question on lighting

hi, my name is mandi I am new to this site, this is my first post. What do i get for lighting in order to acheive the blue look of the water is it the moon lights? and what size do I need for a 10 gallon and a 50 gallon I also don't only need the bulbs I need the whole thing.

 

thanks much but what is that, its not the moon lights? and what do I need for my 10 gallon and my 50 gallon do you know? thanks for your reply

 

I do not know about the ten but for the 50 I would go with a 4 Bulb T-5 unit. What kinda money are you looking to spend? What kind of coral's are you looking to keep? There are a lot of factor's involved with the question of proper lighting.
Ghost

 

for the 10 gallon you could go with a 24 inch 2 bulb T5 fixture. And if money is an issue you could check out fishneedit lights they are a good price and I have good things about them.

 

hey its mandi, thanks for the reply's I don"t know what I'd ever do w/out all you fish loving smart people, ok I want to buy a paly combo, red zoo combo, florida pink and red ricordea mushroom, blue ricordea, aussie rainbow frag, long tenticle anenome, birds nest coral frag, kryptonite candy cane, blue spotted mushroom, peppermint shrimp,green brittle star fish, astrea snail, turbo grazer snail, nassarius snail, reg legged hermit crab, coral beauty,royal gamma, purple pseudochromis, yellow clown goby, two stripe damsel. The fish I have in my 50 gallon now are a blue hippo tang w/a yellow belly, tomatoe clown, and a blue damsel w/ a yellow tail and a long black spined urchin and alot of live rock that unfortunatly had some die off I think in transportation. though I think its starting to come back some now not as I prefer but its comin'. I bought the fish tank from a women on ebay its real plain only has the fish I really want to add the ocean life i typed above though I need to know the lowest price on lighting w/ still giving the life in my tank what it needs. My 10 gallon everyone downs me for like I'm a whack job for having a saltwater 10 gallon but the one I have is beautiful and the life in it is thiving in there and I love it to pieces Alls I want for that one is the lighting that makes the water look deep blue uno the real cool lookin' blue water color that a particular light will give off. So any ideas as to what I can get for light on the 50 gallon for the life i want to add to it and for the blue color I want it to have. And does anyone know what I need to create this same look for my 10 gallon this tank already has the right lighting for the life in it now I just want the cool blue colored water. thanks so much for the help sorry so long of a post I got a good list cause the tanks bare of all other life but the 3 fish and LR

 

10 gal tanks are 20" long, the light will hang over not only looking silly but also lighting her floor....

 

Wow, without going into your christmas(or other religious holiday) wishlish for lighting I can tell you a 4 lamp Tek light with 3 ATI blue+ with an ATI aquablue+ will give you the look you want.... and allow you to grow the corals you want as well. As for the ten, you are at a disadvantage due to the size... You can buy a Quad 96w PC lamp and waste money and electricity with that or you can do this.... do you know how to wire? Take a ballast from your local Home Depot or similar shop, either GE or Advanced/Universal who ever.... You will then need to buy components to build a light... Endcaps(preferably water proof) reflectors and standoffs. Then go to the fish store and buy an actinic lamp or two or a day light lamp as well. Get the appropriate size for your tank, since you are not using a fixture you can get 18"ers. THEN take the ballast and OVERDRIVE the lamps by sending TWO leads to each lamp instead of one....

Why am I being so brief in my explanation, well, to be honest its a lot of work to do for little return on a small tank... If you DO want to do it though I would be more than happy to spell it all out for you!

 

Go with a MH unit, 2x150 watters with some t5s or pcs as atinics, get 20 k bulbs and a combo of 420nm and 460nm atinics and you will LOVE the look

 

Thats an awful lot of wattage for lower light corals... BUT does give her the ability to move up in more light demanding corals.In MY eyes though it seems like to much $$ to spend on enery when 4-6 T5 lamps would do the trick and cost you less....And have less hot spots!