A80 a good light for a beginner 10G?

[Logamnosis]

I’m planning to do a SW tank for the first time and was wondering if a Kessil A80 tuna blue would be a good choice for a 10G (30x30cm, 45cm tall) tank for simple (not too light demanding) coral/anemone/macroalgae. Are there other options that folks would recommend more highly for this situation? Any gotchas to look out for? (Other than the gooseneck being too long.)

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Cooper2]

Kessil makes a quality light in my opinion, but I've never had an A80 blue. I have a couple of the A80 fuge lights and they take a beating with salt and hold up well. The only concern I'd have is the light is only 15 Watts and might not be as strong as you'd like. I don't have much experience with nano tanks and maybe this is perfect for a 10G, I can only assure you its a top quality brand.

 

[Logamnosis]

Kessil makes a quality light in my opinion, but I've never had an A80 blue. I have a couple of the A80 fuge lights and they take a beating with salt and hold up well. The only concern I'd have is the light is only 15 Watts and might not be as strong as you'd like. I don't have much experience with nano tanks and maybe this is perfect for a 10G, I can only assure you its a top quality brand.

Thank you very much! As an alternative, is there another lift that would be your go-to light (or generally recommend) for a nano tank like this one?

 

[Cooper2]

Never having had a nano tank I'm hesitant to make any recommendations about what is right for you, but let me say something about saltwater and lighting that I think most would agree with. Good lights are expensive....
For a newbie getting into the hobby there is much you'll need, much you'll want, and cool stuff you absolutely don't need but will buy anyway. Lights are one of the first big purchases that are needed and the temptation to save a little for "black box" lights to spread out your reef bucks is going to be considerable. I bought several different lights in my reefing journey and looked at most with some element of regret knowing I skimped somehow. I've never bought a brand new light but have acquired several from this site and Ebay. Watching my tank's health improve quickly as the lighting evolved was a surprise, and good lights that ramp up and down are so much more elegant than a click on and off type thing.

I recommend you spend 10%-20% more than you're comfortable with. Outgrowing discount components can be a real bummer when starting out, but you'll never regret quality lighting. I have come to love my Kessils and wish I didn't waste time or money on cheaper lights that I don't use anymore.

 

[dilligaf29]

thats a great light for a 10 gallon or a prime 16hd

​

 

[kgstei]

If I wanted to dip my toes in salt water I would start off with a used BioCube system or another smaller system. Putting together a system part by part is going to cost a bunch which you won't recover if you decide saltwater isn't for you. Conversely if you're like us and get nuts about it you'll decide you want a larger system and the things you have for your 10 gallon won't be suitable for that purpose. Good luck

 

[Sparent25]

I had a similar question a few years ago and Dong AcroGarden recommended the Reef Breeders Nano Light instead of the Kessil a80 - it has 2x the wattage.

 

[Logamnosis]

Never having had a nano tank I'm hesitant to make any recommendations about what is right for you, but let me say something about saltwater and lighting that I think most would agree with. Good lights are expensive....
For a newbie getting into the hobby there is much you'll need, much you'll want, and cool stuff you absolutely don't need but will buy anyway. Lights are one of the first big purchases that are needed and the temptation to save a little for "black box" lights to spread out your reef bucks is going to be considerable. I bought several different lights in my reefing journey and looked at most with some element of regret knowing I skimped somehow. I've never bought a brand new light but have acquired several from this site and Ebay. Watching my tank's health improve quickly as the lighting evolved was a surprise, and good lights that ramp up and down are so much more elegant than a click on and off type thing.

I recommend you spend 10%-20% more than you're comfortable with. Outgrowing discount components can be a real bummer when starting out, but you'll never regret quality lighting. I have come to love my Kessils and wish I didn't waste time or money on cheaper lights that I don't use anymore.

Many thanks for the advice! The exact same thing has been happening to me on the freshwater aquascaping side for the last few years (bought cheaper lights, eventually replaced them with better lights, was amazed at the improvement, and regretted the extra time and money spent on the cheaper ones). Trying to avoid the same thing here!

 

[Logamnosis]

thats a great light for a 10 gallon or a prime 16hd

​

Thanks - tempted by the prime but am scared by some of the reviews. (People complaining about quality issues, the app, and not lasting.) Any truth to those complaints or just the usual variation and user error?

 

[Logamnosis]

If I wanted to dip my toes in salt water I would start off with a used BioCube system or another smaller system. Putting together a system part by part is going to cost a bunch which you won't recover if you decide saltwater isn't for you. Conversely if you're like us and get nuts about it you'll decide you want a larger system and the things you have for your 10 gallon won't be suitable for that purpose. Good luck

Thanks! I actually already have a nice UNS tank and an Oase Filtosmart thermo that I was thinking of repurposing to SW. Given that do you think it is still better to go for an AIO to try out? Besides the light (and test kits, refractometer, salt, sand, live rock, inhabitants and food) any other big purchases I should be budgeting for?

 

[Logamnosis]

I had a similar question a few years ago and Dong AcroGarden recommended the Reef Breeders Nano Light instead of the Kessil a80 - it has 2x the wattage.

Many thanks for the suggestion! Alas, it looks like they are no longer offering the nano (it’s not on their website — despite their being a “Pico and Nano” section — and I’m seeing it listed as out of stock everywhere else). Pity!

 

[Sparent25]

If you like watching YouTube videos 52 weeks of reefing from BRS is great

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[Cpage101]

Many thanks for the suggestion! Alas, it looks like they are no longer offering the nano (it’s not on their website — despite their being a “Pico and Nano” section — and I’m seeing it listed as out of stock everywhere else). Pity!

shop around for used for your first tank you can save 50% on the cost and if you decide to stay or go in the hobby it will not be a significant loss to resell.

 

[Cpage101]

Many thanks for the suggestion! Alas, it looks like they are no longer offering the nano (it’s not on their website — despite their being a “Pico and Nano” section — and I’m seeing it listed as out of stock everywhere else). Pity!

Maybe something like this great starter tank for $200 in Salem, MA

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[ClintH]

I followed exactly the path you are taking last year.

My suggestion is to repurpose your UNS. The trick with that is you need to do 10% water changes biweekly (weekly is safer).

Your question about the Oase is more controversial. Many will tell you that using a canister is a horrible idea. That said, with proper maintenance it does work and it offers you a nice clean aesthetic on your tank vs a hang on filter. What it works ok for is for chemical filtration (e.g. GAC and GFE)... also ok to help seed the tank with biological filtration (e.g. some bioballs/rubble from a mature tank). Be careful using it as a particle filter as you need to be religious with frequently replacing the filter floss if you do that. To add a bit of controversy on top of controversy- I'll mention that you can add in a UV light inline with that for occasional use in case of a bloom. Lot's of folks will tell you that you are better off with a sump or an AIO, but for your case (i.e. experienced aquaculturist, who maintains tank fastidiously, who wants to transition into the hobby with a small tank) it is absolutely viable to take this approach as long as you do the water changes.

On the light question-> depends on the dimensions of the tank. Having seen your freshwater setup, I think you might have a 30 gallon 19" cube. The AI Prime can work for that with the corals you mentioned. It is right on the edge of having enough power, but it works fine. (My advice is to you need to join the BRS society and get access to the loaner PAR meter to tune in the light.) I started with the Prime for a similar sized tank and then upgraded to the Kessil 360x in part b/c I liked the color output/shimmer effect of the Kessil over the Prime. If the tank is smaller, then the AI Prime is ok- the issue with Prime's burning out LED's is true, but can be managed without issue as long as you don't overdrive a few of the LED channels.

In summary: start with the UNS that you have to get into the hobby, keep your eye open for a nice used AIO which will be your second tank that you setup 9 months from now, start mapping out floorspace for where you will install a 180 gallon tank 2 years from now.

 

[dz6t]

In my experience, for what an A80 cost new, it is a very poor choice for a 10g nano tank. If you find it used for less than $40, it is sort of acceptable.
1. Despite it draws 15w max from the wall, which is very low power to begin with for coral, it actually only has about 10w usable power as you are not going to max out the white led. For a blueish spectrum for best coral coloration, it only has about 8 to 10w usable power. It can be good for a 5 gallon pico tank, but I won’t use it for anything bigger.

2. Over the years, I have seen many A80 had burnt out led dots, due to the insufficient cooling. Due to the tight cluster of the LED chips, you won’t notice it with a few chips burnt out, but the light output suffers.

3. A80 was launched in 2016 and never been updated, so you are looking at a product with pretty vintage technology. While Kessel’s A500x and A360x are good led lights (provided you have other supplemental lights to overcome the heavy shadowing), the A80 is pretty outdated.

AI Prime is a much better choice despite it has a known defect on its lens. I heard that AI will send you replacement lens free of charge even out of warranty but your mileage, may vary.

 

[zedxplorer]

Thanks! I actually already have a nice UNS tank and an Oase Filtosmart thermo that I was thinking of repurposing to SW. Given that do you think it is still better to go for an AIO to try out? Besides the light (and test kits, refractometer, salt, sand, live rock, inhabitants and food) any other big purchases I should be budgeting for?

That's kinda how I started off going from fresh to salt. I had a 15g aqueon tank and was running that thing off a fluval canister for a year. Had a smatfarm/nicrew light on it because I didn't want to step too deep into the hobby not knowing what to do. Does it keep corals? Yes. The tank was doing pretty for a while, and given the small volume the water param weren't very stable long term. The thing with the canister is that it really depends on you. If you can clean it every week, it works alright. The issue is it traps a lot of stuffs and can swing your water very easily. But in retrospect, now that I have an IM 14g peninsula as an observation tank. The AIO makes it soooo much easier to maintain and save a ton of stress. The thing with this hobby is you gonna buy corals, and they will be expensive. Then you may want to step deeper and spend more, which vastly exceed your initial expenditure on the tank set up. And if the success of that depends on you measuring your params all the time and gutting your canister every week religiously. It adds a lot of stress, especially at times when you are not available. A second hand IM 10-20g wouldn't be that crazy expensive, compared to what you may need to do to modify the UNS. You may even be able to sell the UNS and find an AIO.

In terms of light, I have had good outcome with the nicrew/smatfarm lights on Amazon if you are looking for more budget oriented options. But ofc, they won't have as good of a spectrum as name brand.