6 gal eclipse 48w or 72w...?

[newreefer77]

I have a new 6 gal. with 18w coralife on it. I want to upgrade lighting and found a 48w and 72w retro at nano-customs.com.

Is 48w enough? Is 72w too much and too hot?
The biggest light item that I want to have is possibly an anemone. Would both of these work for that? I'm not looking to get into SPS's with this tank. Only medium light softies and such...

Which bulbs to get?
Also, these are the bulb options. I will get (2) with the kit. Which should I go with?

Realux 50/50 (12000K/7100K white)
Realux 7100K daylight
Realux Actinic Blue

Thanks for any help or insight you can give me...

[wharyat]

how deep is the tank? If it's less than 12" tall go with 48 watt, 12" or more go with 72.

Bulb colors are a personal opinion, 7100K will be a little yellow. If you want more blue, go with 1 50/50 and an actinic; but for a balanced white, go with 2 50/50s or a day and an actinic.

Any pics?

[newreefer77]

The tank is 12" deep. It has a 2-1/2 inch sandbed. When the lights are mounted, I assume that it will be about 10-12" depths to the top of the sand bed.

[VWD]

Nice nano tank. I will be setting one up in my Wife office for her when we get back from vacation.

[Twitterbait]

i have a 6 gallon eclipse and i am doing fine with 48. just won't grow sps or light needy stuff. a long tentacle anem should do ok though.

[Loverotties]

Nice looking! 48 should be OK.

[newreefer77]

After asking the support team at nanocustoms.com...I ordered the 72w retro set. He said it was 13" total length.
It turns out that it was 16" total length...Dough! Oh well, I can use that over my 24gal that I'm building along with a 150w MH.

Long story short...I did end up ordering the 48w and should have it in 3-5 days...

[Melissa]

Hey, I have the same tank and am wanting to do some lighting. Can you link me to the page where you found this retro-fit setup? Did you add a fan to the tank, too?

What size powerhead is that? Sorry for all the questions!

[petshopboy78]

I have a "sebae" anemone in a 5 1/2 gal with only 36 watts. My tank isn't as tall as yours but I think you'll be fine.

P.S. Nice tank.

[newreefer77]

The lights can be found at nanocustoms.com. They come unassembled and you need to buy a power cord. It's easy to do though. I bought an out of the box white 4' flouresent strip light housing and cut it to size. $3.50. Can't beat that for price! I also drilled in a blue led for a moonlight.
The 48's are working great. Everything seemed to perk up once it was up and running.

The pump is a maxi-jet 900 (230 gph). It works great...but I don't like the idea of creating a single current through the tank. I ordered three rio 200 pumps and a 'Aquarium systems natural wave maker' powerstrip to create a wave current in the tank. I will probably only use two pumps for it though...and use the third for a spare.

Right now, I have the mj 900 turn off when the lights turn off to create a calmer tank at night...

good luck with your tank!

[wharyat]

Rio's
Search for "Rio shock" here on the forum.

[newreefer77]

Hmmm...
Maybe I won't use the rio's. I like the Maxi-jets but they are so big. between the suction mountings, pump and the large water flow piece...It will be tough to get two of them into the tank.
Maybe I will get the mini-jets...Anyone have other suggestions?

[rmhuntley]

Hey Mark... why don't you do a 10gal sump w/ a scwd and put two bulkheads in that tank just kidding man. I"d go w/ the min-jets if I were you. How's that tank comin along?

[newreefer77]

Hey!...it's been a while rmhuntley...

The tank is coming along well. As you can see the stocking has begun. Now, before anyone gets their feathers ruffled about two true percs in a nano...let me explain!

This tank is a prequil to the 26 gallon that I am building at the moment. The two percs will be moved to that tank within a few months.

Also, I had only planned on one for the moment (until the 26 was done). But after 'splitting' up the pair from waves (they were together for months)...the fish that I brought home wouldn't move out of the corner. He fed well, but seemed miserable. Well, me being a softie at heart...decided that maybe he missed his pal. As it turned out, he must have. The second they were reunited it was like he was a different fish!

All is well that ends well. Rest assured that these two will have a larger home before they outsize this tank...

rmhuntley - how's your nano coming along?

[Melissa]

I've looked at all the stuff on nanocustoms.com but man is it scattered around. It looks like they really only work with jbj nano cubes. Did you use the original hood? How's the heat from the lights?