Underwater refugium lighting

[Joe Rice]

My refugium always has about a 3" thick mat of caulerpa growing on top. In an attempt to increase its effectiveness I just installed one of those new Tunze waterproof refugium lights under the caulerpa pointing upwards. Fingers crossed!

 

[Cory]

Thats cool but would seriosuly give me anxiety.

 

[Joe Rice]

Thats cool but would seriosuly give me anxiety.

I'm not too worried about an electrical problem. The LEDs and the electronics are embedded in a solid block of what I'm guessing is epoxy. And since I use titanium heaters any current leak from the light would trip the GFCI outlet since the metal of the heater acts as a ground probe.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/using-ground-probes-in-aquariums.270479/

 

[virtual reality]

I like the idea. Lets see what happens.:)

 

[Joe Rice]

Only three weeks in and I think I can already declare this a big win. Before I had a 3" mat of caulerpa that was green at the top and faded to white at the bottom. Now I have a 5" thick mat that is dark green throughout. Really feels like I've doubled the effective size of my refugium.

 

[Joe Rice]

A full month now and the caulerpa is 6" thick and all the way down to the Tunze light.

 

[User1]

A full month now and the caulerpa is 6" thick and all the way down to the Tunze light.

Impressive. Reminds me of drinking a real pint of Guinness Beer in Ireland with that nice thick head on it. Almost like you can float a quarter on it.

Do you just toss or do you have any tangs that eat it? Great job though.

 

[Brett S]

Darn you. This is a great idea. And now I need to purchase three of these for my fuge. I blame you entirely.

 

[Eder]

Yup. Getting one for sure

 

[James Mikell]

What light do you have on top?

 

[Brett S]

Just in case anyone needs these, they are 10% off at Marine Depot right now. I just ordered three.

The recommended coverage area is 14x8 and my refugium is about 17x29, so I’m pushing the coverage a little with only three lights, but I figure that’s better than the zero lights that I have there now.

 

[saltyhog]

I have had the same light in my refugium for over a year. Zero problems with it, grows some serious algae in my tank.

 

[Joe Rice]

Do you just toss or do you have any tangs that eat it?

I give it a quick freshwater rinse and then throw it into my compost. I've always been a bit nervous about feeding it to my tangs. Thought I read somewhere that it can be a problem if it starts growing in your display tank.

And now I need to purchase three of these for my fuge. I blame you entirely.

Yeah, I was a bit worried this would happen. If the missus asks, definitely blame me :-)

What light do you have on top?

It's the Zetlight E200s on top. Really well built, a great mounting system and great spread but probably could use a bit more intensity. Also found it a hassle that I had to download an app and get the app talking to the light just to check that it was at full intensity (it was). I don't need to control my fuge light - just needs to be full intensity all the time. I'd look at the Kessil H80 now if I was getting a new top light.

 

[ZoWhat]

@Zirco

This is what will happen at the 6mos mark.
Be careful LOL

 

[Brett S]

I give it a quick freshwater rinse and then throw it into my compost. I've always been a bit nervous about feeding it to my tangs. Thought I read somewhere that it can be a problem if it starts growing in your display tank.

I wouldn’t worry about that too much tbh. I occasionally pull off a few pieces of caulerpa and throw it in the tank for my tangs and they are gone almost as fast I can put them in the tank. The tangs and even my trigger love them. I don’t think there’s any possibility that it would survive long enough to take hold in the display tank and even if it did I suspect that the tangs would eat it to extinction the minute it started growing.

 

[TriggerFinger]

What model are you using? I see 3 on BRS

 

[Brett S]

What model are you using? I see 3 on BRS

The 8831 refugium light is the one you would want for this application

 

[Joe Rice]

@Zirco

This is what will happen at the 6mos mark.
Be careful LOL

I'll have to watch out for that! Wouldn't want my refugium to wind up importing nutrients!

 

[russell13]

I’ve seen these and wanted to try them. Looks great keep us updated on the progress

 

[Brett S]

The lights are here:). I got them installed in my Fuge and scheduled them to match the lighting period of the light on top of the fuge. The light on top is a full spectrum light (It’s a freshwater Radion), so it will be interesting to see how the grow light spectrum on the bottom works.

I recently harvested the algae in my fuge so it’s got plenty of room to grow now.