refugium lighting????

[prow]

hey everyone. well i have a choice i need help with. i have a 45gal sump with a refugium in it about 20X12 with a 13" water level. i have a couple light fixtures T5's and PC's. just not sure which to go with. here is what i have.


1. 2X36watt PC's
2. 3X14watt T5's

so which lighting do you like #1 or #2??????

 

[Krish]

I have an 18w pc over my sump now and it worked great for growing algae on it's own during cycling. So much so, hardy any algae grew in the tank at all! As for your setup, I guess it would all depend on what yu plan to keep in there. I persnally love the idea of more watts per gal in the sump compared to the tank. It makes conditions so much more favorable for some algae to grow there rather than the main display

 

[shallowreef]

#1............

 

[CarlaW]

I'm goin with Krish here, I think the PC's will give you all you want.

 

[prow]

ok i will go with the PC's. thanks. might try the T5's later just too see. i like the reduced heat from them compared to the PC's.

 

[Krish]

i like the reduced heat from them compared to the PC's.

Yeah...My 18w pc fixture gets too hot to touch so I have a fan blowing on it now and now it feels like it isn't even on

 

[diablo]

I run the freshwater bulbs 6700 k rated... I cannot keep up with cheato growth. I had to turn the fuge light off for a few days.

 

[prow]

I run the freshwater bulbs 6700 k rated... I cannot keep up with cheato growth. I had to turn the fuge light off for a few days.

good thought. i like those. but, they limit what you can do. i mean i want to be able to put frags and things too. weather i do or not we will see i just like haveing the option.

my next purchase is going to be a chiller. getting tired of dealing with heat. even though i only need to really deal with it maybe, 2 weeks out of the year. but the time spent with evaporation wow.

 

[Krish]

i mean i want to be able to put frags and things too. weather i do or not we will see i just like haveing the option

Corals from what I understand grow best under the lower Kelvin rating like 6500k. The color doesn't look appealing to most people(yellowish) that's why they use a higher kelvin rating, so frags will do well under 6700k. The only thing is if the intensity of light is enough for them using pc's. Just a thought...

 

[prow]

well 6500k or 6700k is ok for growing. in fact i believe the sun is about 5500k-6500k. but i always thought you need more blue spectrum found in the higher k level to color up sps. not just by looks. i also thought the 6500k bulbs stimulate certain unwantded algea growth. here is a little something from the link below it.

Bulbs that emit large amounts of yellow, orange and red light will not stimulate the fluorescence of the Highly Fluorescent Pocilloporin Pigments. Bulbs that do not emit significant amounts of violet/blue/green light will not be providing the main wavelengths of light that is absorbed by the algal chlorophyll_a, chlorophyll_c2 and peridinin pigments.

here is that link. http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/s_tyree_060202.html not that i would not use the 6500k or 6700k if i did not have the lights i already have. i can always put all of them in there. lots of other info in the link on coral pigments and wave lengths of lighting for each type of pigment and the absorbtion and use of the light waves and pigments in our corals. kinda interesting stuff.