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View Full Version : Lighting help from nano reefers


Cyno
12-11-06, 15:35
Need some advice from some of the seasoned nanoreefers,

I have a very small frag tank (12"widthx12length"x6"height) which runs in line on the return of the main tank. (yet to be commissioned)

It's situated in a small shelf on the fish room where there is very little space to fit lighting (probably 14" length and 20" width) currently I have one of these with reflectors:

http://www.coralcity.co.uk/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/12b8259ac46f86738e6350758521d4fe.jpg


Which fits perfect, was looking to possibly getting a 2nd which would cover the enitre tank, however the bulbs are only 8 watt so maxium of 32 watt (which works out @ roughly 344.4 watts per square meter)
The advantage of this unit is the choice of bulbs and runs quite cool in the enclosed space, however was wondering whether you nano'ers can give me some possible options to use inside which will give more power output for the small size, in particular the various power compacts available.

Cheers Cyno

zpyder
12-11-06, 21:59
I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to marine stuff, jumped in the deep end perhaps with my nano cube. It's only marginally larger than the tank you describe (40cm cube) without any kind of sump etc.

http://zpyder.co.uk/images/zoom/nano/dscf1327.jpg

It was totally barebones, as I didn't like how restrictive a lot of the small sized tanks were that had built in filters/lighting. Similar sized tanks offered like < 30Watts of lighting.

I opted for 2x 36W Power Compacts. Of course, I needed to sort out a reflector. Ended up converting some guttering!

And how to raise the lights from the tank? Some plastic tubing. Ok, so a hard(ish) knkock will knock the lights over, but this is only because I haven't added a brace bar between the supports. Well, I lie, I created one to attach a blue Cold Cathode tube between the gutters, and this has dramatically increased the stability of the units.

I whacked a thermometer on the top of one of the gutter with the lights running, gets to 42 degrees. 5-6" or so above the water surface and at the end of the day the tank is not above 26 degrees.