Light for Refugium?

[akriegsfeld]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for Ideas for an inxpensive light for my refrugium. I will be putting some Cheto in there this week.

What is an inexpensive light that will work with the Cheto?

thanks,
Alan

 

[billdogg]

i made mine out of a few standard sockets and CF flood lights, attached to a piece of plywood. made the reflector out of left over starboard. cost me about 20 bucks including the bulbs. just wire them in series and plu them in to a time (i have mine on reverse from DT)

 

[noboddi]

I use the clip on drop lights with a normal socket and a daylight CF bulb. Very inexpensive, does the trick

 

[Pawky]

I used a clip on light with a daylight bulb as well, you can find them at Lowes or Home Depot. I think it ended up costing around $12 total.

 

[malawinovice]

lowes clip on light, bright lights 6500 k light,

cheato grows

 

[TTU_Reefer]

same as above, works great. They have a day light at walmart in the fish area I have used too.

 

[grigsy]

+1 - clip on light with a low Kelvin bulb such as a 6500K is a good choice for refugium.

 

[james3370]

not "cheap" per say (at least on the front-end), but i bought a 225 red/blue led hydroponic grow light on ebay. $37 shipped, but shouldn't add any heat to the tank, uses very low amount of electricity & the leds should last for a loooooong time, so should pay for itself over time over the cost of bulb changes

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320302506263

 

[Tylt33]

This is a FAQ, one which I had last week. Read:

http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

Melev recommends a great, efficient, cheap bulb. Exactly what you're looking for, I believe.

 

[BAYAREA25]

omg people at the lfs wanted me to buy a 50 to 100 $$ light!
thank god i saw this forum! =]

i also like Tylt33 comments. =] helped alot also

 

[firsthesitation]

I got a clip on lamp with a reflector at the hardware store for $5, plus a 13watt Compact Florescent flood light in it for another maybe $3. Grows like a weed. Or wait, isn't it kinda a weed anyways....?

 

[Tylt33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14919363#post14919363 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BAYAREA25
omg people at the lfs wanted me to buy a 50 to 100 $$ light!
thank god i saw this forum! =]

i also like Tylt33 comments. =] helped alot also

I just replaced my $100 Current USA 65w fixture with that $11 19w 5100k bulb I linked... less energy use, less heat, good light spectrum

 

[BAYAREA25]

Hey Tylt33,
I went to home depot 2day and got that light clamp.
There wasn't that exact bulb. But I got the same thing. But it was a 5000k bulb. Same watt output and volts. So basically same kind of bulb just 100k less. Hopfully those 100k won't make a diffence and also I hope my cheato increases.

 

[tkeracer619]

+1 on melevs bulb. Replaced a bunch of CFs with it and cheato grew 3x faster.

Yours should work fine. You have plenty of time to find a melevs bulb before the current one dies =]

Saved what $85 there =]. This site can be a real big help.