keep almost anything with a dual t5 ho at 48 watts, 4.8 a gallon.

 

[Bettababe1011]

I'm gonna get the t5 and led's to add some color.

 

[needmorecowbell]

The Leds need to be the 3 watt each ones and they are expensive. Id go with t5. You could keep almost anything with a dual t5 ho at 48 watts, 4.8 a gallon.

They are 3w. Almost every company underdrives their diodes at 2w to prolong life, there's nothing wrong with it. Like I said, the strip is 50$ and you can add on for cheaper. I'm just saying use it as supplement to get some of the color you might be missing, they are in no way required.

 

[Bettababe1011]

Okay, so the stunner strips have lots of different colors that they come in. I have no idea which I should get... What would you recommend?

 

[needmorecowbell]

Uv will get the colors brighter and you'll be able to use them as moonlights also. They get drown out easily, so you probably won't notice them, but they are working.

 

[Bettababe1011]

Okay, thanks!

 

[Zactheninja]

Try the coralife sump t5.
It's about the size of the tank, 11 inches I think. That only runs about 50 and will actually fit the tank.

 

[Bettababe1011]

It's only 12 watts though. I think I want something with more watts.