New guy MA/CT - lighting question

jrawk1120 · Jun 15, 2015

Greetings from New England!

My 3 year old daughter has been begging for a fish tank. We went tag saling this past weekend and found an eclipse aquarium for $3 for the entire setup, and I finally gave in.

Now, I am not new to the hobby. I used to have a really nice 75 gallon setup, where I had a couple pairs of mating clowns. I have the equipment still, but due to an ice storm a few years back, all my tanks were lost, and just kept it down...until now.

So to start back up, I decided to get a little tank, mostly for her benefit, to watch the clowns grow up. I've never had a 12 gallon reef tank before, so I will be watching it closely. At my LFS, the guy said to wait a few months after adding fish to establish everything before putting any corals and things in. But before I even think about adding anything like that, I need to figure out lighting. I guess the lights that came with this setup, wasn't a bad option, but the power pack in the top burnt out. So for now, I have this little LED light strip up there, that isn't bright enough IMO, but does the job until I find something better.

Now my question is, what kind of light should I get for a small tank? I am hesitant to buy anything outrageously expensive because I know that I'll be upgrading in the near future..year or so, so I figure getting something cheaper for now would work, but I want enough light to be able to have some colorful corals in there before I eventually upgrade.

Any help is appreciated!

143MPCo · Jun 15, 2015

jrawk1120 said:
Now my question is, what kind of light should I get for a small tank?

why not something like https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/nano-lite/

jrawk1120 · Jun 15, 2015

That might be a good option, not too pricey. I gotta see if there is a way i could adapt that into the hoot somehow. Maybe just cut a hole in the hood where the old light was.

jrawk1120 · Jun 15, 2015

So 50w would be enough light for the corals? I guess maybe thats my biggest question.

143MPCo · Jun 15, 2015

I had the chance to see the that light in action and it's really bright but tuneable.

143MPCo · Jun 15, 2015

jrawk1120 said:
So 50w would be enough light for the corals?

I don't see why not... seen lots of ppl run this on softy/LPS tanks with no issues....

jrawk1120 · Jun 15, 2015

Awesome! thanks.

jrawk1120 · Jun 15, 2015

Also, any suggestions on what to put into such a small environment would be helpful. Right now, its pretty basic. Got 11.5 lbs of live rock, 2" of live sand, and a couple baby clowns. The circulation is pretty good, though about a power head, but not sure its needed. Its got the biocube skimmer, heater that isn't really necessary during the warm months. I've got a few months until its a little safer to start adding any coral. I figure a couple more weeks and a cleanup crew will go in there. This will be moved to a 75gallon in about a year.

jrawk1120 · Jun 15, 2015

I just dud a little tinkering, and figured I'd ask opinions. Bare in mind I just added the fish yesterday. So its still very basic at this point.

The front of the tank is dirty, and my cell doesn't take the best of pics, but this is the lighting I currently have.

JerSaint · Jun 15, 2015

Hi and welcome back to the hobby! It looks pretty good so far. The nano light from ReefBreeders would be pretty good fit. I have also had luck with the E27 led screw in bulbs on ebay. Put into a clamp light you can have decent light for less than $30.

143MPCo · Jun 15, 2015

thats a very neat looking setup, do you have any power-heads in there?

jrawk1120 · Jun 15, 2015

I thought the filter was giving pretty good flow, but watching some videos on youtube, decided on getting one. Probably do that this weekend. I am going to go through my supplies and see if I have one that might work in here without giving too much airflow. I plan on getting some more live rock too. It was hard to judge how much I needed when I was at the LFS. Last time I bought it, I needed wayyyy more.

143MPCo · Jun 15, 2015

I would aim it at the surface of the water, that will help with PH and getting the "floaties" mixed back into the water as to be removed by mechanical filtration.