[Shrimpette]

I keep thinking about setting up one of my 10 gallons as a marine tank. But every time I browse through lighting I just get frustrated and give up. Can anyone advise what I need to be looking for light-wise? I've read T5HOs would suffice for a 10 gallon, others say LED, but not all LEDs are created equal. Is there a wattage I need to look for? Is "10,000k/Actinic" enough? Help!!!

I know that what I plan to keep has a bearing on how much light I need... right now I'm thinking fish and cleaning crew, live rock and probably a few soft corals if they're easy to find and keep. Any advice is appreciated right now.

Money does count so if anyone has a good "beginner model" they could suggest, that would be fantastic.

As for other equipment, I've read that I can get by with just an aquaclear filter, a heater and a powerhead if I keep on top of my water changes. Anyone advise differently when dealing with small tanks?

This is all so confusing. I like the idea, but whether I can pull off a proper set up and keep it going is a whole other question!

 

[Sidius]

I'm somewhat new to Marine as well but I've been doing a lot of research lately and asking a lot of questions all over the place. Hopefully this is helpful

When it comes to lighting, it all boils down to what you plan to keep. LED should be fine for what you seem to want in your tank. I don't think softies have a huge lighting requirement and fish/CuC don't care. As for the color temps or lighting spectrum, that all boils down to personal preference mostly. Actinics bring out the fluorescent in the corals and a lot of people have everything from 10,000k, 12,000k, 14,000k or even 20,000k... it depends on the look you prefer. The higher the number, the more blue the tank will look (generally speaking).

In regards to the other things you need. I don't think you even need the aquaclear.. all your filtration/bio is going to come from your rocks. All you really need is a powerhead and a heater on a nano tank. Some people install a hang on skimmer to help remove some of the nutrients but it's not required if you keep up on regular water changes. These are of course just my opinion and I don't have a lot of marine experience yet. I'm in the process of converting my 180g tank over to a SPS reef.

 

[Shrimpette]

Thank you for the reply. I guess that's what it comes down to, is how much light soft corals need. But see, even in my experience with fresh water, I didn't realize bulbs go up as high at 20,000k lol

I've tried to research as much as I can, one of the problems is that the more I read, the more confused I get as I run into different opinions. I've also read that *too much* light can be bad for corals (not sure if they were talking softs or hards though). That would really suck, to get some expensive light that turns out to be overkill!

I need to try to figure this out as I'm being pressed for more ideas for my Christmas list. So this would be a great opportunity to break into the world of marine

 

[TomC]

Maybe take a trip to J&L and see what they have to offer.

 

[Shrimpette]

I was just there Their lights are all strong enough for soft corals but I couldn't tell you much about them other than one series was LED (don't know how strong they are other than strong enough) and the other was T5HO lol

 

[Sidius]

The great thing about LED's is that you can control most of them and dim them down if you need to, based on your coral's needs. You just need some form of a controller for them.