Sorry if I sounded overly critical. That wasn't the intent. Just trying to help you avoid wasted money and grief over dead coral. The problem with standard leds is they just don't generate intense enough light to penetrate more than a few inches into water with sufficient par to keep photosynthetic organisms alive. It may look bright to your eye but it won't have enough energy to keep things alive. It won't work, even for zoas or mushrooms etc. You need the high power leds to get light that is intense enough to penetrate down into the tank.
Lighting a 10 gallon with leds will be even more expensive and you are probably looking at something in the USD $250 to $300 range at the minimum for parts to make it work. I would recommend a T5HO fixture for the 10 gallon. I have one on mine from fishneedit.com. It is a 24" 4 bulb 96 watt fixture but it fits on a 10 gallon. It just hangs over the ends of the tank a bit on each end. You should be able to get it, shipping included, for about USD $111. It's a good fixture for the money. The bulbs aren't the best but will work for zoas and softies and you can upgrade to better bulbs in 8 to 12 months when it's time for a bulb change. LEDs have a lot of potential but to do it right at this time is expensive.
|