42 watt watt screw in PC works great!

[SaltwaterSensei]

I had two 6500K 32 watt pcs over my fuge for along time.

I recently went to lowes and bought two bell reflecters with the screw-in mogul type socket and found two 42 watt spiril pc lamps. When I switched to those my chaetomorpha is growing WAY faster. It used to take about a week to fill up the fuge now its doing that in half that time. This things look promising....at least for me..

anyone else using them?

 

[gcvt]

I use the same bulbs over my 10g gracilaria tank and they work great! I retrofit them into the cheapo canopy that came with the tank and I think the whole project cost about $12.

 

[kmk2307]

SaltwaterSensei,
What do you keep your water chemistry like? I am using two 42 watt lamps on my chaetomorpha fuge too. I just switched so I haven't noticed a huge increase in growth yet.

cgvt,
How was your experience growing gracilaria? What did you keep your water chemistry like? I would really appreciate any advice you could share.

Thanks guys,
Kevin

 

[gcvt]

cgvt,
How was your experience growing gracilaria? What did you keep your water chemistry like? I would really appreciate any advice you could share.

Hi Kevin,

It's going very well and I'm surprised at how easy it is. I picked up a small handful at the lfs last May and it's been growing rapidly since then. From the looks of things, I shouldn't ever have to buy nori for my tang again...he loves this stuff.

The setup is a 10 gallon tank, 50w heater set to 79F, two small Minijet powerheads, and the two spiral mini-compact fluorescents from Home Depot. Water is 1.025 and the only thing I add is "Plant Fuel" liquid from Florida Aqua Farms (same place I get the my phyto disks and fertilizer for my phytoplankton culture). Whenever I do a water change on my reef tank, I use the old water to do a huge water change on the gracilaria tank, and then re-dose with the Plant Fuel.

As you can see, both powerheads sit on the bottom of the tank pointing at the opposite end. The gracilaria just automatically rolls itself up into a loose ball and sits there spinning around 24/7. Works like a charm

 

[kmk2307]

Cool! How much plant food do you add at a time?

Kevin

 

[gcvt]

I've been adding 2 ml after every water change. If I go more than two weeks without doing a water change on my reef tank, I usually just add 1/2 ml to the 10g to keep things going until I do a water change.

 

[SaltwaterSensei]

my water is; SG=1.023, ph=8.2, temp 80-82, cal=400, alk=11

hth....

 

[kmk2307]

SaltwaterSensei,

Heh... the only things I was really interested in was nitrates and phosphates. I am just hoping my chaetomorpha will start growing like yours.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Reggae Reefer]

Thanks for the tip about the 42 watt bulbs. I have been thinking abou the best(cheapest) way to light my fuge and this is perfect.

 

[TooFar2Sea]

I can find the spiral 19w PC bulbs at Home Depot but not the 42w. Do you know the brand name on the 42w?

 

[Reggae Reefer]

I can find the spiral 19w PC bulbs at Home Depot but not the 42w. Do you know the brand name on the 42w?

The brand on the bulb is "Commercial Electric". On the package they say "42 watt = 150 watt". They were with all the other spiral CFs, at least at my local store.

 

[SaltwaterSensei]

yes that is the one...

I'm also testing this other one I found at lowes made by sylvania/osram. But its only a 30 watt bulb.....

 

[TooFar2Sea]

This may be a stupid question but are the 42w bulbs larger than say the 19w I have. I ask in case space is an issue in your application.

 

[reefer20G]

I do not have my refugium set up yet, but I bought one of these: A great refugium lightbulb, IMHO!. What do you guys think? Just my 0.02.

 

[Reggae Reefer]

This may be a stupid question but are the 42w bulbs larger than say the 19w I have. I ask in case space is an issue in your application.

Judging the picture, I don't think the 42 watt are much bigger than the 19watt, if at all.

I have a 29 gallon sump underneath a normal 50 gallon stand and I have plenty of room with two 42 watt bulbs and the bell reflectors. I think the reflectors are not the best for this application though. I want to mount them like people mount MHs in hoods.

 

[SaltwaterSensei]

they are about twice as big as the 19 watt ones. However the sylvania 30 watts are the same size as the Commercial Electric ones

 

[Reggae Reefer]

woops, sorry, SaltwaterSensei is right. The 42watt are twice as big as the 19s. I was trying to judge just by that picture of the 19s.