A great refugium lightbulb, IMHO!
- Thread starter gregt
- Start date
sales weasel
New member
I've seen a few mentions of leaving the light on 24/7. Is this correct for normal fuge operation?
dirtyvegas
In Memoriam
IMO you should have it off for few hours a day, plants grow more at night from what ive been reading. I find my algaes do best with the light on 16hrs a day, set on a timer.
dv
dv
dannieboiz
Active member
I have my lights on 24/7 and quite frankly, I don't see it growing that fast. I'm gonna try to cut down to 16 hours starting this weekend to see how it goes.
Abalone joe
New member
http://www.lightsofamerica.com/floods.htm
Melev- The light at this webpage as well as many other flourescent/spotlight bulbs say either do not use or not recomended for use with timers depending on the the specific light in question. Yet even though I haven't seen it stated I'm assuming most people on this alternative lighting thead are using them.
Are there any dangers involved? Any insights or opinions on this would be helpful. Also; Anyone else who wants to address this topic, feel free to chime in. Especially electricians!
I Don't want to burn my house down.
Thanks
Melev- The light at this webpage as well as many other flourescent/spotlight bulbs say either do not use or not recomended for use with timers depending on the the specific light in question. Yet even though I haven't seen it stated I'm assuming most people on this alternative lighting thead are using them.
Are there any dangers involved? Any insights or opinions on this would be helpful. Also; Anyone else who wants to address this topic, feel free to chime in. Especially electricians!
I Don't want to burn my house down.
Thanks
melev
Well-known member
I don't see why a timere would be an issue. Most people don't run their outdoor lighting 24/7.
In the case of the bulb mentioned in this thread, I do keep mine on 24 hours a day. No timer is necessary. I only turn it off about once every three months, to clean the surface that becomes encrusted with saltcreep. After it cools, each is wiped off, and I reinstall them and turn them back on.
In the case of the bulb mentioned in this thread, I do keep mine on 24 hours a day. No timer is necessary. I only turn it off about once every three months, to clean the surface that becomes encrusted with saltcreep. After it cools, each is wiped off, and I reinstall them and turn them back on.
Abalone joe
New member
I called one of the companies a few years ago concerning a completely different bulb; One of the compact flourescents
that has multiple loops protruding outward from the built in ballast. Not the kind that with the coiled tube. Almost any of the bulbs discussed seem to have that warning though.
Anyway; When I called asking why, They metioned that timers leak a small amount of current and this causes problems to the ballast. I could not get them to say anything reguarding saftey issues having to do with this problem. They danced around in our conversation as if it were only there part time job but their real job was running for political office, Giving only hollow answers to important questions.
So running the light 24/7 doesn't cause any problems helpful algea and critter life? What of the plankton? Critters usually release there spawn at dusk, Half the reason (asside from nutrient export) for the fuge is for If producing quality foods for the corals in the main display. also; I want to run the refugium opposite to main display for pH stability, For these reasons I need to use a timer.
It's an expensive hobby already. As it enevitably continues to grow it would be really nice to have as many cheap alternatives as possible.
Also; there are a lot of corals that do well at 6500K. Especially when augmented with actinic bulbs. In case it hasn't been listed in this thread for a while. A number of these spotlights do have a 6500K rating. I had to skip past a million posts to get to the end and submit a reply. That's why I don't know how long it's been since color temeratures were discussed.
that has multiple loops protruding outward from the built in ballast. Not the kind that with the coiled tube. Almost any of the bulbs discussed seem to have that warning though.
Anyway; When I called asking why, They metioned that timers leak a small amount of current and this causes problems to the ballast. I could not get them to say anything reguarding saftey issues having to do with this problem. They danced around in our conversation as if it were only there part time job but their real job was running for political office, Giving only hollow answers to important questions.
So running the light 24/7 doesn't cause any problems helpful algea and critter life? What of the plankton? Critters usually release there spawn at dusk, Half the reason (asside from nutrient export) for the fuge is for If producing quality foods for the corals in the main display. also; I want to run the refugium opposite to main display for pH stability, For these reasons I need to use a timer.
It's an expensive hobby already. As it enevitably continues to grow it would be really nice to have as many cheap alternatives as possible.
Also; there are a lot of corals that do well at 6500K. Especially when augmented with actinic bulbs. In case it hasn't been listed in this thread for a while. A number of these spotlights do have a 6500K rating. I had to skip past a million posts to get to the end and submit a reply. That's why I don't know how long it's been since color temeratures were discussed.
sales weasel
New member
I was thinking about using X10 appliance modules for some of my lighting. I'm glad to see that it works. I think the appliance modules are really the only ones that will work for fluorescent lighting. You can also get remote systems so you can control X10 modules via remote control. I don't really know why it would be useful to have a remote but I'm sure someone can think up a use. Smarthome.com is a good source for X10 supplies.
melev
Well-known member
I know that an x-10 module doesn't turn off the power, it just lowers it to 67v (or something near that when I tested it. Very annoying. It burned up some IceCap fan power supplies, but fortunately I had backups.
That is an interesting thought about critter spawning I'd never really considered. However, perhaps it occurs anway deeper within the refugium under the plant life where it is darker. The reason I originally kept the lights on over the plants 24 hours a day was because caulerpa can go "sexual" when it is in the dark. It never is a matter of "if", but rather "when"... And once it has, the plant turns clear and dies, literally dissolving within 48 to 72 hours. The last thing I want is all that stuff released back into the system, turning my water green and increasing NO3 and PO4. So light around the clock prevents this from occuring.
Another benefit to keeping the light on all the time is you don't need yet another huge timer eating up space and possibly covering neighboring outlets, nor a multi-plug to have several bulbs lit.
The macro algae seems to grow well under these conditions, and I don't have nuisance algae in my tank. Even cheatomorpha at the bottom of the refugium is still dark green, instead of turning white as one might expect.
