# 12 Inch Cube Lighting



## Padded Wall (Jan 3, 2013)

I'm tentatively planning out a little nano reef tank, and I've spent about 2 hours trying to understand par38 lighting and how much of it I'd need for a little tank. There are some cheap lights on Ebay, but I'm not sure if they're good enough for a tank, how many watts I'd need, or what factors to look at. Nothing I've googled seems to have given me much information. Would a light like this: E27 5x3 15W PAR30 LED Coral Reefs Grow Light High Power Fish Tank Aquarium Lamp | eBay be good enough for easy/beginner corals? Would I need more LEDs? Or are ebay lights simply not suitable. I know that aQ.LED is one of the sponsors on this forum, but I'm not sure if the 3 watt mini light he sells will be good enough or not. I'm not sure how to evaluate LEDs besides par, and I find on most fixtures I look at par ratings are not listed. Any information on how to figure this stuff out or recommendations on a light fixture that isn't ridiculously expensive would be great.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

For a small tank (about 7g) like yours, the ebay LED PAR30 will work if you keeping simple corals. There is no other way to measure LED other than PAR. My aQ.Mini is not make for these type of application, if you have anything that is 3 to 5g then it would be fine. The main differences between the mini clip light and the PAR30 LED you linked with some other PAR38/PAR30 that cost more, is the "spectrum".
For all the blue and white only LED, they can keep the coral alive, but because of the lack of spectrum, most coral will change their color to brown or dark green. In order to keep the bright color,you will need full spectrum light bulbs, and if you search ebay for full spectrum LEDs, they all cost a lot higher. You are welcome to PM me for questions.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

i wouldn't set up a tank with out a full spec light .for a few weeks the coral will look nice but after a month or so you will start to notis that your corals dont look as nice as they used to and eventually will blend in with the rock lol


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## Padded Wall (Jan 3, 2013)

That's pretty much what Frank told me. Do you have any recommendations on full spectrum lights for a tank that size?


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

Are you looking for a fixture or a par 30 38 baulb ??


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## Padded Wall (Jan 3, 2013)

Whatever works. :lol: I was looking at a bulb, but a fixture is fine, too. I really just want something suitable to the tank that isn't super overkill and is a reasonable price.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

my first choice would be Zetlight Nano Fixture

thies would be my second 5 LED Par 30 Bulb

12 LED Par 38 Bulb

if you wana go all out the this one produces some of the best color iv ever seen Lightbox Led | Products


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## Padded Wall (Jan 3, 2013)

The zetlight doesn't have a price listed that I can see and I think it would be overkill for my setup. The 5 LED fixture doesn't have any white bulbs. How does that end up looking? The 12 LED one seems pretty good but again I'm not sure if that's overkill or not. If the 5 LED one looks good I might go with that.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

the nano touch is 120 its got diffident intensity's 

with a par 30 or 38 you want as strong as posible as the higher you hang it the less of a spot light effect you get 

the 5 led one is full spec so will end up looking bright white/blue white


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## Padded Wall (Jan 3, 2013)

So the par 30 would be good for a 12 inch cube with easy/soft corals?


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## Padded Wall (Jan 3, 2013)

How would this be in comparison? 7 LED Par 30 Bulb


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

That would work two


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

Correction, my par30 and par38 bulbs all dimmable. You just need to go to Ikea and pick up a light dimmer switch


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

O cool !!! Learnt something new lol


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