kingcroc Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 I have a LAC R338 tank with built in hood, i am currently running an 8watt 12" power-glo tube and one standard tube that came with the tank. I would like to keep hard and soft corals in the tank and already have some live rock in there. What could you reccomend as the best lighting to have ? Would two Power-glo tubes be better or 1 power-glo and 1 8watt aqua glo ? The hood has the starter built in so i would prefer to keep it tidy by fitting the T5 12" tubes if possible. Any feedback is most welcome. Link to comment
Cameron Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 How many gallons is your tank? Link to comment
kingcroc Posted November 17, 2004 Author Share Posted November 17, 2004 Approx 3 gallons Link to comment
kingcroc Posted November 17, 2004 Author Share Posted November 17, 2004 Sorry !! Its 10 Gallons ! Link to comment
RegalFlush17 Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 I would definitely get more lighting. Alot more. I would recommend either speicalizes in hard or soft corals not both. For size constarints i recommend soft corals. For soft corals you will need about 4-5 watts per gallon of lighting if not more. I like PC lighting and that is what i use. I have 130 watts of PC on my 20gallon long. If you were to go the hard coral way you will need about a little less light than i have. Maybe around 110 watts. Goodluck. Link to comment
kingcroc Posted November 19, 2004 Author Share Posted November 19, 2004 Thanks for the info .... looks like i am going to have to hack at my hood !!:-( I wante dto try and get away with keeping it standard and just changing the light tubes ! its very deseptive when you read about it all !! The power-glo tubes state that they give the full spectrum that corals need !! Link to comment
mik Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 nah its a hell of a lot more inexpensive to get like a 175 watt halide that you could easily retro into the hood and halides are what you need to keep hard corals Link to comment
RegalFlush17 Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 If you want to spend the money a metal halide would be almost overkill for a 10 gallon tank. But it is true that most hard corals should be kept under MH. Alot of PC lighting should be enough for the less demanding SPS and LPS. Goodluck. Link to comment
kingcroc Posted November 24, 2004 Author Share Posted November 24, 2004 I have decided to keep just soft corals and have tried to begin with ....... one hagen power-glo tube and one Arcadia freshwater lamp. Lighting is on for approx 14 hours and so far ....so good ! Although if this doesnt work i will look to change tubes ...to possibly a Aqua-glo and then start hacking at the hood if all else fails ! Its a shame that no one manufactures a Nano reef tank with a hood to suit taking either PC tubes etc etc and a slightly more modular filter to suit ! Link to comment
kingcroc Posted December 27, 2004 Author Share Posted December 27, 2004 I have had the tank running for a few months now and have reasonable results by using two power glo tubes in the standard hood ! However .....bored over the christmmas break i have now bought and fitted two High Power T5 Compact lights made by Interpet each light is 24 Watts which gives me a total of 48 Watts! I am using the Daylight Blues tubes which are 50 % daylight plus white and 50% Blue moon actinic. I have also fitted Jewel Reflectors to the hood and two 12 Volt Fans to assist in cooling the hood ! I also added a second power head for circulation. The tank now looks fantastic. Everything seems to be doing fine ! The whole process of Hacking away at the hood and fitting the new lights took approx 4.5 hours ! Not bad really ! I would definatly reccomend these little tanks. Link to comment
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