Lighting for a Refugium

[captexas]

I wanted to hear how much lighting people have on their refugiums. With the sump I am building, the fuge measures about 19in. long by 17 3/4in. wide by 20in. tall. Water level in the fuge should be around 15in. I am looking to use some sort of PC light fixture, but I want to make sure I don't put too much light and cause a bad algae outbreak!

Thanks,
Chris

[Jimnorris]

I use two 65 watt 10,000k PCS. They stay on 24/7.
Jim

[captexas]

Jim - How big is your sump? Would like to compare lighting and size. Thanks!

Chris

[matt]

How about 2 36W PC? I think they'll fit your space perfectly.

Matt

[Jimnorris]

My sump is approx 50 gallons.
Jim

[captexas]

Matt -
Yeah, those as well as the 96watt quad bulb setup are pretty much the only ones that will fit anything less than 24in. I just wasn't sure what amount of light would work best. Probably the two 36w setup would give more options on bulbs if needed. Thanks again!

Jim - thanks!

Chris

[matt]

Hey Chris; I just thought of something. I actually have a 2 X 36 W P.C. set up in a decent hood for a 10 gal. It's the ahsupply set up, with some cooling fans installed and a 10000K and (supposedly) true actinic bulb from hellolights. It's just sitting in my shed since I took down the nano. It might fit perfect; you can borrow it, and if it works, you can either buy it or get the same set up DIY from ahsupply. Let me know. i don't know how much exactly it's worth, I'd have to think about it.

Matt

[captexas]

Josh -
I have one of those that I tried on my sump for my 58g. Didn't have much luck with it, but mostly due to inadequate sump/fuge layout and too short of a stand. The stand has little room inside it as it is and I have a 29gallon tank as a sump in there! I actually got the lower wattage version LOA PC light first and it died on my not long after hooking it up so then I got the 65watter.

Hehe, I need to figure out where the heck I'm going to put this sump at now! 36x24 sounds good and looks good on paper, but in real life it is huge! If this sump/fuge plan works, it will be good enough to handle a couple of upsizing in tanks! Could probably out do those mega sumps they have over there at Texas Tropicals! LOL

[TexasState]

I'm currently using a JBJ 36Watts 55K PC light hood. I'm thinking about switching it out, and uses a $10 clip on socket light from Wal-mart; with those 27 watts swirly bulb from Home Depot.

[witecap4u]

Im running two of those 19W 6500K spiral lights from HD in a incadecent strip

[Brett Wilson]

I am running something similar to what whitecap4u is running. I just got a clamp on pendent and spiral PC bulb from HD.
I forget the whattage, but it is the largest normal socket spiral PC bulb they have. I think it was around $15.

-Brett