10 Gal Lighting question

punkroc701 · Mar 7, 2013

Hey everyone. I have a 10 gal nano right now and I am trying to find that "sweet spot" wioth the lighting. I tried LEDs, and as bright as they looked at first, my old 50/50 screw in bulb was much brighter. I currently have a versa top on the tank and I have been pricing smaller T5 fixtures but I was also considering getting the cover with the dual screw in bulb fixture and just buying 2 10 watt 50/50 bulbs for it and adding some blue LEDs. Any suggestions on this?

Thanks

Davesgt · Mar 7, 2013

I have 2 nice 10 gallon nano tanks and I use t5 4 bulbs with geisman bulbs and the both look great and coral grows awesome even my sps does great. The setup you talk about would work fine for some easy soft corals. How far away are you from bristol va?

CSJIII · Mar 7, 2013

Davesgt, can you show us a picture of your 10 gallon setup? I also have a 10 gallon and I am interested in seeing your lighting, setup, and the tank itself. I have an innovative marine with stock led lighting and would like to see what else is out there for this size tank.

Chas

Davesgt · Mar 7, 2013

I sure will. I get home at 3 so ill post them then. My phone doesn't have any pics of my nano on it.

reef_grrrl · Mar 7, 2013

What LED fixture did you try? I have a standard 10 gallon nano and I upgraded from those cheapo 50/50 bulbs to a (still cheap) 16 watt WavePoint Microsun LED, and I'm also ordering some blue stunner strips for night time. You can find screw in 50/50 bulbs on Amazon that go up to 20 watts each or so. A nice PAR38 LED might do nicely too. Four t5s would give you the best (IMHO) light. It depends more on what you're wanting to keep. My acans and favias are doing great, and my zoas and mushrooms are looking nice too.

CSJIII · Mar 7, 2013

AllTheseKids said:
Four t5s would give you the best (IMHO) light. It depends more on what you're wanting to keep.

What type of 4 bulb, t5 fixture do you use? My tank is only 12" wide

Davesgt · Mar 7, 2013

CSJIII · Mar 8, 2013

Davesgt, do you have any pics of your lighting setup?

Chas

Davesgt · Mar 8, 2013

Lol yea ill post a pic when I get home. The fixture is a hanging odyssey shell with ballast from aquatic life.

punkroc701 · Mar 8, 2013

Nice. I didn't get a notice of all these replys. I have found 2 bulb T5s with one chord but haven't seen any 4 bulbs. I have how ever noticed I got good growth under Compacts. I have a 4 ft compact light now and was thinking of taking it apart and making a smaller light for my 10 gal. I am also moving this to a 20 gal later on so it would have to be inerchangable between the 2. Any thoughts on this and Davesgt I am looking forward to seeing your lighting set up.

Davesgt · Mar 8, 2013

Nothing special here just hung it and changed the bulb combo the way i wanted it. Did get rid of the odyssea ballast cause i had the Aquatic Life laying around from a old fixture and decided what the heck lol. I did tell you wrong on the bulbs though. The geismann bulbs are over my 29G. My 10G setups are Aquatic Life ( Front to Back ) Actinic-10000K-Actinic-Actinic with 72W total. I was also running a ecoxtic stunner strip for a while to my power supply broke so ive ordered a new one and hopefully it will be here soon.

punkroc701 · Mar 8, 2013

Dave I am right up 81 if that helps. Not 100% sure where Bristle is. I do know some guys I work with go every year. And your set up looks nice. How many watts are each bulb?

punkroc701 · Mar 8, 2013

And yea your corals do pop.

Davesgt · Mar 8, 2013

Im real close to the Bristol Motor Speedway, I was gonna say if your ever down this was shoot me a message. I have a nice PC light fixture that is 72W with brand new Coralife Bulbs and Led moonlights id be willing to give to ya.

punkroc701 · Mar 8, 2013

I tell you what let me see how far away i am from you and I may take you up on that offer.

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punkroc701 · Mar 19, 2013

Right now I have a strip of 24 blue LEDs and 3 of the screw in 50/50's (2 10 watt 1 20 watt) and I am seeing some improvements in the tank and coral. I think if I use that LED light again it will be on a 5 or 2.5 gal pico. I will post some pics of the 2 tanks (10 gal redular and 14 gal biocube). Thanks for everyones help.