nano lighting?

[miniz2k6]

i am setting up a 5g nano. it will have zombie eye,superman,eagle eye,nova,bam bam, watermelon zoas, and candy cane coral. what would be good lighting. should i go CF or t-5? how many watts? thanks, guys. BTW, the tank is 10-11" from top to bottom, but eventually it will have a 1" sandbed.

[ct_vol]

I prefer t5's to CF's... JMO Wattage depends on the width of your tank... I'd have at least 2 bulbs though... Lets you play with the color spectrum a bit more...

[miniz2k6]

okay. the stock lighting is an 8 watt t5. should i get an extra ballast and an actinic bulb too. maybe i'll just save for a retrofit kit.
how many watts/bulbs should i look for in a kit? thanks.

[kruxy]

It has been a while since I kept a zoo only tank, but i really had a lot of success in a 7 gallon mini-bow using a 150 watt icecap halide spot pendant. By raising it up a bit i was able to keep overheating from being an issue, and the colors in the tank were very vibrant. I used a 10k bulb, because I also kept a couple of frogfish and I enjoyed watching them feed, but you could just as easily go for a 20k bulb if you are partial to that actiniced out glowy look.



they also did well in my 80% zoo tank that was a 75 gallon BB under just a couple of t5's, though they didn't grow quite as fast, again, I am not a huge fan of the blue water look.



but really, dont let the smaller tank volume steer you away from MH, as a 70 watt or 150 watt sytem can be had for raelly cheap these days


and yep, they do hold color nicely (though back then 2mp cameras were the bomb)





no, i no longer have any of these, so don't bother pming me, yes i would share if i hadn't fed them all to a regal angel during my sps phase

[miniz2k6]

where can i get orange and green zoos like that last pic in the bottom right corner? they are awesome.

[kruxy]

your lfs? thats where i got all of my stuff.