good light for 10g?

C

CoolWaters

Superstar Fish
#1
Dec 10, 2006
1,028
1
0
Milpitas
#1
im willing to spend some money on a good light later.
its running a 20k 15watt florecent tube 18 inch.
20k is great for display like in a fish only but heard it kills off reefs.

im just getting it for a BTA
and some small coral later once i finish my IO and upgrade to RC (reef crystals)
 

T

TheFool

Large Fish
#3
Apr 19, 2006
323
2
0
#3
How long is the tank, 20, 24 inches. Either a good quality T5 setup or some PC's. The T5's last better, but are a bit less common to the US.

im willing to spend some money on a good light later.<<Why not buy right the first time?>>
its running a 20k 15watt florecent tube 18 inch.<<Not many lux there>>
20k is great for display like in a fish only but heard it kills off reefs.<<No, it' just less bang for the buck , so you might need to boost your power. You sacrifice outåput PAR for prettier colours>>

im just getting it for a BTA <<Bad call>>
and some small coral later once i finish my IO and upgrade to RC (reef crystals) <<That is no reason to wait, IO is perfectly ardequate. However one of the problems with the bta is that it will sting other corals in your little tank, that's one of the reasons it's a bad call>>

i have a t bulb lamp that has a max output of 300 watts <<What sort of bulb is that>>
is t bulbs better then the PC or floresent tubes? or is it all watts and no kelvins? <<No idea. But 300 watts over 10 US gallons sounds like a cooker to me>>
 

C

CoolWaters

Superstar Fish
#4
Dec 10, 2006
1,028
1
0
Milpitas
#4
lol no its not for my 10g if it works great i'll customize it to a 46g

or just get MH

IO lacks some minerals and crystals that coral needs. not to mention the depletion rate.

and for the BTA i'll try to isolate it

the t bulb that i have looks like this

i thought i was a MH for a minute...

it lacks kelvins i can tell by the red/orangeness of the light.
 

T

TheFool

Large Fish
#5
Apr 19, 2006
323
2
0
#5
Oh, I'm familiar with those. Actually they could work quite well in some situations as they really pump out light, but your colours would end up very weird, and the spectra is better for plants (algae) than corals, plus they get really hot. I have seen these used, and then balanced by adding, actinics on really old setups, but I can't say it's a good idea. It'll boil the tanks you're looking at.

That stuff about IO vs ReefCrystals is just rubbish. IO is perfectly adequate, and you can't rely on your saltmix to maintain Ca and alk anyway.
 

joeyjoeq

joeyjoeq

Large Fish
#6
Jul 15, 2006
315
1
0
Chicago
#6
Do you know what Kelvin temp they have? IO and Reef Crystals are almost the same thing. They are made by the same company. Personally I'd say IO is better because its cheaper, and yes it lacks calcium but in a Reef tank you always have to be dosing it anyways. A lot of coral means more supplements.
 

Last edited:
iplaydafoozball

iplaydafoozball

Large Fish
#8
Sep 12, 2006
186
0
0
37
Algonquin, IL
#8
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