what light do you use for cheato?

[newnano]

are there any cheap bulbs that are good for lighting my sump that cheato will like? im talking something from Home depot etc.

 

[Doubledown]

I use an 11 watt "Daylight" bulb from Menards. It's one of those spiral flouresants (sp?) bulbs that is supposed to be the equivalent of a 75 watt regular bulb. Took me a while to find what the Kelvin temp was as the print is tiny (it's 5750), but I got 3 for like $10.

I have it in a clip on desk lamp that overhangs my 'fuge and the Chaeto grows like mad.

 

[newnano]

thats cool. that is what i was going to get. i wasnt sure if that was the right type of light

 

[Pufferpunk]

Thanks, I was just gonna PM Doubledown about that!

My other question is that I'm keeping it in a seperate tank, till my 90g upgrade is finished. (Probably another month!) To save on salt, what's the lowest SG I can keep it at? Do I need to acclimate it slowly udown & then up again to match the tank's when I connect the fuge? Also, I've been using some in HOB filters for my 2 tanks & it seems to be working well.

 

[Doubledown]

Not sure about lowest SG that it can be kept at.

Why don't you use the water from your current display to keep it in. When you do a water change on your current tank just fill the tank housing the extra chaeto with the old tank water instead of sending it down the drain. No need for fresh clean new salt water for the chaeto (it would probably benefit from the nutrients in the old water anyway).

Seems easy enough - drain down chaeto storage tank, fill from display tank, re-fill display with new saltwater. SG problem solved. Rod actually suggested I do this with waterchanges on my reef anf FOWLR, use the 2-3 week old reef tank water to change out the FOWLR water. Worst case is a slightly elevated nitrate level that is not really an issue with fish and best case is help maintaining ALK levels in the FOWLR while saving $ on salt for both tanks. Gotta think about this a little though as I run the FOWLR at a lower salinity than the reef.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Yeah, been doing that anyway, thanks. I don't know what I was thinking...

 

[aiko670]

I use the one Melv recomends. So far so good....

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

 

[Pufferpunk]

Glad I read that one. I stopped by Home Depot today & got a couple of reflectors but they didn't have the 11wt bulb DD recommended. I wonder how many of those bulbs we'd have to order to get free shipping? Maybe a group order? Since I have to replace every 6 months or so & I'm gonna be using 2 of them, I might want a half dozen.

The 2nd one will be used for my anemone prop tank. I'm hoping that will be enough light for BTAs.

 

[johj26]

i got a great one at menards its in drop light section has 4 11w cfl in it with 2 on off swiches comes with 65k bulbs use that on the fuge everything grows like mad even the red gracillina also has a mounting bracket so really nice

 

[Pufferpunk]

How much?

 

[johj26]

there like 25 dollars last time i got one or you can wait till its on sale which with menards is every few months

 

[Ride Red]

I just use an old florescent fixture I had on an old tank. The older the bulb the better.

 

[Hammercoral]

i use 175 halide, works well, just use my bulbs , i tried smaller bulbs but didnt get near the growth , it s on when my other lights are off so it seems to help keep the temp more stable.

 

[ykh]

Ditto.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8199611#post8199611 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aiko670
I use the one Melv recomends. So far so good....

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

 

[Whaledriver]

I use the same Menards one johj26 uses and it works great. They might be closeing them out in the next few months??? If so the unit will go for 10-20 bulbs and is worth it just for the bulbs!