150 watt double ended metal halide light too much for a 18 gallon fuge ?

[Shayn]

In the process of addeing a 18 gallon fuge, actual area where plants/macroe alges will be is only 12 gallons thinking of useing a small compact mh fixture at 150 watts 10k bulb, will this be too much? reason im contimplateing this type light source is I might add a small frag tray, and because of my sumps dimensions its heigth 20" with 5" of arm for a media , 3 inch space from water to top of euro brace, so light will be hung about 6 inches above fuge, for a tottal of 9" from light to water level. Other thoughts were 130 watt compact fixture, or even 110 watt fixture with compact lighting, but my sps frags like the dual 400 mh's in the main display. so any input from anyone that lights there fuge with mh's would be apresiated!:strooper:

 

[kmk2307]

That should be a great light for a fuge. Algae like chaeto. and caulerpa should grow very rapidly.

Kevin

 

[Shayn]

Cool, thnx for input! the mh is only 57 dollars more than the 130 watt compact fixture , so really small price to pay for that kinda intencity over fuge eh?

 

[piercho]

I re-use my 250W EYE DL bulbs (6500K) over a vegetative filter that's only 15 gallons, or so. 12 months on the display tank, then 12 months on the vegetative tank. So I don't think that its too much light for your refugia, assuming you have enough flow to regulate the heat gain. I like LOTS of flow through the vegetative tank, and IME a high-flow and high-light vegetative tank can make a big difference in inhibiting undesirable alga growth in the main tank. You could certainly economize by using a cheaper bulb there than a 10K, if you like. The EYE 6500K DE or the Venture 4500K DE should either be fine bulbs for a vegetative filter, IMO. In general, most 10K bulbs are strong in violet and weak in blue, and not optimal for plant growth, IMO. So I personally prefer daylight spectra bulbs for my refugia/vegetative filter, since my interest is in promoting rapid plant production in that tank.

 

[Shayn]

Good point about that spectrum 5500-6500 bulbs grow plants faster, acording to a lot of text, the fixture i was looking at just came with the 10k bulb, but i was under the impresion that i need to slow down the flow in this area for a biuld up of detrus , was thinking of useing a few cleaner clams and or smaller cucumbers, along with some (not sure about what type) micro alges, havent decieded if i want to run the lights reverse from main tank of 24/7 ,the alge types i choose will determine that somewhat, butt I would think that water rushing thru this area wouldnt allow the plants full extraction of nutrents in the water.As I also use a liter of rowa phos remover, a liter of rowa carbon, and a liter of kent marine resin, along with a pretty effient protien skimmer, with current clean up crew I dont have any unwanted alge, this refugium is me just trying to improve the quality of life for my reef tank,and to keep me busy.And as for heat in the fuge i have a 1/4 hp chiller rated for 260 gallon tank figure my actual volume will be around 200 after i add the fuge, and was also contimplateing mounting 2 small dc/fans pointing in on fuge(mount in euro brace top in sump) for added cooling?But thanks for the thread bro I want as many opions as I can get, im about useing the wealth of collective knowledge in this forrum!! Together we hundreds of years of exsperence and have lerned a lot of lessons the hard way!(as long as I dont make the same mistake twice, im !!! Thnx again for your opinion!!