Optimum Watts Per Gallon - Need 10g Nano Light Suggestions

[PeytonH22]

Hello,

I was wondering if I could get some opinions on optimum watts per gallon. My tank will probably be a 10 Gallon Nano Reef. I have looked at the 28w and the 96 w coralight. Is 9.6 watts per gallon too much for a nano? Is 2.8w too little? Anyone have any good lighting suggestions for a 10 Gallon Nano Reef?

Thanks,
Peyton Holder

[kbxiong67]

I would say that 9.6 is perfect. If you're shooting PCs...then you can maybe even get more wattages than 9.6. Is 2.8 watts too low? I'd say so. I mean you can "sustain" them....but they won't be growing and thriving. I'm shooting 36W in my 2.5 nano. That's 18W per gallon.

[Loverotties]

I agree with kbxiong67 12-20w per gal.

[Reefer101]

Well in that case then what should i go with on my brand new 29 gallon reef tank . What watts do i need? And wat king of bulbs?How many

[kbxiong67]

Personally...if it were me, I'd go with metal halides and shoot some atinics. But that's just me. What should you do and what kind of bulbs do you need to get? Well...that depends on your taste in corals. Do you want softies or sps or both? How much are you willing to spend? If money is not an option....I'd do some research on doing a metal halide setup. If money is a problem...then I'd get some PCs that would shoot *at least 250w. That'll put you around the 9W range ...estimating that sand and LR will take up some amount of gallons.

I don't really like to use the watts per gallon saying. Let's say if I have a 5g nano and shoot 70w metal halides....AND keep some really hard sps....it's still not going to grow much because it's still just 70w you know what I mean? I usually just get something that is strong enough to keep the hardest coral in my tank. That solves alot of stuff for me ....and especially in the future. I can get any type of corals that I desire.

A good resource for cheap lighting fixtures is: http://www.hellolights.com

[format32]

I ordered the coralife hqi 150 watt pendant light for my 10 gallon. I do plan on replacing the bulb with the 1400k bulbs soon after since I have no place to fit actinics... .

[Jeremy1973]

Just remember, that the watts/gal is only a general rule of thumb. Other things need to be taken in to consideration, depth of tank can effect how many watts you need, what you are keeping will effect it, etc. Just don't want anyone to think that the watts/gal is the golden rule.

[iamdickie]

Originally Posted by Jeremy1973

Just remember, that the watts/gal is only a general rule of thumb. Other things need to be taken in to consideration, depth of tank can effect how many watts you need, what you are keeping will effect it, etc. Just don't want anyone to think that the watts/gal is the golden rule.

I have a nano cube 24watts and am keeping montis, all lps, and softies for 3 months, no problems

[format32]

Originally Posted by iamdickie

I have a nano cube 24watts and am keeping montis, all lps, and softies for 3 months, no problems

3 months is no benchmark for lps or montis.....Most can take up to a year to die off without proper light

[reiple]

15 watts per gallon...impressive.

[EnderG60]

I have a 10g with a 96w on it and I like it alot I just wish i had room to add a bit more actinic. I have a BTA, zoo's, softies and a few small sps, all happy for a year and counting.

I am going to be moving it all to a 18g that will have a 150w HQI, and 2x65w PC's.

watts per gallon is not really a good thing to go by. Its more what kind of lights and what kind of tank and what you want to keep that will depend on what you need.

I used to have a 32w on my 10 and ditched that after a month. Minimum I would recommend you get is a 2x32w.

as for the 29g a single 96w or dual 65 or 96w would work depending on what you want to keep.

[darthteddy]

so how many WPG does it take to grow SPS and LPS

[Imaexpat2]

Well guess I am the minority. On my 10 gallon Nano I have been using a PC Coralife Quad 4 96 watt fixture for months and things seem alright. Sure it would be nice to have a halide but I just couldnt see it as being really neccessary or cost efficient on a tank this shallow. My Nano has a couple of SPS, Clams (H. Hippopus & Crocea), a few Zoanthids, Yellow Polyps and Ricordia. A 70 watt 10K halide with a couple of 28-32 watt actinics would be kinda nice though on a 10 gallon tank.

[RobinsonFam1]

i had a 29 gal with, 4x65w pc. i was able to keep anything but clams. i had the sps high and softies low. now i have a 5bow with 20 w pc. sps real high. showing good growth too.

it all depends on depth of the corals and the corals themselves. if your sps came from halides then you will have a hard time keeping them without halides. if they come from VHO then good bright PC will usually work.

[darthteddy]

so what im getting is 10 wpg for sps