lighting for quarantine tank?

[blk_g20]

i've got a 10 gallon that i want to set up for quarantine/hospital tank. but if i was to quarantine corals, do i need to put fancy lights on it?

[tinyreef]

if you're going to use it to qt corals try to match proportionately the qt lighting to the actual display tank to limit light shock. e.g. qt tank is lit by a single 40W NO at 12" while display tank has 150W mh at 14" would be a no-no. probably your best guesstimate is the WPG rule nobody likes but hardly anyone has UW photometers to really gauge point A to point B.

 

just remember that distance from the light source counts as much as the intensity of the light source. e.g. a 175W mh at 20" depth is probably equivalent to 55W PC at 14" (disclaimer: that's a shot from the hip if ever there was one X) )

 

water clarity also counts significantly to light transmission as does surface agitation or lack of (one of the reasons i prefer surface skimming & overflows to surface agitation).

 

try to matchup spectrums as well. daylight to daylight, 50/50 to 50/50, etc.