Great option for lighting a large refugium, CUC?

[OverHauler]

Hey Guys,

Swapped out the stock sump on my RS Reefer 250 with a 29gal turned sump I made myself and added this light to grow Chaeto in the fuge. I chose it just because the price for the light seemed like a steal vs the other options out there so I had to give it a go. The results have been fantastic so far. Mounted it above the fuge and hooked up to a simple timer and I'm off to the races. Chaeto growth has been great with my Cheato doubling in size in two weeks from the size of a tennis ball. Very happy so far...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XC3LBI2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Getting tons of algae growth in the fuge (Hair, etc), should I toss a couple snails in there to keep the nuisance stuff under control?

 

[ca1ore]

I have had lousy luck with those 'budget' bulbs/fixtures off Amazon/Ebay. They either don't work out of the box, or only last a few months before the flickering begins. Hope you have better luck; and if you do, I'm buying one .....

 

[Greybeard]

Mars Hydro have one of the better reputations for these inexpensive Chinese grow LED's.

I have an inexpensive 2x 24" T5 unit that I bought off of Amazon over my ref. Been solid for what, 7 months now?

Hopefully, given some time, the chaeto will out-compete the GHA and whatnot. I'd scrape it out, as much as I can, and see if it goes on it's own. Putting an algae eating cleanup crew into a macro algae sump seems a bad idea to me... I like a sump monster... giant emerald crab, small rock crab, something like that, to help break up pooling debris in the ref, but snails? No, thanks.

 

[OverHauler]

I have had lousy luck with those 'budget' bulbs/fixtures off Amazon/Ebay. They either don't work out of the box, or only last a few months before the flickering begins. Hope you have better luck; and if you do, I'm buying one .....

I'll keep this thread up to date on how things are going and let you know if I run into any issues...

Mars Hydro have one of the better reputations for these inexpensive Chinese grow LED's.
I have an inexpensive 2x 24" T5 unit that I bought off of Amazon over my ref. Been solid for what, 7 months now?

Hopefully, given some time, the chaeto will out-compete the GHA and whatnot. I'd scrape it out, as much as I can, and see if it goes on it's own. Putting an algae eating cleanup crew into a macro algae sump seems a bad idea to me... I like a sump monster... giant emerald crab, small rock crab, something like that, to help break up pooling debris in the ref, but snails? No, thanks.

I like the idea of a sump monster, maybe a large arrow crab?