I have one laying around...

I have two spare 10 gallon tanks so I am looking for a 20" light that would be good for starting a nano reef tank... Anyone have any suggestions that are cost effective? Also would a FW filter work or do I need a protein skimmer? How about powerheads? :help:

You could use the filter, yes, however, i would add new media before you cycle it....Would no really bother with a skimmer on a small tank like this unless you can fall on a good second hand nano skimmer cheap...rely on water changes....




Light looks fine to me for some good basic corals like Zoa's, shrooms etc etc....
 
In a 10G tank, ya, it probably would work, although I would change out one of the bulbs to either be a 50/50, or switch both out to something like 2 12K bulbs to give you more good light for SPS. Now keeping the water chemistry correct in a tank that small is going to be the hardest problem if you try SPS corals, but you could fit in a bigger variety of SPS in that size than LPS.
 
You could use your extra 10 gallon as a refugium. Would also add more total water so increased water stability.
 
ya, they make "nano" overflows and small return pumps. So ya, it is possible, but still expensive. Overflow costs around $120, which is rediculous to me for $5 in plastic, and $40 or so for a return pump. I was toying the the same idea at one point but it just got to me too expensive for such a small tank for me.
 
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