10 Gallon vs 16 Gallon

[OCCFan023]

Well right now I have a choice of using either a established 10 gallon (freshwater) or a 16 gallon tank that my friend used for lizards. I was originally going to use the 10 gallon, but would it be smarter to use the 16 gallon? the 16 gallons dimensions are 24x12 (didnt get the height) as opposed to the 10 gallons 20x10 (again no height). I had found a 20 inch light for the 10 gallon, do you think that it would be sutable for this tank or do I need one that spans the entire top. The 16 is pretty dirty but I plan to clean it with some water and ammonia from my fishless cycling.

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

If you go with the 16gallon tank which is 24 inches long, I think the 20" bulbs would be fine. 2 inches on each end of the length of the tank without light directly overhead is no more harmful than having 2 inches between bulbs along the length of the tank. The light will spread out, and all light that hits the water at less than a 45 degree angle will penetrate the surface, so it should be fine. For a comparison of watts per gallon and watts per square inch of surface area, check out this thread:
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26142

Bigger is better.

 

[OCCFan023]

Thats awsome news to know that I can still use the 20 inch lights, easier to convince my mom that the light is reasonable , but either way lol. Thanks delta

 

[S.Reef]

I would definatly go with the 16 gallon. this gives you a lot more room to play with. If you want corals, I would scrap that light for something stronger like a power compact fixture, or something.

 

[OCCFan023]

would this hood work with a open top? http://www.hellolights.com/201xcoaqpcho.html
I was planning on it, this would make 6 wpg right?

 

[1979camaro]

that would definitely be a good option for you...coralife also makes 24" fixtures with 2x65 so that would work well also. remember, less important than WPG is intensity. 250W of MH is much more itnense than 250W of PC

 

[S.Reef]

That would definatly work well.

 

[OCCFan023]

out of the two lights, the original light i posted, and the 2 65watt lights you mentioned ( i looked them up as well) would their be much of a difference in types of coral I could look into and overall apperence of live rock in general when it came to coralline? I was reading the other threads and was seeing that corallin growth on lr doesnt come form too high of lighting but calcium in the water and such. But overall does the 96 watt vs the 130 watt make a big difference in the coral selection and overall apperence of the tank?

 

[1979camaro]

i don't exactly have an answer but here is some info: a lot of people argue that dual 96w tubes in the 36" fixture put out more light than 4x 65w tubes in a 48" fixture. i would assume the same argument would be made about the 24" fixture. I like the idea of the 130w because you could go with 1 10000k bulb and one 50/50 bulb. gives you a lot more flexibility than just a single 96w 50/50...it will also be cheaper to replace the quad bulbs it looks like ($27 total versus 2x $20). the difference in light spectrum will affect what the tank looks like and what corals you can grow. more white light means more stuff can grow generally, but either way you are probably going to be limited to softies, LPS, and low light SPS.

maybe that helps some, maybe not

 

[OCCFan023]

I think I am going to go with the 24 inch 2x65 (130 watt) because it will give me more variation of light, and I can chnage the bulbs around (with the 4 different bulb variations and combos) ill keep looking but I think ill go with the 130 for the look and more coral possabilities

 

[1979camaro]

i had a similar DIY 2x55 setup on my 20g standard and i was quite satisfied

 

[S.Reef]

Yeah, that sounds fine to me.

 

[wayne]

You will be able to keep most anything under those lights, including the vst majority of SPS. But for those water quality will be much more of an issue