Hi all -
I am new to the forum and new to the hobby. I have been researching for about 3 months and am planning my first reef tank! I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what type of lighting to use for a refugium to get the best results for copepods etc. My tank will be 90 gallons and I am going to build the sump and the refugium seperatly. The sump will be 40 gallons and the refugium will be another 40 gallons.
Thanks!
well first off welcome to Talkingreef, and to the hobby.
and second, its great to see such planning going into your system, kudos to you..
Refugium lighting is pretty simple. you really put most any type of light on it you want. many people that its easiest and cheapest to use standard NO (normal output) floresent lights, for example, i use a standard 40W NO light over mine. others choose something like a flood light and hand that over there refugium. you dont need to spends lots of money on this.
now if you want to get technical, the macro algae in the fuge will grow best under 5500K or 6500K lighting, or in other words, regular plant growing bulbs. most of the regular NO bulbs or flood light bulbs will be very close to this spectrum so thats why they are used so much.
let me know if you have any questions, and please feel free to start a tank journal in the Tank Journal section. We all love to see how people put together there new systems..
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Sorry I can't help you out with a lighting answer, I'm new to the hobby as well. I just have a single 15watt reef sun 50/50 (6500k daylight and 420 actinic) bulb on my fuge. I had it laying around after I upgraded lights on my 26bow.
But I'm sure you will get some great advice when the others start replying to your post.
Wish I had the space to have a larger tank, yours sounds like it will be pretty neat...and having seperate tanks for the sump and fuge...neat.
__________________ Tank setup 8-5-05
26 gal bowfront
i use these 1z(url on the bottom). its cheap and very effective. i have a 10 gal refugium with one of these bulbs over it. inside all i got is chaeto. pods seem to flurish in it. of course there is no fish in my refugium. http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html
The Lights of America fixture is cheap, efficient, and is in the right spectrum. You just have to watch the bulbs as they do 'stray' in color over a period of about 6 months or so.
As the famous story teller and songwriter James Taylor says "That's why I'm here". Welcome to the Talking Reef, where there is no such thing as a "silly question" and everyone is happy to help fellow hobbyists along!
Hmm...now I'm beginning to wonder if I should not use my single 15watt reef sun 50/50 bulb and purchase one of these other bulbs that have been mentioned.
Think my cheato would respond better to one of the bulbs you all mentioned?
__________________ Tank setup 8-5-05
26 gal bowfront
Hey Dave - do you know what spectrum that fluorescent lamp reaches? Is it something around 6500K, which I've read is a good spectrum for macroalgael growth?
I'm going to check out our hardware store here and see what I can get for our refugium. Do you think any fluorescent floodlight will do?
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