Best Lighting for Refuge w/ Mangroves

[Noober]

Hey would freshwater t5 ho's do the best for growing stuff in a refuge.
For instance, http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13827&rel=1 this lamp right here, it says its for freshwater planted tanks. Would this along with a 10k bulb grow mangroves and other macro algae's better than acentics? And if i'm going to pay 50-70 dollars for a t5 fixture with bulbs, would I be better off just bying a cheap MH fixture from home depot to grow it all with? I really want the t5 though because it will have less heat and the light is more distributed in a close space. Thanks!

[secretweapons22]

I grew mine with 2 150 CFLs in the day light spectrum and they took off like crazy, they out grew the fuge. Easy and cheap. Started out at about 3in and out of 15 11 grew to be over 14in and I had to get rid of them because they got too big.

[Noober]

thx a lot. I've also hurd for alages and mangroves high pressure sodiums work good because of the orange spectrum its more like daylight and stimulates light conditions near the top of the water in the ocean.

[FossilReef]

I just have a 24-watt HO T5 over mine and they're growing like crazy.

[hobogato]

i use the $10 24" florescent grow light from walmart. i have 4 of them over my fuge.

[Noober]

Sounds cost effective and easy to mantain ace. I'll strongly consisder it for over the macro algae part of my fuge. Only reason I want something different on the mangroves is because I need the penetration of t5's or some HID like a MH or HPS so that they dont try to stretch for the light, making me run out of space in my stand very quickly. Thank you all for your input I value it greatly! Keep Reefin! :applause:

[Kristy]

We use a small clip on NO light with a plant grow bulb from home depot on an alternate 10 hour light schedule - A fancy $10-$15 system, that has been growing our macro and mangroves just great. -Mike