proper lighting for a ten gallon reef

[dawnme6a]

Im going to be turning my ten gallon with live rock and 2 fish, into a ten gallon reef. however, i dont know the proper lighting requirements. All i want are anemone and soft coral. Every where i go im faced with more and more confusion. Some places like marineandreef.com have a chart that shows the lighting needed for different tank sizes. Marineandreef.com, for example says that for my 20x12 (10) gallon i will need 20" Aqualight PC 1X28W if i want just live sand and soft corals. It also says a 20" Satellite PC 1X40for the same setup. Now i called a store, and they told me i would be better off going with a 1x96 aqualight.
now im curious if two 20W 50/50 Mini Compact Fluorescent (Coralife) bulbs will allow me to have anemone and soft coral. This would be my ideal choice because its very compact and cost effective. plus it will fit in my incandescent hood. Here is a link to the lights https://www82.safesecureweb.com/weba...egory_Code=BPC

any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[electrikat]

You basicly need 30 to 50 watts as a general rule. 3 to 5 wpg. Pc is a good choice.

[fishfreek]

A pair of 36W PC bulbs would be great. This would also provide more than enough light for even some of the more light needy corals.

[dawnme6a]

how bout two of the lights that i provided a link for in my original post.
They are 20 watts each
ive seen nano cubes with reef setups using only 18 or 32 watts at local fish stores. I dont understand how they can do it, but recomend to me to get 96 watts.

[fishfreek]

Im not to sure how much acutal output those screw in PC bulbs will acutally produce. Remember wattage is a measure of power consumption not power output.

The LFS usually lights their tanks for the short term. Expecially if they are selling things out of the tank where as your tank would need t obe lit for the long term.

[dawnme6a]

well, the tanks they had the low wattage PC's were display tanks, not for sale. THe screw in PC i mentioned is rated at 10000k
its 50 percent white 50 percent actinic

[RLG2182]

K is a measure of the wavelength of light that is produced, not the wattage. A 6500K light will make your tank look more yellow, while a 20000K bulb will make your tank look blue like windex (depending on the brand). A 10000K bulb will be a nice color, but may need actinics to make it look more natural in a reef envt, but it's your preference. Other people will be able to help you more... but that's my take on it.

[fishfreek]

In addition it depends on whats in the tanks. Remember with an LFS they have the ability to rotate stock in/out of these tanks to make sure they always look top notch. If you said you only wanted soft corals then I would agree they would be fine for the most part. But you also mentioned an anenome. They will need higher output lights than soft corals and I worry that the incadecent/pc blubs wont provide the insentisy.

A 50/50 bulb is fine. That just means they split their output in the 10K range and the Actnic range.

[ellisz]

I built an 2x32 set up for around $60.00.

You can get an electronic ballast in a shop light at HD for $8.
End caps were $5 each
2 32 watt 50/50 bulbs were $20 each

I had the wood for the canopy already.

Its almost too bright for some stuff.