Earnest lighting question.

BlackSumbel · #1 12/14/2007, 10:24 PM

I'm assembling a little DIY project that's going to be extremely tricky to light. I plan on setting the whole thing up "for real" after I've moved, so local availability of supplies will, sadly, not be of much use (unless they can be had before January, and on the cheap).

It's a 2gl Hex (aquatank from Walmart, no less) which will have a Refugium attached to the back (making the outside shape that of a flat-back hex). The refugium is going to increase the total water volume to about 3 1/2" gallons, as well as providing a location for equiptment so that it won't interfere with the already miniscule display. The final dimensions are going to be 10" high, 8.5" at the widest point (4.5" at the narrowest front face), and 10" front to back.

The suggestion from other Nano Reefers is to go with a 70w metal halide (specifically the Viper 70w HQI clamp-on lamp). Personally, while I would agree that metal-halide is preferable for SPS systems and especially large tanks... I'm unconvinced that such a small are really needs that intensity, especially since I'm really only interested in Mushrooms, other soft corals, Zoanthids/Palythoa, and possibly a couple of small shrimp.

Any advice on this matter would be much-apreciated.

For further information I kept a 5.5gl nano from Mid-01 through late 05 (or even early 06, I'm not quite sure) before opting to dismantle it. At that point I was not able, financially, to support keeping it. The situation will be different now.
From mid-03 through 05 I kept a 10gl nano with a couple of pistol shrimp and other strange hitch-hikers, freebies, and ill-behaved hermits.
Since 05 I've had a 2gl "HOWLR" (Hermit Only with Live Rock, the hermit was one of the worst tyrants from the reef, and was, by my best guess, about five years old), in the aforementioned Aquaview, however Mr. Hermit took the adventure of a lifetime one night and was lost -somewhere- in my room. He will be missed, and his claws now choke the life out of gobies somewhere in the seas of Valhalla.

happysak · #2 12/14/2007, 10:31 PM

how about clamp-on PC light?

BlackSumbel · #3 12/14/2007, 10:32 PM

If you could point out a brand, size, wattage... etc. That'd be helpful. Links are also esepcially good.

happysak · #4 12/14/2007, 11:00 PM

AZoo, 18 watts, about 6inch long 2 inch wide

sadsak · #5 12/15/2007, 10:06 AM

I agree 70w metal halide is over kill for what you want to do. I would follow romans lead on this and go with his suggestion.

AZoo, 18 watts, about 6inch long 2 inch wide

Hey roman do you sell Azoo lights...

mskohl · #6 12/15/2007, 02:06 PM

If you decided to go with some sps, I'd seriously consider t-5's. They will put out much less heat over the small tank. Otherwise, with mushrooms and some other softies, there is no reason why you'd need the light of a MH.

I think a clip on light would look nice, but I'm not familiar with any particular brand. I would trust happysak's recommendation though.

BlackSumbel · #7 12/15/2007, 04:22 PM

The only Azoo lights I could locate were 13w (Galaxy and Galaxy 2) or 7w (Palm Light). I guess I just don't have enough information on which light happysak is referring to.

Some of the options i've considered were 3x9w 50/50 (two over the display, two over the fuge), 3x10w Coralife edison-socket 50/50s (all focused over the display), 2x9w 50/50+1x13 Daylight (to take advantage of the shape of the tank) and even considered the ghetto-tastic 2x23w curlyq 7500K +1x13w actinic. I'd even considered an LED rig, as I've seen one made for an unmodded version of this tank that looked really lovely.

In some of the nano-keeping circles the drive seems to be MORE MORE MORE in terms of light, and it's left me wondering what really is or is not a reasonable amount.

I -royally- botched my acrylic cutting last night (score and snap is all fun and games until it invents a new direction to snap in), so that'll have to wait until I can have some fine professional do it . Hopefully I'll get this lighting thing settled eventually.

BlackSumbel · #8 12/17/2007, 04:52 PM

Well, right now I think I'm going to go with 3 of those Coralife edison socket bulbs, and a separate light over the fuge for reversed lighting.
I may still be in OK until middle to late January, so I'm debating picking up some LR rubble and a small portion of LS to get this thing started.

The tank is so small that I -might- need six cups of sand -total-. As such, I'm considering either going with a full-live bed (which would be cheaper than buying a bag of sand), or seeing if anyone would be so kind as to donate a scoop. Would I need to be a paid up member for that? If so I'll gladly bug the LFS.

Thankfully I had just about enough rock (now dead) that I've got a good structure. I think I want to look for something really nice and gnarly at the LFS just to finish out the shape, and get things waking up in there.

Travis L. Stevens · #9 12/18/2007, 10:36 AM

I'll be using a 55w Quad Flat PC for my little projects. It should be ample light for a tiny tank
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...82#post8470882

BlackSumbel · #10 12/18/2007, 05:07 PM

That could work!
Due to the shape of the tank (it will be a flatback hex) there'd be a little overlap in the front corners.

I will keep it in mind, though.