Refugium lighting?

[jtesdall]

What are peoples recommendations for lighting a 30 gallon refugium/sump with cheato in it?

 

[calebjk]

people will probably call me a tightwad, but i went lowes and picked up a 24" t12 twin bulb fixture and some grow lights. the lights are made for growing plants and they have always done a very good job.

 

[leeweber85]

I tried those home depot spiral fluorecents and they didn't work for me.

Melevs bulb is supposed to work really well but you have to order them. http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

 

[jtesdall]

Thanks Guys. I will give them a try.

 

[tibbs2]

I use an outdoor self contained halogen floodlight I bought at Home Depot. It works pretty well.

 

[jtesdall]

Hmmmm, many ideas thanks. I know you can get the spiral flourescent flood Plant bulbs like Melev's at Walmart. I am going to see if I can find out the light spectrum. This might be a great alternative without much heat. Right now I am using a 20W warm white Flourescentand it is not working very well.

Thanks everyone!

 

[DSMpunk]

Honestly the brighter the better IME. I have a 250w HQI pendant over my refugium/frag tank and it grows VERY quickly. I would say at least twice as fast as my old flourescent setup.

But then again, if you are worried about heat.. nevermind what I said

 

[leeweber85]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10035429#post10035429 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jtesdall
Hmmmm, many ideas thanks. I know you can get the spiral flourescent flood Plant bulbs like Melev's at Walmart. I am going to see if I can find out the light spectrum. This might be a great alternative without much heat. Right now I am using a 20W warm white Flourescentand it is not working very well.

Thanks everyone!

interesting, I'll have to take a look.