Help me pick out my lighting

[nickm748]

Hey guys, I want some better lighting for my 10gal tank becuse I wanted to add coral. Any suggestions. I here halide is the best.
I cant seem to find a place to buy lighting for a all glass 10gal.
I have 12 pounds live rock, 2 clowns, 1 shrimp 4 crabs and 2 snails.
Thanks guys

 

[fishieness]

what types of corals are you looking to add?
mushrooms and the like?
anenomes?
clams?
what you want and your wallet will determine what lighting is right for you.

 

[liverock27]

I have the 96w powerquad by coralife and it is great. You probably will not be able to keep the higher light level corals and clams, but I have some montipora caps that are doing great and all of my soft corals, zoos, and mushrooms are growing nicely under it and the colors look great. You can find the light for under a $100 if you check a few web sites. If you can spend a little more other people would probably recommend MHs, but I didn't have the money (but I couldn't be happier).

 

[nickm748]

Ok I have narrowed it down to the Coralife 20'' with the optional moon light or the Orbit 20'' with built in moon light.
But the orbit only has 80w as were the coralife has 96
Wich one should I get

 

[liverock27]

Well, I think you can get the lights for the same price, so I would go with the 96w power quad.

 

[jeremyglen]

First of all, I would hold off on the light till you add 6-8 more lbs of LR. Your talking about putting corals in a tank that probably doesn't have enough bio filtration to keep the water quality stable for more than a week or so.
The more light the better. The 96w is recommended by just about everyone that has a nano. I went with the CSL 32w for a while and grew mushrooms and some polyps under that. Then I went with the 70w MH. It is kind of expensive, only $10-$20 more for the 150, but I didn't want to skimp on the light. I am planning on growing SPS, which I already have a plating monti in the tank, and possibly a nice little clam.
Like Fishiness said, your wallet and your future plans for critters in the tank will determine what will go in the tank.

 

[mazdaspeed]

I have the 96w powerquad over my tank and I do like it... But in all honesty I wish I had gone with the 24" 65x2 light by coralife with the moonlights built in. Even if the light is too long for the tank the legs are adjustable so it can fist a slightly smaller tank top. The reason I am slightly upset I didnt go with the bigger light is (amore light 130w vs 96w (b You have some light choices since it's two bulbs, you can go with a true actinic and a 10k bulb vs being stuck with just the 50/50 bulb (c Individual control switches for each light which mean you can have more of a dawn, sunrise, dusk effect with light timers vs the powerquad which is only one switch (d can come with built in moon light so you don't have to add one later down the rd (e when I was looking it was only like 20 bucks more. So there's some things to consider, not that I'm not 90% happy with my light, I just wish I had done a little more consideration before buying.