Recommended light for refugium?

[DarkAnviL]

I've recently finished my DIY refugium and all I have in there for a light is the stock aquarium light that the tank came with. I was thinking of getting some kind of clip on light to aim over the live rock. What bulb should I get for it? Or can anyone recommend a light setup for a small 20 gallon refugium? Also what is a good light cycle for it? I've read some people doing it while one is on the other is off, or having the refugium light on all the time. What makes more sense?

 

[Keith A.]

I just have cheato in my refugium. All I use is a standard plant grow light from a local hardware store. Works great....

 

[Zer0]

Aha.. been waiting for this thread to come along. You can use typically any light with a decently strong bulb, like Keith said.

However, if you want an awesome little light, that is a great buy for the money.. then get this:

Amazon.com: rio mini sun

Please excuse the lawn chair in the first picture, but the rest of them are all lights. That little light is an excellent light to grow basic types of macro algae in your sump/fuge. That is the light that i will be getting fairly soon for the fuge in my sump.

 

[Etcool]

Aha.. been waiting for this thread to come along. You can use typically any light with a decently strong bulb, like Keith said.

However, if you want an awesome little light, that is a great buy for the money.. then get this:

Amazon.com: rio mini sun

Please excuse the lawn chair in the first picture, but the rest of them are all lights. That little light is an excellent light to grow basic types of macro algae in your sump/fuge. That is the light that i will be getting fairly soon for the fuge in my sump.

WOW, that is so much better for my setup than what I was looking at getting! I have a few questions though... First I see that there are a few different models listed at Amazon like…
Mini Sun Day Led
MINI SUN-DAY&DP BLU
MINI SUN-DP SEA BLUE
All of which are at different prices. What one would work best for a small fuge? Also it comes with a power cord to plug in to the wall instead of batteries right? Thanks so much for the info though!

 

[melosu58]

Moved to General Hardware and equipment discussion.

 

[DarkAnviL]

Nice looking little fixture, but yes which model?

 

[Zer0]

When i buy it, i'll be buying this one:
Amazon.com: Taa Fxtr Rio Mini Sun Day Led: Sports & Outdoors

And i'll be using it for growing multiple types of macro algae. Not sure what the benefits are of the other ones, deep blue, or deep sea blue, but i think they're just different colors for the same light. Pretty sure they're all the same.

 

[neilanh]

Catalina Aquariums makes some small PC lighting. I have a 10" 2x13W PC on my fuge that's really nice.

 

[mr_X]

when i had a normal sized refugium, i used this, with a 6500k, 23 watt bulb. it works great and was about 10 dollars total.

now my refugium is considerably larger and i use this-

 

[DarkAnviL]

when i had a normal sized refugium, i used this, with a 6500k, 23 watt bulb. it works great and was about 10 dollars total.

I went to home depot and couldn't really find anything around 6000k. They had a few pricey metal halide bulbs but you need certain ballasts for them. And I dont't think I'm going to buy a mh buld just for my refugium.

So can just any high watt florescent bulb work?

 

[mr_X]

it doesn't even have to be high wattage. no, you certainly don't need metal halide to grow algae.
i think i got that 6500k bulb at walmart. it's what color temp hydroponics websites recommend, however, i have seen many people light their refugiums with alll sorts of lights, like the LED guy above.

 

[Keith A.]

If it's a LED grow light, would the bulbs ever "ware out" like MH or PC bulbs in the tank? If so, it would be easier and cheaper to just get a plain old single strip grow light. You would just have to replace the bulb instead of have to get a whole new fixture.

 

[Zer0]

Well.. i'm pretty sure that all bulbs wear out eventually, correct me anyone if i'm wrong, but i'm pretty sure LED lights last MUCH longer than any other bulb. Upwards of around 50,000 hours.

 

[mr_X]

the bulb in the picture i posted was like 4 or 5 bucks if i remember correctly, and it's still lit, 3 years later. i don't think you have to worry all that much about changing the refugium lamp. i just googled the bulb i am using and it says 10, 000 hours.