LED Lighting for standard 20" inch long 10 gallon.

scubaguy

scubaguy

Member
So, I'm planning on making my nano into a reef tank. I'm planning on getting a glass top hood & a hanging LED light fixture. I've seen many strips unfortunately they're all only suitable for soft corals. I also noticed the marine land reef capable led light fixture however, even though they don't make it clear, this light too is just for soft corals. I noticed almost all LEDs that produce enough PAR for all corals usually don't drop under $300 which I can't afford. I was looking at one fixture which is the cheapest & is chinese made that apparently every one is selling. I did a bit of looking around & these are the top producers of the fixture that I found.
http://reefbreeders.com/ http://www.reefradiance.com/index.html & they're all over eBay. Just search 120 watt LED coral light. One seller in specific is http://stores.ebay.com/TOPLEDSELLER...5833619&_sid=1117901179&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322 They also sell a modular version of the fixture which I was thinking would be a good idea of having. The reason why is because unless your LED fixture is modular once an LED diode goes out after five years you're going to either have to buy another one for at least $120 or buy the 3 watt cree diode & sadder it your self. Does anyone own one of these or have any experience with them?
 
nivek

nivek

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RS Ambassador
First off, what type of corals do you plan to keep? You will have to keep a close eye on your water chemistry if you're planning to keep sps as a 10 gallon will see water chemistry swing very quickly :)
 
scubaguy

scubaguy

Member
I plan on having sps, lps, mushrooms, & a clam. Yeah, I know... It'll be a fun little project haha. But, seriously yeah I know I have to keep a good record of my parameters & do enough water changes to keep it consistent. I was thinking though of just going with a t5 ho 20" fixture from aquatraders until I can afford upgrading to led.
 
nivek

nivek

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RS Ambassador
In a way that will be a good direction to go with. Start with the T5 and mushrooms/lps then by the time you upgrade to LED's, your tank would have matured enough to handle SPS/clams. Win-win situation :)
 
scubaguy

scubaguy

Member
Yup, that's what I had in mind... it's also the cheapest direction to take haha. I'm planning to make this into a show quality tank. I'm gonna start with orange/blue, blue/green mushrooms near he bottom, then a torch with with green neon tentacles & blue tips near the middle, maybe some brains at the bottom too. Oh yeah & also plan on going with some zoanthids too. Let me not give all my plans away lol but that's the general course I've planned so far.
 
nivek

nivek

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RS Ambassador
Great stuff! Keep up with the regular water changes and remove the accumulated detritus weekly, will make all the corals sway happily in your tank :)
 
scubaguy

scubaguy

Member
After a lot of planning I think I'll just go with a $60 Odyssea T5 HO fixture. Just can't beat that price. I'll upgrade to LED when they become more affordable.
 
HydroReefer412

HydroReefer412

Member
Don't buy the odyssea fixture, it's honestly extremely unsafe, iv herd many stories on how the have caught fire. And their reflectors are horrible, they aren't individual. Get a aquatic life t5 4 bulb, I run 24" aquatic life 4x t5 with korralin zutch bulbs over my 20g high and I'm keeping all SPS and one LPS uphyllia, and everything grows great and has awesome color, trust me its really worth it, that odyssea won't give SPS or clams what they need, or buy a PAR38 LED for $110
 
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