New, Need info on lighting

[claq50]

Hey,

Im new to this and im just getting started. My plans are to buy a 75-90 gallon tank in the next few months, however right now I have a 12 gallon tenecor tank that needs a light. I bought the set up used but it has no lighting. Im thinking of getting the Coralife mini aqualight with the 10K and blue atenic. Both run at 9 watts. I was wondering if this set up would work good and if it will produce to much heat. The Tank is acrylic and only has a small clear acrylic shelf to put the light up in. Thanks for any help.


Chris

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome!

Whether that setup will work or not depends on your goals. Do you want to keep corals? If yes, then it's unlikely that light will be strong enough. If you want fish only, then it will work fine. They shouldn't produce much heat.

If you want to keep corals, you should aim for at least 4 watts per gallon. With what you are describing now, that's at 1 1/2 watts per gallon.

I would recommend buying a set of T5s if you want to keep corals. They are by far the best lighting system out there for smaller tanks like yours.

[yote]

Welcome to the reef.
You'll be surprised at how much heat those mini aqualights produce.I've got one over my refugium and it keep the whole tank warm.
Other than that,follow Biffs suggestion.

[claq50]

Thanks for the welcome. Ive always wanted to get into saltwater tanks, and since i live only 10 min from the ocean I dont know why ive waited so long. I was planning on doing some live rock. Ill take a look at the T5. My main problem with this is that there is limited space in the hood. Its an acrylic tank and the top is acrylic and fits tightly, I might only have about a 3 inch gap between the inside top of the hood and the water. The previous owner had a set of Mini Aqua lights in there, but he sort of rigged it and it didnt look to fire safe. I want to make it work but also keep it safe. I dont know if they sell a water resistant set up or not. Thanks for the info though, i will look into it.

Chris

[Rcpilot]

You could do a MH pendant. That way you can adjust how close it is to the tank.

[claq50]

I found a couple of different light set ups. The first is the origonal set up i was thinking about.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Aqualight-1...QQcmdZViewItem

And this one is a T5 set up.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquarium-Tank-Ov...QQcmdZViewItem

Ill try and post some pics of the tank tommorrow so i can better show you what im dealing with.

[Bifferwine]

You don't need to keep the hood on. You could take it off altogether, and that will greatly widen your lighting options.

[claq50]

I bought the light, I got the 18watt set up. After adding in the water its only a 8 gallon tank, so ill be running a little over 2 watts and gallon. So far so good. I have begun to cycle the tank. So far the water is running at a steady 80 degrees with the light on. I also think i found a 100 gallon set up i might be getting in a week, So ill keep you guys posted.