I've got an empty 10 gallon and some free time...

[Anonymous]

And the 10 gallon just looks so drab and empty sitting there without some coral and liverock... I was thinking about plumbing the 10 gallon with my 20 gallon to simplify filtration and the like. My question is lighting. If I want to maintain some sps in the 10 gallon, should I use a metal halide pendant, or would compact flourescents work well enough to get decent growth rates? Also, I am concerned about the temperature climbing out of the acceptable range. If MH is the best way to go with lighting, would an ice probe pull the temperature down enough to prevent livestock deaths? I use 2 65 watt compact flourescents on my 20 gallon and get good growth with Montipora and Xenia, and the Favites looks good as well. However, I am interested in stocking the 10 gallon with Acropora, Hydnophora, and a small Porites as the target species. Opinions?

 

[Len]

I had a 10 gallon nano recently. At first, I lit it with PCs and everything (SPS included) grew well. I then swapped it out thinking a 70W halide would be better, but it really wasn't. A Iceprobe was needed to keep it about 81 degrees at this point. So I decided to throw on a 150W Iwasaki 50KK. Corals LOVED the light, but the temperature was uncontrollable. Unfortunately, things couldn't tolerate the high temps on one hot summer day and I lost a good portion of my livestock to bleaching.

So in hindsight, I'd have stuck with the PCs (96W quad, btw). FWIW, the halides were only about 4" from the water, so you might be able to do better if you can raise it higher above the tank and use some fans to cool the air in between.

 

[Len]

BTW, a tank sitting empty is sacrilegious!

 

[Anonymous]

Lots of folks use PCs to grow acropora. Just get it very close to the bulb and use a lot of wattage.

 

[Anonymous]

BTW, a tank sitting empty is sacrilegious!

Yeah, I know, but I am a grad student and money has been tight. However, I just moved into a new, cheaper apartment and have money to spend and every time I walk past the empty tank I envision what it could be.

 

[Bleeding Blue]

I like the powerquads for lighting a 10g. I think you get a lot of bang for your buck, and a hood that won't heat up too much. You could then probably grow just about anything. Just my $.02.

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

If I do decide to go with MH, I am looking at a 150 watt HQl reefstar pendant, because I don't want to mess around with retrofits. Anyone ever use one of these? Also, how hot would the ballast get? I'm still undecided here...although a friend may give me an empty 20H, so heat would not be the biggest concern. Then I could use my 10 gallon as a sump.

 

[saltcreep1]

Hi there,

On my 20H I am using an icecap pendant for my 250W Iwaski running on an Advance ballast. http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... antshellsI have the pendant 10" from the water and the ballast is in a remote location to the side of the tank, so heat from the ballast isn't an issue. The pendant does get hot, but not to fry an egg on hot, and I have not had any problems with the tank getting overheated. I feel this has much to do with the open airflow you can get with a pendant verses a hood.

Double-ended bulbs have a serious drop-off in light intensity as you move outward from the pendant, so keep that in mind when deciding which tank to use.

Mark