"Middle Ground" Refugium Lighting

Potatohead · Feb 6, 2018

It seems when it comes to refugium lighting, it's either really cheap, or kind of expensive. Is there nothing in the middle?

I switched from carbon dosing to a refugium coming up on two months ago. In that time I have seen a significant reduction of hair algae and cyano in my display. It's still not perfect but I have maybe 1/3 now what I had before. I started with a softball size of chaeto and it has about doubled in size and the walls of the fuge have some hair algae (better there than in display).

I am using a 6500k CFL and a clip on reflector, total investment is like $22. Since I am seeing positive signs I am considering upgrading. I keep hearing about he H380 but that seems a bit insane, the section in my sump is 15x9x9". I could only mount the light maybe 9-10" above the water at most but I would prefer not to because of light spill into the rest of the sump. I have about 70g water volume total.

Is a Kessil H80 probably the way to go? Or should I just stick with what I am doing and as the chaeto grows larger it will outcompete the display even more? I imagine more light would help that. Amazon has a bunch of Chinese grow lights but instead of spending $20-30 on something just ok I would rather just spend more on something I know will work, and will work for years.

Thanks

Devan Petersen · Feb 6, 2018

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FFMEABM/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3M28AR9PSTK98&colid=NXPEGBKIJOQT&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Ast...1517939326&sr=8-6&keywords=planted+tank+light

Those are some good options. I have some cheap 30$ grow light and it seems to be enough.

Rick Krejci · Feb 6, 2018

You're right, there are some holes in the top quality fuge lighting. H380 is a beast, but you can't dim it or control it like the H80 which is a big limitation. Kessil made an H150, but it's no longer made. That said, may use the cheap Chinese lights to great effect.

I'm using the H380 with an area similar to yours and have a couple of snails in the fuge to keep it clean. I did put a cone of flexible material in front of it to limit light spread and it seems to work very well.

I'd bet Kessil will put out a new line this year if I were a betting man, but that doesn't help you right now.

Potatohead · Feb 6, 2018

Rick Krejci said:
I'd bet Kessil will put out a new line this year if I were a betting man, but that doesn't help you right now.

I think you are probably right. Maybe they will come out with something, if not I will wait for a deal on an H80 or something and try it out.

Mombo · Feb 6, 2018

The GrowStar UFO 150 watt on Amazon is cheap and it grows a TON of chaeto. Very awesome light. There is a giant thread on fuge lighting and alot of people are using it. Its quadrupled my chaeto ball in 2 weeks.

jda · Feb 6, 2018

Middle ground here are some Chinese grow LEDs. 6500K screw-in CLFs kept my N and .1 and P at .005-.01, so I doubt that this is the limiting factor in your fuge, but new lights will not hurt anything. Chaeto will be more limited by N, P and iron than by a CFL light - if you are not changing a good amount of water, start to dose iron and keep that that ball of chaeto loose and trimmed... a thick tangled ball will not grow as fast as a loose ball half the size.