How much light for caulerpa and macroalgae?

[Hispaniola]

Hi.

I am making a 20gal. fuge with caulerpa and other plants for my 65gal. reef tank. Can I just use an 18W NO Triton fluorescent light? Will it thrive with this light? How about shaving brushes? Can most macroalgae thrive with this amount of light?

Thank you.

 

[waterfaller1]

4 wpg for caulerpa...6 wpg for chaetomorpha.Get lighting that is white/yellow...no actinic.

 

[Hispaniola]

Thanks.

 

[terryhendrixson]

just a question why no actinic?

 

[Hispaniola]

errr...I don't know. Isn't the Blue+ part actinic? Do I need a full actinic?

 

[terryhendrixson]

the blue is actinic im asking him why not to use it

 

[waterfaller1]

Macro does best with lighting at 6500K or as close to it as you can get.No actinic.

 

[Fredfish]

What is the objective of your refugium?

Caulerpa and Chaeto will grow under a wide range of light intensities. The more light you put over it, the faster it will grow.

I have grown caulerpa under slightly less than 2wpg normal output fluorescent and am currently growing it under 175w MH at approximately 4wpg.

By the way, wpg is a slightly misleading rating as light intensities vary depending on what light source you use and where in the tank your algae is. Light tends to be much more intense directly under or right next to the light source and much weaker in other areas.

edit

Oh yea, back to objectives. If the refugium is just for growing pods and other critters, you can use light at lower intesities. Your algae will still grow ant thrive but you won't have to worry so much about harvesting excess algae or supplimenting nutrients to keep it from going sexual.
If you are using your refugium as a nutriuent filter, you will want higher light intesities to drive growth.

Fred

 

[Hispaniola]

The refugium's purpose is to reduce nitrates and phosphates. If their is a chance caulerpa can go sexual, I'd rather use a different plant. Any recommendations?

By the way, how do shaving brushes behave? Can I have some in my main tank?

Thanks.