Lights

[jamiereineke]

Anybody know of a good place to either go and check out locally or to search their website online for a metal halide?

I would like to start as small of tank as I can. I have I believe 4 neon/super bright green corals that I want and thats it.

What else do I need in a tank like this?

[clownnut]

small tank with MH you will have heat issue, T5HO is another way to go, you keep almost anything you want as long as you dont go to deep.

[RaysReef]

If it is a small enough tank, just use a flashlight...jk I'm beat...ZZZzzzz
a good source for pictures and some info is www.drfostersmith.com, marinedepot.com, but I usually buy elsewhere, unless they have some decent discounts.

I assume a nano setup with some sort of filtration? built-in?

[RaysReef]

Anybody know of a good place to either go and check out locally or to search their website online for a metal halide?


for a small tank...i'd recommend compacts...coralife has some decent 2ft. ones...

[jon_56048]

what she want is to do a small frag tank with sps can any one help her out please. she needs good setup or nice light

[RaysReef]

small tank with MH you will have heat issue, T5HO is another way to go, you keep almost anything you want as long as you dont go to deep.


depending on how small is small...He could have it float (hang) over the tank...like those pendants...

[RaysReef]

what she want is to do a small frag tank with sps can any one help her out please. she needs good setup or nice light

How small is small!?!

[jon_56048]

I'm thinking 24 gallon would b e nice start for my wife

[RaysReef]

I'm kinda curious how those Nano tank setups are? 24 would be the bigger ones...but I've seen those all in one units...with light and filtration...Seems decent for $200 new, just add livestock...

The compacts are already close to 1/3 cost of the nano all in one...at least they come with them already...Never used one before but I think it would be good for people who do not have time to gather the equipment and piece them together...

[hypertech]

You need a halide over the all in one halide to grow the best SPS. They ar etoo narrow for T5's. Even with lots o PC light (I had 144W on mine), you won't get all the way there. I could keep a lot but not everything I wanted. I should have gone straight to the halide upgrade.

[mattb]

I'm with Li, go T5. PC are ok, but have 0 resale value for you when you upgrade (yes, you'll do that at some point).

[gitsumpottery]

I've got a 7g minibow with a 70w halide over it. Works great, and I have sps in the thing.

I don't know if you posted what kind of tank you want, but check out nano-reef and their sponsors. You'll find tons of info on lighting on the site, plus the sponsors deal with lighting small tanks.

"heat issues" ? Never had them with a small tank. You just have to design with that in mind.

My nano tank: 7g minibow w/ Aquaclear 50 filter (all filtration removed), throw a 25w heater in the back, Koralia nano and Maxi Jet 606, and 70w halide pendant light, DIY skimmer on the Aquaclear also.