10 gal. lighting for shrooms and zoas

lightcs4

Loving to learn
I hate to ask this question, but couldn't find a clear answer during my search on line. I have a ten gal tank that is only about 10" - 12" deep. It was a fresh water tank until a week ago when my oldest son's fish died. I am thinking about making a nano out of it for just shrooms, zoas, and palys for my kids to build (my daughter in particular has really enjoyed the current tank). My idea is to add about fifteen pounds of rock, either a 5" sand bed or a 1" sand bed (I want to fill it with zoas and shrooms but I'm not sure how much room I really need). There probably won't be any fish, although perhaps a small blenny or something similar. I want a very light bioload.

I have a 15 watt NO light that I can bump up to a19 watt bulb if necessary. However, I had a 3 gal quaranteen tank that proved to be way too light for the mushrooms (15 watt bulb). Can I keep low light corals like those mentioned above or do I need to add better lights? I don't intend to invest much outside of dry rock and sand that I'll seed from my main tank.
 
I think that for what your wanting to do there.That I'd probably get one of those little cheap Hagen 2 lamp T-5 fixtures.
 
Thanks Yote. I'll see what I can find used around here.

My daughter is really excited to begin the tank. I'm also going to use water from the DT to shorten or skip any cycle.
 
It's got a 20" light on it now so it should be about that long, maybe 20.5". I just want to let the kids have something to setup without much investment. This hobby gets expensive way too quickly.

I'll take a look at the Current lights and see if I can find something used.

Thanks all.
 
OK, ten gallon is cycling with 20 lbs rock, 1" sand, and a 210 gph power head. It's on its way :bounce:! Oh, and a guy in my local reefing club has a light that will work for the tank. I'm still waiting on a price.
 
You DO know that those young uns are going to want to upgrade that tank before long,right?:D

They are welcome to upgrade ... as soon as they can pay for the tank, stand, live rock, sand, lights, carbon, food, electric, salt ... :shock:

Yep, anytime they want.
 
We who have kids know that just giving them anything they want doesn't help them at all. I tell my kids often that I am their parent first and will not be their friend first until they are adults.
 
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