Questions About What Lighting to Use

[MarlinMan11]

Hello everyone! I am currently setting up a coral reef aquarium for my school that's far away from the ocean. I think it's a great way to introduce a part of the earth to students who'd otherwise never see the natural beauty of the ocean.

To the point, I have a 10 gallon, 20"x10" tank with stock LED lights. Here's link to it: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=36528

I have tried looking through other websites and forums for appropriate replacement lights, as I've heard that stock lights are typically pretty bad, but I'm worried that I would spend $100-$300 on lights that don't fit. So my question is: What lights should I buy? I'm trying to grow some polyp coral, if that helps, and I have about $300 to spend. If you need any information I will try to fill you in with links or info. Any answers are appreciated, thank you very much!

 

[tankstudy]

With a $300 dollar budget, I would just straight up and go get the Fluval 13.5 gallon evo xii Marine Aquarium Kit. It comes with everything including lights that can easily grow polyp corals. At the moment, they appear to be ~$140. You can also get the fluval ps2 skimmer for about $60.00. That will leave you with $100.00 worth to get an additional power head or other necessities such as bacteria, substrate and rockwork.

 

[gashunk]

I personally like the ai prime it covers 24x24 so yulll have alittle spill over but it’ll grow just about anything there’s also the kessil a160we tuna blue I never used it but it’s supposed to be a great light

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The ocean recive t247 would also be a good candidate.

 

[Whipples]

I use two of the Kessil A160we on a 40Breeder and they are great lights, but at the high end of your budget. BRS released the black box LED comparison which can be had for less and offer competitive results, have you looked into those? If you go that route you can check into SB reef lights, they are well regarded and well within price range:

https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/1-sbox-basic.html

 

[deedubz]

With a $300 dollar budget, I would just straight up and go get the Fluval 13.5 gallon evo xii Marine Aquarium Kit. It comes with everything including lights that can easily grow polyp corals. At the moment, they appear to be ~$140. You can also get the fluval ps2 skimmer for about $60.00. That will leave you with $100.00 worth to get an additional power head or other necessities such as bacteria, substrate and rockwork.

I'd second that notion. I actually bought 2.. One for my brother and one for my sister to get them into the hobby. They come with everything you'd need, especially if you're focusing on polyps or lps. As far as the skimmer goes, they're hit or miss. One of them dialed in nicely while the other(9 months later) still has a mind of it's own.

 

[deedubz]

I'll also note that I ended up buying them a nano powerhead by korala for additional flow. Otherwise, they come ready for sand, rock, and a cycle

 

[deedubz]

Sorry to spam your thread lol. If you do go this route, you'd also be 1/2 to having a good quarantine setup too. Best of both worlds

 

[tankstudy]

Sorry to spam your thread lol. If you do go this route, you'd also be 1/2 to having a good quarantine setup too. Best of both worlds

It really is a great setup for the price. A decent light fixture is going to cost just as much and then you have to factor in the possibly of having to hang the light if it doesn't have leg mount options which is more money invested. Some of the arm mounts for these lights run up to $100.00 pretty quickly too. You could DIY hang it but even DIY will still cost money and time.

I actually pre-ordered this tank but due to the massive back order at the time I cancelled mine.