Lighting Nano?

[Jolieve]

My husband and I just set up his 10g nano (standard AGA 10 gallon glass tank). The tank has a prism on it for skimming, about seven pounds of live rock, and a half inch of crushed coral for the substrate. No fish are in this system right now. Current inhabitants are a red/brown mushroom coral, my caribbean ricordia was evac'd from my 75 to be saved from hair algae and we have a red sea xenia in there and a few ceriths and a nerite snail. He'd like to include some zoos and possibly a tree leather, if he can get away with it.

Currently, the tank is lit with a pair of 15 watt compact fluorescent bulbs that are designed for freshwater planted tanks (not reef quality lighting IMO). We're looking into other lighting options and would really like to stick with pc's. A self-contained hood system would be ideal, but what are our options at this size?

Thanks much!
J.

 

[brandon4291]

I can not think of a better light setup for a ten gallon than the one at this link from hellolights.com

http://www.hellolights.com/185cfquadret.html

Of course a 150 MH would be ideal, but thats heat and $$. If it were my ten gallon, this pc light in the link is the one I would get, most light for the money. You'll have to find a way to retrofit it into the existing hood, or you can order a custom 10 gallon top from www.petsolutions.com and customize it with the light linked above.

I have ordered at least 20 separate items from hellolights, all I do is give them my check card number and pay a little extra for quick shipping. They are very honest.

Don't be hesitant to buy good lighting up front, you'll thank yourself later when an upgrade is never needed for any coral you could possibly want to try.

Brandon M.

 

[tinyreef]

joli,
championlighting.com's another good source. try the CSL 2x40W PC unit/hood. it also has moonlights.

i agree, petsolutions.com is a great place. you can try two of their jalli units for similar output but at 2/3 the cost of the above.

i also agree about not skimping on the lighting. lighting is the foundation/heart of the reef. it's the lighting that sets the hobby apart imo, not the LR, corals, inverts (they are beneficiaries of it tho).

altho i'm a vho-guy, i knew i should've planned my new nano with a mh (i even had an extra from my old hospital tank <headsmack>). go mh and you'll never have regret. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

both my tanks (10 and a 15 high) have CSL 2x32w pc's. everything looks great.

B

 

[Jolieve]

I have mh's over my 75 gallon reef tank. I have plans to keep sps and a couple of clams in that tank, my husband swears he doesn't like sps or lps, just softies. I figure if he falls in love with sps, he can enjoy it in my tank. *chuckle* Thanks for the tips on the lights, I will go check those out and keep you posted on what we end up with!

Thanks!
J.