Orbit light fixture.....

fishes2889 · Jul 6, 2006

hey guys im new here to club zoa. I love zoa's!!. I just set up my 10g tank about 3 weeks ago. I have 30-35lbs. of Lr and 10lbs. of sand. I have a AC70 HOB filter and a Ac20 Ph. Its doing very well parameter wise....except for a hint of nitrate-5. I have about 11 assorted hermits and 7 snails. As of now i have 12 button polyps. i fragged 2 of them to another rock. all is well. I am picking up some zoa's tommorrow along with some additions to my already big cleanup crew. But i still want better lights. i really want this tank to have lots and differnet kinds of zoa's. I want the whole left bottom side filled with zoa's. I have 40watts of PC screw ins right now and i think its ok. Do you guys think i should upgrade to the 2x40w orbit PC fixture? I work at my lfs and it will be 112$. good deal or no?

Here are some pics.....
This pic is a little old. (doesnt show the frag i put on the center rock)

Enjoy :wink:

Steve

fishes2889 · Jul 6, 2006

How do i show pics??

Steve

fishes2889 · Jul 6, 2006

here the pic hopefully.......

Steve

ecotoxlady · Jul 6, 2006

Welcome Steve

Looks like your LR has a lot of life on it which is good! As far as the lights are concerned, I would definitely suggest improving the lights. Orbit is a nice fixture in the sense that it's a total package with lunar lights included but speaking as someone who bought an orbit fixture for my first reef tank, I wished that I had gone with something more powerful like T5's to keep LPS and light loving corals like zoas more brightly colored. In the end I bought MH lights when I set-up my 72G tank. MH isn't necessary because even sps can be happy in a tank with T5's but I'd recommend weighing out all your options and considering what types of corals you want to add to your tank before you buy a unit you may not want to keep. Keep us updated on how things go and happy reefing

fishes2889 · Jul 6, 2006

Thanks for the replies. Im 16 and this isnt the first tank ive had. Ive been reefin for 3 years. These lights are just working for me at the moment. Im thinkin of making my own canopy. Heres a pic of the plans. Just PC screw in bulbs....The fan is in there in case it gets hot ...dont know yet.....The total wattage of the PC's would be 60 watts and that might be enough for me since i just want to keep LPS, zoa's and various softies. In the future i will upgrade.....

The tank is a normal 10g tank- 18in long
The LR has alot of life on it because i had it in a 30g breeder before. But for this tank some of the rock was just to big so i took a hammer and chisel to it. I still dont know what to do about stocking. Im thinking a watchman goby or some type of snadsifting goby along with a pair of black perculas. It might be a little on the edge of overstocking but in the next year i would upgrade to accomodate thier growing sizes. Any opinions???

Steve

ecotoxlady · Jul 6, 2006

Hi Steve! It's nice to see a person in your age group taking a proactive approach to this hobby

The light design looks like it might work well but I'd consider adding a second fan for additional venting and perhaps a home-made reflector. I'd keep the stocking low on the tank considering it's size unless you intend to do weekly water changes. Perhaps you could just go with the percula pair or the watchman goby with a pistol shrimp

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how this tank develops!

fishes2889 · Jul 6, 2006

I totally forgot about adding a reflector..hmm i need to figure that out i guess.=) I do water changes every 4 days. Im pretty on top of that,and dosing the tank as well.
ecotoxlady- Good suggestion on the shrimp/goby pair. I thought they needed more space if they wanted to be together? It would be cool but i dont know if they need say a 30 or larger aquarium. And about the fan do you think its ok if i keep one fan blowing through the lights then having a same sized hole with mesh over lapping it on the other side??

Steve

ecotoxlady · Jul 6, 2006

Hey Steve! Well, I've seen people keep a shrimp goby pair in 12G nanos although it's recommended not putting them in a smaller tank than a 20G. I guess it depends on how you feel about it but it sounds like you would take good enough care of the tank to make it work if wanted. As far as the same sized hole with mesh, that should work just fine. The main point is just having an area to vent all the hot air the one fan will be blowing. Hope that helps

MarvinsReef · Jul 6, 2006

Hello and Welcome to Club-Zoa...

I'm currently own a 12g nano w/ 96w Quad PC and things are going great.. the only thing is I would like more intensity on my zoas and LPS.. hence, taking considerations on upgrading to a 32g breeder w/ 250w MH w/ some kind of actinic supplementation, either T-5 or VHO...

you can probably get away with your lighting for a little bit but will want something else later on... just read, read, read and decide what will best suit your needs and your coral's needs..

Marvin

fishes2889 · Jul 6, 2006

Thanks for the replys. I was thinking later on this year i would get a bigger tank,about a 20L or a 30g breeder, and put the coral, fish etc. from this 10g into it. I just moved here to florida about 3 weeks ago. i just needed this nano right away to fill my addiction.=) Im really considering getting either the shrimp/goby pair or the black percula's, but my lfs ,that i work at , never has any pistol shrimps. I guess i will have to keep my eye out for one.

Steve

Marine Flora · Jul 10, 2006

fishes2889 said:
Thanks for the replies. Im 16 and this isnt the first tank ive had. Ive been reefin for 3 years. These lights are just working for me at the moment. Im thinkin of making my own canopy. Heres a pic of the plans. Just PC screw in bulbs....The fan is in there in case it gets hot ...dont know yet.....The total wattage of the PC's would be 60 watts and that might be enough for me since i just want to keep LPS, zoa's and various softies. In the future i will upgrade.....

The tank is a normal 10g tank- 18in long
The LR has alot of life on it because i had it in a 30g breeder before. But for this tank some of the rock was just to big so i took a hammer and chisel to it. I still dont know what to do about stocking. Im thinking a watchman goby or some type of snadsifting goby along with a pair of black perculas. It might be a little on the edge of overstocking but in the next year i would upgrade to accomodate thier growing sizes. Any opinions???

Steve

Hello Steve,

Welcome to C-Z. Your light set up is pretty cool. If you get a chance you might want to try the "commercial electric" brand of light bulb in blue packaging from home depot. they have a 27w that claims 100w output. regardless, that bulb is extreeemely bright. the color of the bulb is crisp white+a blue hue. i used it on my refugiums and nano to grow sps. thats how highly i recommend it. its a regular screw on bulb also. you could do one or two of those + 2 straight actinic screw ons to give your tank a serious kick! the bulbs are cheap also only 6-7 bucks.

Sam

jessiesgrrl · Jul 10, 2006

Wow, I didn't know that... is that the only type you use ion it???? That's seriously cheap, and if I works it might even be good as suuplemental lighting up main tank way for those of us with PCs???

Laurie

fishes2889 · Jul 10, 2006

Marine Flora- i did not know that. Thanks for the heads up. Now i need to go to homedepot. Did you get good growth of the sps when you had it on your refugium??

Steve