Refugium Lighting

[fishlips]

What is the consensus on refrugium lighting, as far as watts/gal, & spectrum. I started a refug. and I can use 1 or 2 96watt pc's for a 29 gal. refug. the lighting is on when the reef tank lighting is off which is ~ 16hrs/day. Do I burn 1 or 2 of the PC's

 

[danmhippo]

Every tank is a bit different, all depend on what you are putting into the refug and how far off is the light from the surface. Try one first, then add another one if you think it's not growing as fast as you wish.

 

[DennisL]

My refugium is 30 gallons, and I use a simple $12 PC bulb and ballast from Home Depot. I run it 24/7 so the macroalgae doesn't get sexual and crash. So far I've had good luck

Dennis
June 14 MASLAC hosts CHARLES DELBEEK !!! See http://www.maslac.org for more details

 

[Mouse]

there was a report recently by the Kent University that 24 7 lighting was no good. They didn't bring it down to a single conclusive piece of evidence, but in general they said it would be better to use a reverse lighting pereod. Apparently among other things, the refugeum macros can die and breakdown if they dont recive a dark pereod. Im sure if you ran a search it would pop up. Just waht i read thats all, no expirience of my own to add.

 

[Anonymous]

Take a look at this thread: http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14534&highlight=

You'll have to draw your own conclusion. Both sides have merit and many tanks are run succesfully either way.

Louey

 

[wasabi]

I try to put as much light as possible over my refugiums i have 2 55 pc's over a 75 gallon, and 1 96 watt over a 30 gallon i would put both. seems to me the more light the better/faster the growth. i'll be putting a couple more pc's over mine in the future.

 

[gr_reefer]

i run 2 24" 'pland' bulbs over my 25 gallon refugium. i just got the bulbs for like $7-8 a piece at home depot. i am needing to prune the macro all the time as the stuff grows like crazy, and i only run the lights opposite of the tank which is 12 at night.