A great refugium lightbulb, IMHO!

Wow, you must have a lot of room for a luminarc reflector to be able to fit. Can you post a picture?
 
Hey Marc I'm too impatient to order online so I went to a light bulb supply store with a print out of what you have on your site for a fuge light. The closest thing they had was a Longstar Compact Fluorescent Lamp. It's a 20W bulb with an equivilant of 90W. It's a 5000K light... the guy at the store (I don't know his level of knowledge) told me that a 5100k temp is somewhat rare and what I got should do the trick... any ideas? Do you think this will work ok for me?
 
<b>Snakebyt</b>, that LOA fixture has been recommended about 30 times in this thread. People use them, and are satisfied. This thread talks about a different one that I found worked well for me. Plus we don't have LOA fixtures here in our area for some reason, so I had to find an alternative.

<b>theishkid</b>, that sounds like it will work out just fine. I try to keep my lights about 4" off the water of the refugium.
 
Hey marc does it matter that the light I bought says it's only for use in dry areas... I was looking at some from lowes that have been mentioned before on here and they said indoor/outdoor. Should I just take back my light and order online or do you think I will be fine with the one I bought?
 
Well, if it gets wet and blows up or goes out, I doubt you can claim a warranty exchange. However, most people try to be careful with lighting around water, so you should too.

You can still order a couple of the others now that you have one bulb today. That way you'll have a backup when you need it.
 
Well I'm not really worried about splashing water on it or something... I guess I'm just worried about all the moisture buildup down there. I also don't really care about the warranty... it was only a 8 dollar bulb... that's the cheapest thing I have bought for my tank in a long long time.
 
melev said:
<b>Snakebyt</b>, that LOA fixture has been recommended about 30 times in this thread. People use them, and are satisfied. This thread talks about a different one that I found worked well for me. Plus we don't have LOA fixtures here in our area for some reason, so I had to find an alternative.

Sorry Marc, guess i should have read the whole thread, but like so many of your threads.. this is one long SOB, now that i have some time, going to go back thru the thread and do some learning.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
No worries. Everyone likes to share their experiences, and that is perfectly fine.

Just trying to keep my thread on topic. :D
 
Man - After 30 pages I had to come to the end to post.
As I am in Ireland I have no chance of getting this bulb. I will find one similar after all the research I gained from this post.

As I am having 2 refuge. I need 1 bulb as described here which I can find - but I also need a florescent type to fit under my hood which is no longer than 24". Can anyone tell me if I can use a T5 light that hardware shops sell as under counter lights for kitchens? If so should I use 1 or 2 for a 9 gallon fuge?

Marc - your research and help is always a great help for us beginners in reefing.

BallaBooYeaH
 
I have a regular yellow t5 type fixute over my fuge, along with a 14,000k aquarium bulb... and my cheato grows like mad. I also have the bulbs listed in this thread... but am not setup to use them right now. I didn't see much of a difference when using them. That said, they didn't hurt anything either.

Bean
 
BallaBooYeaH, you may be able to order it online, but shipping may put this simply out of reach cost-wise. However, I have to imagine if you contacted some lighting companies in your country and told them what you are looking for, they should have something comparable. 6500K, 5100K, and even the 2700K bulbs do work. The 5100K does it the best. I've only got two of them over my refugium and the cheato is growing like nuts. I was thinking I'd need to install four bulbs over that 29g refugium, but perhaps not.

Regarding T-5s, I know you have those in your area because Europe was using them well before the U.S. started to. Check those online vendors and your LFS for the different bulb colors. Basically, I like the look of a tank that uses 50% daylight(white) and 50% actinic (blue).
 
i find this to be way better than the light mentioned in this thread and i have tried both . (only $12)

http://www.energyfederation.org/lipa/default.php/cPath/25_174_241_480

l_480.jpg


*EDIT*

my bad i guess a ton of people have recommended it already. having used both there is absolutely no question that the LoA light works better at growing cheato. it does take more power and you need to decide for yourself if the added expense is worth it. prolly around $3-4 a month difference.
 
Tried LOA for my zoas and didnÃ"šÃ‚´t like it. Went back to NOs for a while on my 40gal. The LOA fixture is plastic and kinda fragile, specially the arm and flat part that holds the box. I like the blue of 10.000 or 20.000K NOs better. To tell the truth, the LOA is still too yellow to me. I used to like 6.500Ks, but got a different taste now for my zoas. Still wanna find a T5 fixture to buy but donÃ"šÃ‚´t know the best one. Everybody like a different brands and IÃ"šÃ‚´m waiting to be convinced and get the right thing.

Could anyone say what to look for, and when NOT to buy a T5? I need a relatively inexpensive brand also. ItÃ"šÃ‚´s for a 40 gal.

Thanks.

Grandis.;)
 
hey i just bumped into this thread and read the 40 plus pages i see everyone is getting the 5100k well i went to home depot and picked up 2700k by accident cause its not labeled on the package is this just as good?

reason i cant take it back is cause i accidently already broke the shell :(
 
hey i just bumped into this thread and read the 40 plus pages i see everyone is getting the 5100k well i went to home depot and picked up 2700k by accident cause its not labeled on the package is this just as good? cause im using caulepra

reason i cant take it back is cause i accidently already broke the shell :(
 
I have that same one on my sump/refugium. It's about a foot above the chaeto in there and that's growing all right...nice and deep green and a bit bigger than when I started with it about 4 weeks ago. It's hard to compare, though, because I have haven't used any other bulbs yet.
 
The 5100 is supposed tow rok better. I have 2 5100s on either side of an LOA on my 75 gal fuge, and so far I am not seeing growth of chaeto, all my other macros died, and I have lots of either cyano or some sort of red stringy/bubbly stuff choking off the chaeto -- grows around it, I keep pruning it off and it comes back. On the rockwork too. Not sure about this light setup so far... been about 2mos.
 
i have that red stringy thing also and it has like a little bubble on the tip

does anyone know what it is and what causes it?

also avi how long before your started seeing the growth in your macro algae?

cause i have caulepra i hope it responds just as well :-/
 
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