Fritz0id3937 March 13, 2015 Share March 13, 2015 I have a 20 gal sump with fuge middle section. My cheap 3w led light from China is not cutting it, won't even grow keyna tree. Anyone have recommendations for a good light that will grow cheato and left over Xenia and keyna I toss down there? Pref a small foot print with goose neck and less than $50 or so. Would a cfl from home depot work? I can't justify $200+ fancey red LEDs for my tiny fuge. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcrazyjoker81 March 13, 2015 Share March 13, 2015 I have been using a CFL on a clip on for a long time and grows macro like a champ. Best bang for your buck. Not sure how well it would grow the corals though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz0id3937 March 13, 2015 Author Share March 13, 2015 Thanks. I am thinking of getting a 75w(eqv) 5000k cfl flood light bulb. Anyone use something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcrazyjoker81 March 13, 2015 Share March 13, 2015 Now spectrum of the CFL is where I think it gets hazy. I tried a 6500k bulb (100w equivalent) and a 2700k (100w equivalent) and had better growth with the lower spectrum bulb. I have heard others say the exact opposite of what I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 13, 2015 Share March 13, 2015 Now spectrum of the CFL is where I think it gets hazy. I tried a 6500k bulb (100w equivalent) and a 2700k (100w equivalent) and had better growth with the lower spectrum bulb. I have heard others say the exact opposite of what I have.Use whatever grows the macro fastest for you. If it's 2700K, then go with that. The goal is to take up nutrients and export them. The growth of the macro takes up the nutrients and your harvesting the macro and taking it out of the system serves to export the trapped nutrients. Some papers that I've seen indicate that the rate of photosynthesis peaks in the red (~675nm wavelength) and blue (~450nm) ranges. So it's not surprising that a 2700K lamp did well for you. I ran a CFL in a cheap clip on housing for a really long time. It worked just fine. Given this, I think what we need is an LED array with blue and red LEDs to grow macro at its fastest! I may have to give that a try sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl March 13, 2015 Share March 13, 2015 (edited) I have a 20 gal sump with fuge middle section. My cheap 3w led light from China is not cutting it, won't even grow keyna tree. Anyone have recommendations for a good light that will grow cheato and left over Xenia and keyna I toss down there? Pref a small foot print with goose neck and less than $50 or so. Would a cfl from home depot work? I can't justify $200+ fancey red LEDs for my tiny fuge. Thanks I've had good results with 6500k (maybe they were 6700, cant remember off the top of my head) CFLs but am thinking about trying the Reef Breeders "fuge" light this time (mostly 660s with some blues). I'd prefer to find something in a sleeker, narrow panel form factor for the clean look. With that said, getting coral and macro algae to grow well together probably isnt realistic in a small space since they both prefer light in very different spectrums. Edited March 13, 2015 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khh27 March 13, 2015 Share March 13, 2015 Rapid led has a fuge kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz0id3937 March 14, 2015 Author Share March 14, 2015 Thanks for the advice. I think I will just add a cfl with my cheap LEDs since it has blues and whites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sen5241b March 14, 2015 Share March 14, 2015 Xenon puck light. Runs hot but my cheato has grown like crazy under it for years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenB March 14, 2015 Share March 14, 2015 I have a 20 gal high fuge/nano that gravity feeds the main system and am using an old power compact that works ok but getting tired of changing the bulbs. Never used LED pretty much still old school MH but thought this might be a good baby step to try LED. Thinking about a 15" reefbrite or a aqua mini MicMol Nano (Premium Aquatics on sale). Have to admit I didn't follow all the technical discussion on color but would you want a different light with a fuge to grow cheato vs. a Nano that could support some corals or could one of these work for both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz0id3937 March 30, 2015 Author Share March 30, 2015 Update - I added a 65w equivalent daylight (5000k) r30 cfl flood light with $8 metal clip reflector to light my fuge, and still has the cheap 3w LEDs which have some blues. Now instead of watching my cheato slowly wither away, it is growing like a champ. And the bits of keyna tree that I've banished to sump seem to be happy as well. I'll have to try Xenia soon. So I am very happy with this cfl light, total cost with reflector was under $20 at home depot. At this rate, I will have to harvest some cheato in a few weeks for the first time ever. Nirates are zero (or undetectable) and I am over due for a water change, its been over a month since the last one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz0id3937 March 30, 2015 Author Share March 30, 2015 Package says its 75w equivalent (website lists 65w) but uses 16w, and outputs 700 lumens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubaguy March 30, 2015 Share March 30, 2015 I bought this light for my fuge.. FC19-P3865 TCP 2P3819-65 - 19 Watt - PAR38 CFL - 85 W Equal - 6500K Full Spectrum Daylight - Min. Start Temp. - 20 Deg. - 82 CRI - 50 Lumens per Watt - 15 Month Warranty for 11bucks at 1000blubs.com Richie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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