FishProfiles.com Message Forums

	Lighting Question
Gilraen Took Hobbyist Posts: 73 Kudos: 30 Votes: 0 Registered: 06-Jan-2007	Alright, I've got a 5 gallon tank. In it I plan on keeping a candy cane, some GSP, some zoas and some regular mushrooms. I've got the setup to make it have around 30 watts of PC light over it. How high should I mount the lights over the tank? They'd be a diy/monkey rigged system since I don't have "proper" retros, or the money to get a fixture. But I Can get some wood and attach the lights to it [url=http://dragcave.ath.cx/viewdragon/bNFR][/url]
Posted 18-Jul-2007 04:44
Melosu58 Hobbyist Posts: 120 Kudos: 86 Votes: 0 Registered: 05-May-2007	Edited by Melosu58 Yes you could put some wood up top and fit the lights on top. My only concern is how small the tank is. You will need to be very diligent on keeping your water parameters safe and keeping up with PWC`s and top offs. Keep in mind the smaller the tank the less forgiving it will be from neglect even for a day or two. Also you could see some overheating issues with a small tank like that. JMO
Posted 18-Jul-2007 13:21
poisonwaffle Mega Fish Posts: 1397 Kudos: 591 Registered: 11-Feb-2003	I did a 5 gal reef a while back, and it worked fine. I had 20w of T5's over it instead of PC's tho... so 30w should be just fine. You could prop the lights up with wood, hang them from the ceiling (or a rack above the tank), whatever. You could build a rack out of PVC (1/2" would work fine... you wouldn't even need to glue it together), metal (use 3/16"-1/4" rods... weld with TIG or oxy), or wood (simple enough). Here's the rack I built for my 20 long out of 1/4" steel rods. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/PoisonWaffle/DSC02439.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/PoisonWaffle/DSC02440.jpg Note that I included an extra bar for another light fixture Yes, the tank will be a bit of a pain to maintain as it's rather small, but it shouldn't be too bad. Be sure to put a fan blowing on the tank to keep it cool... top it off once or twice a day, dose liquid supplements as needed (you'll probably need Calcium, strontium, molybdenum, and maybe iodine... remember that what supplements you need depends on your salt mix, frequency of PWC's, if you use tap or RO/DI, type and number of corals, etc). You could probably get away with using an HOB filter and a small powerhead for filtration. Just be sure to use a decent amount of rock in a tank that small, and let it cycle for a good long while. Good luck, dude. Let me know if there's anything else I can help ya with
Posted 18-Jul-2007 22:47


	Jump to:

The views expressed on this page are the implied opinions of their respective authors.
Under no circumstances do the comments on this page represent the opinions of the staff of FishProfiles.com.

FishProfiles.com Forums, version 11.0
Mazeguy Smilies