Best lights

[Nano_Nate]

what is the best Nano Reef light for a 10 gallon?

[Graywolf57]

Nate - you'll likely get better responses to this if you tell folks what you want to keep in your tank. That will help them help you. Even then there will be a lot of options for you to choose from. Many of them being personal preference.

 

So, what are you planning to keep in the tank?

[Spencerx]

look in the lighting forum. i swear the exact same question has been asked atleast 10 times

[MikeB]

Nano Nate here goes. You keep asking the question so I'll try to put it in a way that will totaly explain it for you.

You need about 5+ watts of light per gallon

 

You were asking about using NO (normal output) bulbs for your 10G. You wanted to use two 15x2= 30Watts or 3 watts/G

If you insist on using NO 4 of them will give you what you need. 15x4= 60Watts or 6 Watts/G

 

We told you that PC (Power Compact) would be the way to go.

You could use 2x36= 72W or 7.2 Watts/G

or the hood sugested 1x96W or 9.6 Watts/G

 

Why PC over NO? You said that you don't have a lot of $$$

I'll asume that you have 2 NO hoods right now so two more at about 2x$20= $40. 4 NO zoo med's that you asked about 4x$12=$48 they need to be replaced about every 6 months =$96 a year in bullbs for NO, plus the $40 for the extra canopies =$136 the first year and $96 every other year.

 

PC for a 2x36Watt the strip light will cost you about $120(first years bullbs included) and $50 for bullbs/year after that.

Already cheaper than what you pland with the NO's and half the cost on bullbs/year.

 

PC bullbs last about 12-14 months before you need to replace them.

The strip light we recomended 1x96 is $97 +$7 for the legs= $104(first years bullb included) and $40/year for bullbs after that.

Costs a lot less than the NO's you wanted and a little less then the other PC light you could use.

 

 

I hope that this will help you out Nano_Nate in understanding why we told you to go with the PC light that we sugested. It is now up to you to decide what to do with this info and make your own choice.

[kennerd]

The variety..

 

 

I have run 2x32PC, 3x32PC and 150halide: like the halide best.

[MikeB]

Originally posted by kennerd

The variety..

 

 

I have run 2x32PC, 3x32PC and 150halide: like the halide best.

 

In one of his other post's he said that he was on a $$$$ budget so I was just letting him know what he could get cheap that would support soft corals. If $$$ were not an issue then yah MH all the way.

[kennerd]

Should have bumped that post: not busting hump on this, but the search button really does help:

 

NR search for "lighting 10g"

 

And the simple "what is the best Nano Reef light for a 10 gallon?" indicates that it's the first time it's been asked: certainly not the question one would expect from someone who already asked it and discussed it.

 

I've actually found myself wasting time typing out the same response on two different threads in the past (here & elsewhere) to get the response: "I know, Ken: you told me that yesterday: I just asked again in a new thread."

 

I'm a patient guy, but if the info is out there, it's available

[MikeB]

I just wanteed to clear things up for Nano nate as he is asking the same question in the beginers form, lighting, and general form just not exactly the same question.

 

Just thought I would show him how the PC's would save him some money over using NO's. The search helps but doesn't always answer all the questions a newby might have.

 

Myself I haven't even started my nano yet because of $$$$

But reading all the posts I can here on a daily basis you can get a LOT of GOOD info.

 

thanks for the info Kennerd and others.

 

Mike B