10 Gallon DIY Lighting

[bjk]

I am new to Nanos, and this website. I was wondering how I could make a 10 gallong coral friendly lighting setup for under $75? how many watts will i need for beginner corals? I am pretty good at building stuff, so i figure it would be cheaper if i just built something. would it be better to stay with compact fluorescents?

are halogen lights good for corals?

 

Any diy examples and pictures would be great, thanks again

[Aiptasia]

80 watts at a minimum.

 

You can find 75 watt full spectrum DIY light kits for sale on the net, or at places like www.hellolights.com.

 

A combination of 20 watt NO tubes, 40 watt HO or 80 watt VHO tubes in 24" lengths should also be do-able. You can find endcaps, wire and ballasts on the net or at the chain hardware stores like Lowes and Home Depot and make your own custom hood. Coralife also sells inexpensive compact florescent hoods (all complete with fans, splashguards, reflectors) in your pricerange.

 

Compact florescent retrofit kits (or VHO retro kits) are another option, everything you need except a hood to screw it underneath. Just keep surfing around in the sponsors section of the website and you'll come across lots of options.

[bjk]

thanks Aiptasia, i am searching all over the net, and i do have a 20" regular striplight, so a retro fit is a good idea, except you only seem to be able to fit 2-13 watt cf in a standard hood.

[Kool-cat]

Just get a coralife 65watt aqualight pc strip for $60.00?

[Aiptasia]

Just make sure the retrofit will fit within the striplight housing and you should be o.k.. Ballasts are usually remote, which means you can put the ballast in a veltilated project box a few feet away from the tank (or under it).

 

I really like the coralife PC hoods, and places like www.drsfostersmith.com and www.thatfishplace.com carry them at reduced prices.

 

www.exoticfish.com also has custom made ABS plastic PC lights at great prices and retro kits.

 

Just keep surfing. You'll find what you need.

[bjk]

thanks everyone, these sponser sites are great, wouldn't it be cool if they gave members to this site discounts?

[Aiptasia]

Some do. I've seen the sponsors over at www.reefcentral.com run specials on their ad banners, although i'm not sure the sponsors here mix it up as much over here with their promotions.

[bjk]

is it better to buy the $60-65 watt pc coralife fixture, or the $40 - 65watt retrofit kit? both of these are 24 inches, and would be too long for a ten gallon. how would you mount the fixture? i think you could mount the retro fit on an angle. but according to Aiptasia i need a minimum of 80 watts???

[bjk]

Is it best to spend the $90 on a 96 watt 20 inch coralife CP? or would it be ok to stick with the 65 watt? remember i don't really want clams or other high light organisms. just starter corals, LR, and some feather dusters.

[yoshiod9]

it'll probably be more worth your while if you go ahead and spend the 90 bucks on a 96w powerquad...that way if you ever change your mind about only wanting starter corals and feather dusters you can just put in your light loving corals without worry! but if you wanna do the 65w cuz of money...do that. =) goodluck

[bjk]

yahh i think i will go with the 96 power quad. it seems to be worth its buck on the other members nanos. and i am lookin on ebay for it, and you can find them really cheap, like $40

[qfour20]

36 Watt PC lights are the highest wattage that I've been able to find that fit a 10 gallon (except the power quads).

 

You might consider making hood to mount lights in. That would give you more options. You could do 3x36W PC bulbs (workhorse ballasts, maybe?), or you could do a 96W powerquad (daylight) and 2x9w actinics. Whatever works for you.

 

Do not underestimate what lighting you will need in the future, though. I built a hood for my 10 gallon with a 70w metal halide and 2x36w actinics. I love it. I think I'm going to have to change it out for a 150w metal halide when i get my 18 tall, though.

 

Good Luck

 

-q

[MayoBoy]

Here's a hood I'm almost finished with. It will have 4 PC lamps and one 15 watt NO fluorescent. That's a total of about 95 watts.

I got a fluorescent fixture from Home Depot for 7.00, the lamp holders were 4.00 each, liquid electrical tape to seal exposed connections on lamp holders 5.00, wire nuts, etc 5.00. 6500K lamps are about 7.00 and a actinic fluorescent is 10 or 15.00

 

I had the oak for the hood and bashed it together in a couple of hours.

[bjk]

mayoboy, can you show me a picture of the inside? that seems pretty cheap. 4 daylight pc lamps right? and the 15 watt is a actinic? where'd you get everything from?

[MayoBoy]

I'm hoping to finish the inside tomorrow or Wednesday. I forgot to snag some stainless or brass screws from work. I'll post pictures as soon as it's finished. I got everything at Home Depot here in St. Louis.

 

I already have 2 CoralLife 50/50 bulbs and the fluorescent so I didn't have to buy them. Without those 3 items, my total was 50.56. It would have been another 28.00 or so if I had to buy 3 bulbs.

 

If you want to go with the 50/50 instead of the 6500K's figure another 3.00 each online (plus shipping)

[bjk]

so it would be about $80, 10 less than if you bought a coralife 96 watt hood? hmmm well i am not sure what i am going to do. according to the nano cube that has only 24 watts, you can keep corals under this light. so should i really go for the + 80 watts? what is the reason for this besides putting loads of cash into my LFS's hands? do corals propograte better under this amount of light? i am definately confused

[MayoBoy]

The more light, the better as you'll be able to keep a wider variety of corals (but probably still no anemones or clams).

 

Also, what's the bulb replacement cost and life expectancy? The curly bulbs are rated at 10,000 hours (~2 years @ 12 hours a day) and it would cost under 30.00 to replace all 4 at once.

[bjk]

i was just at my lfs, and the 96 powerquad was $140, WOW, that is pricey compared to online so i asked him why and he gave me a snotty remark(probably because im 15) saying that it is expensive because that store has employees that know about fish and reef keeping. what an ass~ oh well they still have good livestock and prices on other things so it really doesn't matter i was shocked though with that reply. i was hoping for will match anyprice deal.

[SoFlaJDM]

well, everyone's gotta make a buck... just order it online like the lfs does

[Von digity]

Originally posted by Aiptasia

www.exoticfish.com also has custom made ABS plastic PC lights at great prices and retro kits.

 

HAHA, Jeff's got nothing on me. Check out my ABS thread. Bjk, I suggest going to Petsupplyliquidator.com, buy their workhorse 5 with 2 36 watt pc's (upgrade them to 40 watters once the bulbs burn out) and building your own damn ABS canopy, like mine.

 

I think Jeff's ABS canopies cost 40 bucks bare anyways, thats alot of money for $4 dollars worth of scrap ABS, and a reflector.

 

*edit*

The 90 dollar 96 watt powerquad comes with a chitty ballast. Another reason to buy the workhorse 5 and DIY a canopy. Once those 2 36 watt bulbs burn out (3-5 months, watever) you can use the ballast to run a 96 watt powerquad (workhorse 5 is rated to 120 or something watts.) And workhorse 5's aren't crap ballasts. Just make sure you build your canopy big enough to fit the powerquad.

[qfour20]

I will echo vd here (that sounds funny!).

 

GET THE WORKHORSE5. It's an awesome ballast. No noise / humming, stays relatively cool, drives the bulbs great.

 

I'm very satisfied with mine.

 

-q