10 Gallon Light Upgrade

[earman88]

Howdy LivingReefers..

I have a 10 gallon setup with sub-par lighting at the moment. I am looking for the best upgrade possible. I don't ever want to be restricted to what I can have in my tank due to my lack of good lighting.

So with that being said, what is my best option, without paying over $150? Is this a good choice?

Marineland LED Double Bright Aquarium Lighting System - Aquarium Light Hoods and LED Light Aquarium from petco.com

BTW, I think I need the hood to be around 18".

Any suggestions/advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[snyderju]

The Marineland LED Double Brights are not meant for reef aquariums. They do not have the proper spectrum to keep corals. The Marineland Reef Capable LEDs however are designed specifically for reefs and work great in smaller, shallower aquariums. I use them over my 29 gallon and they work wonderfully. They make an 18-24 inch fixture as well that should fit your 10 gallon. You will have to stretch your budged a little because they are going to run you about $180. Otherwise you can look on aquatraders for a cheap fixture as well. In your case since it is a smaller aquarium I would go with LEDs over T5 but that is just my opinion.

 

[Northstar24]

Get yourself a PAR38 LED bulb and call it a day. Take a look at RapidLED or BootLED, they both sell them

 

[kbuser92]

Look at the Skyye Tablet or a Viper clip-on.

 

[earman88]

LED Reef Bright

What about this thing? Would it be a better alternative to the Marineland Reef light? It's about half the price...

 

[FishyReef]

Actually a few people here have the Marineland Reef light (not the double bright, but the reef version) and have been able to grow all types of corals under it (look at Beeguiles 29g tank thread). The onyl downside with the Marineland lights is that (currently) you cannot put the whites and blues on seperate timers. Marineland is coming out with an upgraded version of their reef capable fixture in the next few months that has an integrated timer where you can separately control whites and blues if you want to wait that long (that is my current plan for my 10g). You can also go with one of the PAR38 bulbs (see Chichimom's 10g and Erin's Teeny Tiny Extravaganza threads), or you can do a T5 fixture (see Samhain & Beeguiles 10g tank threads). Hope this gives you some ideas!

 

[kbuser92]

I have a T5 on my 10 as well. If I had the money, though, Id use one of the lights I said above or the AI Nano. I dont personally like the PAR38 cuz it screws in, I like slim fixtures that look cool. That aside, the PAR is a great light and TexRefer has one on his 8.5.

 

[kevdogg]

Get yourself a PAR38 LED bulb and call it a day. Take a look at RapidLED or BootLED, they both sell them

BootLED? I can't find their website. Do have a link?

 

[Northstar24]

BoostLed, it was a typo on my part

 

[kevdogg]

Ah, I thought it was a new LED site.

 

[Bertie]

The Marineland Reef Capable

I'm using a 18-24" reef capable LED resting on the glass of my cube 29 galloner. I have to move it back and forth during the day and keep folds of wax paper underneath because it seems to burn the corals - even the acro's. We've now made a little open canopy out of wood to raise it 3 1/2" above water surface and I still think I'm going to have to staple some sort of plastic darkener film before installing the device.

Yet everyone is recommending one of these for someone's 10 gal. tank. Am I having hallucinations in thinking my Marineland Reef Capable is damaging the favites and the acan on the bottom? It surely would be convenient if I could get out of the daily inching around of the fixture.

Tell me it's just hallucinations. That will make me very happy!