Suggestions for lighting a 10 gal?

[jman785]

Well...I am away from home for 2 days and I return home to find my 55 gallon, empty and sitting on my back deck...I already knew who the culprit was...my father...so now...I'm stuck with a 10 gallon, with an AC 300 heh. So since I know NOTHING about lighting a 10 gallon and trying to grow SPS in them...what kind of lighting do I need? I mean it seems to me that a metal halide will boil 10 gallons of water pretty fast...I'm looking toward power compact lighting? What do you guys think and how many watts do you recommend for me to grow softies and a few SPS?

[MikeS]

wow Jman, that's a bummer.... :(

I'd look into VHO's or T5's...bith will provide better lighting than PCs and will also run cooler.....PC's run HOT!

Mike

[icereefer]

I'm thinking PCF's or a MH pendent,would be good on a 10 gal.
Mike: Is'nt 24" the smallest you can get in VHO's? and 10 gal tanks are 20" aren't they? and what is the smallest that are T5's?
and sorry to hear jared

[MikeS]

hmmm...I think you are right ice....nice catch! :D

Ok...T5's....and/or MH penant...

I'd be a little wary about trying to keep high light critters under PC's alone...If you want PC's, I'd say definately suppliment them with T5 actinics...

Mike

[jman785]

If I do a MH pendant...what wattage do you guys suggest? I'm thinking maybe 175 or 250....400 would be a maybe. If I end up doing the pendant should I put a piece of acrylic over the top to help slow down evaporation?

[MikeS]

175 to 250 would probably be plenty for a 10 gal. (thats 17.5 -25 watts per gallon... :idea: )

A lot of pendants come with UV sheilds on the pendant housing itself....I'd think that would be ok by itself. With MH hanging over it, you will probably need to be religious about topoffs and keep up with them. If heat beomes too much of a problem, fans or a heat exchanger of some sort may be in order.

Mike

[jman785]

I went ahead and went with PC for now...I don't feel like trying to cool all of the halides and stuff out, that would be a pain and I don't have that much time.

[Gringoloco]

PC's is what I would suggest also.

[MikeS]

are you going to suppliment them with VHO's T5's or NO's? I'd recommend it...PC's alone are intense, but fall short in the arena of spectrum...

Mike

I am using a PC quad 4 96 watt light on mine right now and all seems to be okay? The Maxima clams i had in there for a while seemed to do okay - so...I would guess that this is adequate for some SPS too. The Purple Tipped Digitata I have in there is looking nice and showing some growth. Thats over 9 watts per a gallon and less than 11 inches from my substrate. Its a nice low profile fixture too with built in fans for cooling. I will admit I am not a big fan of PC's but on a really small tank I think they make sense, and are adequate. Were the Tank a 20L I would have went with a 175 watt hallide for sure! But for 10 gallons....Im okay with the PC set up. JHMO....

[jman785]

I let my father go ahead and order them..since I was out of town at the time....he went ahead and got the ones that stand above the tank...that have built in moonlight and are both actinic and daylight bulbs, fan-cooled. Its a nice little fixture, although if I were in town when the ordering took place, it would have been like 200 times cheaper, considering he ordered from Marine Depot, when I could have ordered through one of my wholesalers...but its alright I suppose :)

[nanoman123]

right now i have a really horrible 32 watt PC on my 10 gal..... but next month im upgrading to either a 96 watt powerquad, or a 70 watt MH. those are both supposed to be excellent lights for nanos.




~Matt~

[jman785]

Go with the powerquad, I think my next PC lighting will end up be the powerquad as its 96W!

[Mokick]

This thread is similar to my situation now.

Jared,
What fixture did you get from Marine Depot? I have a 15 gallon that I desperately want to add lighting to. But I dont want the heating and evaporation problems either.....one reason I wanted a smaller tank was to avoid this.

The problem with my tank is it is only 16" in length, so my options seem to be limited. I have a 24 watt pc in there now.

I dont know much about the T5's, but from what I can find, the smallest they make is about 24".

[jman785]

Mokick,

The link to the fixture I got from Marine Depot is here,

http://marinedepot.com/aquarium_lighting_powercompact_compact-fluorescent_current-usa_orbit_sunpaq_fixtures.asp?CartId=

But your only problem is that the smallest they come is 20". But I really don't see that being a problem if your really wanting some lights :) 2x40W is what they are.

Now, how in the bajeebers, did you get a tank with a length of 16"...Are you positive that its 16"? If so, that's crazy, as I've never seen a 16" Length to a tank, nor a 15 gallon :)

[Mokick]

This is what I get for wanting something out of the ordinary :)

Ok. My tank is a 15 gallon seacube. It was made by US Aquarium in Denver. A sample of my tank appears below (this is not my tank). It measures 16"x16"x16".

It came with a clamp on fixture previously offered by JBJ Lighting. It holds a 24watt 10k combo bulb.

[jman785]

JBJ offers some nice lighting, I wonder if they offer a retro kit for your seacube?

You could just go ahead and light it by metal halide pendant :) If you wanted to do PC, you could just have a few extra inches hanging over hehe ;)

[Mokick]

Hey Jared,
Thanks for the input. A metal halide might be a good possibility since I can control the heating issue a bit by raising the fixture. If I raise it high enough, I assume that I wouldnt even need a fan. I hope at least. The SINGLE REEFSUN 175W 14K
by Hamiliton Techonology has been suggested..... anyone have any comments about it.

http://www.hamiltontechnology.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&cart=81602&cat=16&

[jman785]

That is a great light fixture, and I think you'll benefit from it greatly. It is a 14k, so I figure it'll be a nice blueish white look, and you'll enjoy that very much. What kind of prices have you found on the Hamilton 14 K fixture? I imagine if you buy a whole kit, the fixture might contain fans...you'll probably end up working to control the heat, but its something that can be done easily if you pay attenttion and post here on CF ;)

[Mokick]

I've found it as low as $250 on the net with the 14k bulb. I really dont want fans...

Jeez..the bug is hitting again...all of this I was hoping to avoid with the little seacube.. Now I want more light..which means more heat...which means fans..which means evaporation..which means higher electricty bills... :(