Refugium Light

[Sparty00]

What do you recommend to use for refugium lighting? In the process of completing my build, was orginally going to use an old standard T5 fixture I had with 10K bulbs, but it is going to take up too much space?


What fixtures and bulbs do you recommend?

Thanks !

[Phyxius]

I use the CF flood light from Melevs site on all my tanks and it works great. Cheap to buy, low heat and great growth.

Bulb (http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html)

[Kaos]

:uzi:Phyxius, I was trying to search the site to find that link but you beat me to it. :p

I use a similar bulb to that on my fuge and it works great.

[Phyxius]

Kaos,
I keep most of Melevs stuff bookmarked :)

[funman1]

If you want the ultimate light get a LOA (Lights of America) outdoor flood light.
It's a 65W CF that's HUGE! It's a 500W equivalent

They sell them at costco for less than $10.00 or HD or Lowes for more.

Here's my fuge before and after the light in only 2 WEEKS!!!
BEFORE
http://www.steveries.com/temp/fuge3.jpg

AFTER 2 WEEKS
http://www.steveries.com/temp/fuge2weeks2.jpg

Here's my thread on my fuge when I added it
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1104728

Our local club just did a group buy on them and I made a video of how to connect them safely for fuge use.
Here's the video I made last week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efFUNAPA9rE


Hope this info helps you out some..
Melves is good, but this thing is insane!!

[Spuds725]

I also use the LOA flood, my growth was never like that-- that looks like 2 months of my growth.

Details please.... I read your thread-- your whacky lighting schedule couldn't have done that (could it??)...

What flow are you running??

I've had great growth with that light (I can't complain), just never explosive growth that I've seen people get. I'm sure I'm nutrient limited now, but when my trates were 50 ppm, I should have had something like that amount of growth.

//edit//

I re-read your post--- which bulb are you using?? If the one for the LOA flood and are you using it in the fixture?? I though you need the fixure's ballast to drive the lamp--- the fixture costs about $35 shipped online and about $45 at home depot.

Maybe you are using a different CF bulb.

HEre is what I use...

http://www.drillspot.com/products/278770/Lights_OF_America_9266_65W_Fluorex_Floodlight_Light

[jener8tionx]

[i]

HEre is what I use...

http://www.drillspot.com/products/278770/Lights_OF_America_9266_65W_Fluorex_Floodlight_Light [/B]

That is the bronze light, does that just mean the fixture is bronze, or the light is also? LoA model number 9265 is with with 6500K/65W. I bought one and have it ready to install, I just wish it was a bit cheaper.


$10 at costco seems a bit low?

[funman1]

Spuds725,
I'm pretty sure it's not my wacky lighting schedule..
I'm using the standard 6,500K bulb that came with the fixture..
I have 1/2 of my overflow from my tank go to the fuge and the other half goes straight to the sump.

I'm using a quite one 3000 as a return pump. That's the only flow in the fuge..

Yep that's the light...
Mines all white on the outside, so I'd say that's prolly the only difference.

Here's the link to the GB we did for under $10.00
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1244601

[jener8tionx]

does anyone know if costco still has these?

[funman1]

It all depends on your costco..
They still have them here, but your local one may not..
You either have to call (and get lucky you get someone intelligent) or just head overthere..

[Spuds725]

I have the white one too (the model numbers just differentiate the colors)... mine also had a photo eye (that I had to tape over to keep the light one-- the reflected light was shutting it off).. I'm not sure if they all do or not..

$10 is a great deal (why I thought you just got the bulb)-- I bought mine 18 months ago at Home depot for about $35-- they cost more now.

Maybe costco screwed up and put the bulb price on the fixture box-- thats less then the cost of the bulb at homedepot.

[rscott76]

In some areas theyre priced lower as sort of an incentive to replace your halogens with the compacts. Some places reflect that (walmart, costco) while others still charge full price.

[pillpusher]

I have a maintenance service on the side and I am a strict refugium believer. I make my own refugium and lighting. I have found that the simplest, most cost effective lighting is to make an encloser (don't forget to vent the top) lined with 1/8th inch plexi mirror that has legs that elevate it about 1 1/2 inches above top of the refugium. Lowes has a quad PC daylight bulb if you have the plug and ballast. This bulb is about 10 bucks, but I have started just going to walmart and buying the 100watt equivilent (22 Watts I think) and useing it. Keep in mind it is a 6500K bulb so the macroalgea is going to thrive. I have to pull algea out and give it away about every three months.

[thor32766]

I use the LOA and love it also. Love the enclosure.

[Spuds725]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11256436#post11256436 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pillpusher
I have a maintenance service on the side and I am a strict refugium believer. I make my own refugium and lighting. I have found that the simplest, most cost effective lighting is to make an encloser (don't forget to vent the top) lined with 1/8th inch plexi mirror that has legs that elevate it about 1 1/2 inches above top of the refugium. Lowes has a quad PC daylight bulb if you have the plug and ballast. This bulb is about 10 bucks, but I have started just going to walmart and buying the 100watt equivilent (22 Watts I think) and useing it. Keep in mind it is a 6500K bulb so the macroalgea is going to thrive. I have to pull algea out and give it away about every three months.

Yep, I'm starting to see more spiral CFL bulbs with the 6500K light color-- they are relatively rare but if you look you can find them... when looking at the packages, look for ones that say "Daylight" on them... I've seen them at Menards and Lowes now both with the 6500K light-- I've heard of them at Walmart (I just don't shop there)-- the 100W equivalent should be 23 watts.

Af few of these with a clip on light socket can work great for a fuge IMO... and pretty inexpensive to boot.

[Sparty00]

Do you have to wire the LOA (Lights of America) fixtures, or do they come with standard plug? How did you mount it, I like the success you have had, but the clamp flood lights are very easy to setup.

[funman1]

No, it does not come with a plug, hence the video of how to add a plug :)

I didn't mount it, I just put eggcrate on my fuge top, and just set the light on that.. see pics above

[Rysam]

Home depot has 100w 6500k daylight curly bulbs for 8 bucks. nvision brand with red packaging. i have one over my chaeto and it kicks butt. it doesnt get any easier or cheaper than that.

[Spuds725]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11261250#post11261250 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparty00
Do you have to wire the LOA (Lights of America) fixtures, or do they come with standard plug? How did you mount it, I like the success you have had, but the clamp flood lights are very easy to setup.

They come with a mounting pipe "conduit" and a junction box cover-- I wired inside the junction box I just tied this into a male plug cord I had-- and plugged this into a standard 3 prong timer--- the light is mounted to the junction box.

Just wathced the vid... pretty good... How do you mount it with the arm removed???

I would have considered drilling some type of mounts to the light itself when you had it apart and the reflector removed.

I just taped over the photoeye ;)

[sjm817]

I also use the 65W LOA floodlight. I bought it at Home Depot. It works very well.

[tankgeeks]

are you guys finding using lights on top of eggcrate reduces the amount of light getting to the chaeto?? it doesnt appear to hinder growth but why use stronger light if youre going to restrict its output?? or is it strong enough that it wont matter being reduced slightly?? also does the LOA heat up the water at all?? or does the whole thing stay pretty cool? thanks in advance....

[Spuds725]

I personally don't use egg crate-- but of those that do, the amount it blocks is low if at all

It does matter which way you put the egg crate though as there is a tapered to a point end and a "blunt" end to the squares-- you want the tapered to a point end to point to the light as it will reflect the light down rather then the blunt end that reflects it back up.

From what I've read, the reflecting actually focuses the light down rather then scatters it and I believe I've read of people saying that the light intensity is stronger with egg crate directly below it... I don't know for sure if that is true.

The amount of light heating the water is minimal if at all-- alot less then the tank display lights- I run mine opposite the tank lights-- you can easily touch the fixture cover when it is lit it is warm but not hot... mine is relatively close to the water and I have to regulary clean salt creep off of it. If this is for that 150 gallon tank in your sig, I don't think you need to worry about heating.

HTH..

[tankgeeks]

Also how long are you guys running the LOA light above your chaeto for?!? 24 hours? or less??

[funman1]

I use eggcrate as you see on top.
My eggcrate is not tapered though, I just re-checked to make sure it's not.

If it restricts light, I doubt it's even measurable, esp white crate that will just glow with the light behind it. Black crate "may" make a difference, but I really doubt it.

I don't think my light heats up the water at all. Yeah the fixture is pretty warm on top but the bottom that's facing that tank is very cool and I doubt much heat transfer happens.

If I could run mine 24/7 I would,
but it lights up my whole living room at night, so in the evenings I have it shut off for a few hours till like 1:00am or something and then it comes back on.

[funman1]

By request, here's the exact lighting schedule I use.


M,T,W,T = On 8:00 AM off at 6:00 PM
F = On 8:00 AM off at 5:00 PM
Sa = On 9:00 AM off at 5:00 PM
Su = On 9:00 AM off at 5:00 PM

BUT
They also come on in the middle of the night on
M,T,W,T,Su = On 1:00 AM off at 5:00 AM

[Spuds725]

I ran mine opposite my tank, + 3 hours on each side while I had detectable nitrates (18 hours per day). After I got them to zero, I dropped the lighting to just opposite the tank (12 hours).

[jerryz]

Nice video how to. I would have strain relieved the cord with at least a zip tie on the inside of the fixture. Just a minor quibble to an excellent DIY

[bergzy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11254857#post11254857 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Spuds725
I have the white one too (the model numbers just differentiate the colors)... mine also had a photo eye (that I had to tape over to keep the light one-- the reflected light was shutting it off).. I'm not sure if they all do or not..

$10 is a great deal (why I thought you just got the bulb)-- I bought mine 18 months ago at Home depot for about $35-- they cost more now.

Maybe costco screwed up and put the bulb price on the fixture box-- thats less then the cost of the bulb at homedepot.

i havebeen using these lights for years to grow chaeto.

they are at my costco for $8.50.

they do the ultimate job at chaeto growth!

sickly weak chaeto in the beginning exploding into full colonies is nothing unusual for this light.

i grow my chaeto in a 5g bucket with about 600gph flowing through it to create a rolling action. this seems to grow the chaeto even faster.

from the video, i would not cut the photosensor wires. i would just place the black cap on the exterior sensor to block out light.

i have also left the swivel base fixture on as it does not get in the way in my applications. less cutting of wires etc.

the most critical thing i found was since everything is taken apart (ballast and bulb taken out) is to drill ventilation holes in these areas. this will increase the life of the ballast and bulb when you vent the heat out of the unit.

great video though!

if you are unsure about any of this, get a licensed electrician to do this for you.

here is my rolling rolling ball of chaeto growing in my 5g fuge!!!

this also started as a sickly clump that took less than two weeks to grow into this massive ball!!!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/bergzy/th_MVI_5067.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/bergzy/?action=view&current=MVI_5067.flv)

here is a pic of the light with holes in the ballast area. i later put holes into the bulb area for ventilation.

again, have a licensed electrician do this for you if you are unsure about doing this yourself.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/bergzy/NewReef147ee.jpg

and here is an enzo ferrari that rear ended a minivan. $20K minivan - 1 vs $1.25 million enzo ferrari - 0

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/bergzy/tn.jpg

[barjam]

Dana Riddle has an article showing the egg crate actually increases light... oddly enough, google for the article.

[Octopussie]

i use 8 x 23watt 6500k spirals over my fuge and i weed it out every 2 weeks to the size of a softball and it just keeps growing and growing and growing. when i pull the cheato out its in a dense brick shape, i just grab a hand full, toss it back in the fuge and throw the huge clump in my display for a couple hours so the tangs can eat the pods that are traped in the mass. they eat the cheato too, they love it. then after that its off to the trash.

[bergzy]

I have used the eggcrate method without reading (or knowing about the riddle article) and had pretty poor growth with it. Chaeto was same ol' same ol' brittle stuff with poor growth. I made a 2g bucket for my 110g with 300gph flow in a rolling motion and got growth in one week which took months for the eggcrate basket chaeto.

Eggcrate seems to work for some but didn't for me.

I like the reflective white interior of the bucket to maximize internal light reflection.

My nitrates and phosphates are pretty close to zero/undetectabe, so my chaeto growth in both reefs has slowed down. Afterall, I am trying to keep a reed tank...not grow chaeto.:D

[tankgeeks]

what a great thread guys, thanks for all of the helpful replies!