great lighting for a 12" cube (7.5 gal)

B52boy

New Member
I have read all of the posts in the lighting area and still haven't been able to pin it all down. I believe 80Watt or so would do me fine... the problem is my tank is a mere 12" wide... I have not yet been able to come up with a solution. I am very handy and have built the tank my self. The lighting I set up is much too small for my tank to properly host a variety of life (20 watt total of mini compact 50/50). Ant ideas out there?
 

Jordan8008

New Member
12" is difficult, you could try a 70watt mh retrofit kit, the reason I am suggesting this is because you want high output in a minimal space which the retrofit fitts can deliver, also you could go higher as in higher watt bulbs if you like depending on what you think your going to keep.....just a thought but maybe sombody else will have a better suggestion, heres a link to hellolights.com where i found a mh pendant that would also work for you,,,,,depending if you want a canopy or not

http://www.hellolights.com/ocli70whqiam.html

thanks

Jordan
 

reefman23

New Member
Get a 70 watt MH retro kit... or 150 depending on what you want to keep... and make a simple canopy to mount it in. Then just hang it above the tank. Check out www.illuming.com... great kits, plug-n-play, free shipping.

HTH,

Jesse
 

B52boy

New Member
OK a new twist to the question.....
The lights I am using currently are Coralife self ballasted mini compact floresent. Coralife rates them at a 10 watt power useage but a 50 watt incondesent delivery. The same holds true for much of my house lighting... 20 watt compact floresent giving the brightness of a 75 watt bulb... so when I am using 2 of these 10 watt 50/50 bulbe wouldn't that be 100 watts worth of light? And in a tank 12" deep wouldn't that be good for most soft coral? And if not, Coralife has a 20 watt self ballasted mini compact bulb delivering 100 wats of light... imagine 2 of those bad boys in a 12" cube tank! And if it does work it would mean I have a 100 watt 50/50 light sourse for a total cost of about 30 bones! Yahoo :D
 

reefman23

New Member
No its not the same. Plus those screwins are very inefficient due to their design...not much of the light reflects and actually makes it to the tank. when we refer to watts, that is for the actual watts, not the incandescent equivalent

HTH,

Jesse
 

leakyfaucet

New Member
I currently have two of those 20 Watt Coralife self ballasted screw ins. It sucks, believe me and I'm looking for better lighting for my 10 gallon. I'm reading up now on what I should get. Anyone have any recommendations?
 

B52boy

New Member
when we refer to watts, that is for the actual watts, not the incandescent equivalent
A 100-watt light bulb produces 1600 lumens of light. An "eco bulb" is advertised as such..18 watt (Equals Reg. 75w bulb)
1100 Lumens Color Temp. 5800K. A lument is equal to 1 candle of light falling over a 1 square foot area.

A standard. or for that matter vho florescent broadcasts light 360 degrees same as the coralife. So how can it not be as good.... science says it is....but I do realize science isn't always correct.

So leakyfaucet writes

I currently have two of those 20 Watt Coralife self ballasted screw ins. It sucks, believe me and I'm looking for better lighting

So I am a bit torn....

I am really trying to make a breakthrough in the total cost involved in having a nano tank. I was shooting for a setup below 100 bones and currently I am there... but if I go to MH lights... well there goes the idea.

leaky... what problems are you having with your 20 watts?
 

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
leakyfaucet said:
I currently have two of those 20 Watt Coralife self ballasted screw ins. It sucks, believe me and I'm looking for better lighting for my 10 gallon. I'm reading up now on what I should get. Anyone have any recommendations?
Ypou may want to take a look at one of these: http://www.hellolights.com/201xcoaqpcho.html , they work great for a 20" tank (like a 10 gal).
 
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