NewburyNewbie
New Member
I have a 28 gallon sump/refugium. At least it will be a refugium soon. Just curious, what type of lighting do you have set up for your refugium?
Lighting for refugium
- Thread starter NewburyNewbie
- Start date
i had the same, plus a strip light from an old fresh water tank too. The chaeto loved it.
NewburyNewbie
New Member
I am trying to make sure I do this as cost effective as possible so that my electric bill doesn't blow up. Won't I need different bulbs like my display tank? How long are lights typically on for the refugium?
First we need to know what's going to be living in there. keeping coral requires much different light then algae, fish, crabs etc.
If you plan to keep coral in there you will need a better rig. If you are growing macroalgae a clamp light and grow bulb will be fine. My grow bulb ran 18 hours a day for 3 years before I dropped my clamp light and cracked the bulb. I think it was either a 13 watt or 23 watt CFL. mine wasn't a flood like pictured above, both styles will work fine with the clamp on light.
On all all four of my refugiums I use this 19watt 5100k bulb screwed into a Home Depot clamp on fixture.
PAR38 Reflector 19 Watt / 5100K: Light Bulbs Etc, Inc.
Shipping is fast!
I replace the bulbs every 10-14 months.
Photoperiod is usually 20 hours on and 4 hours off.
These bulbs have worked extremely well for me over the past several years.
PAR38 Reflector 19 Watt / 5100K: Light Bulbs Etc, Inc.
Shipping is fast!
I replace the bulbs every 10-14 months.
Photoperiod is usually 20 hours on and 4 hours off.
These bulbs have worked extremely well for me over the past several years.
NewburyNewbie
New Member
I wanted to have microalgae there. I'll have some live rock as well. Does it make a difference which clamp on fixture I use? I think i had one for a red eared turtle several years ago. These are acutally energy efficient?
OHmariner
Member
The clamp fixture won't make much of a difference. I use an old light fixture from an iguana tank I had years ago. The thing that will save energy is the type of bulb. A CFL (compact fluorescent bulb) will reduce energy AND heat transfer to the tank water, two huge benefits. I use a 13W daylight spectrum (6500 kelvin) bulb on my fuge, it has grown grape caulerpa (spelling?) and chaeto with no problems. The trick to using grow lights is spacing the light close to the macro algae as the light looses energy very quickly when it isn't close to the plant life. Make sure your set-up is very safe, I use a Plexiglas shield to make SURE my light wont accidentally fall into the water and kill me or my livestock. For this reason you should ALWAYS have a GFCI outlet or plug in model protecting everything. Good luck and be safe.
OH mariner has it right. The fixture won't be more or less efficient to the extent that matters, but the bulb will.
you can use this site as a calculator, or calculate use on your own.
A 25 watt light bulb running 24 hours a day will cost $2.05 a month at my local rate.
If I used an incandescent bulb to grow algae I would need at least 60-75 watts for the growth results. running 24 hours a day that would cost me $4.95 a month at my local rate.
Off subject, but when I was running my 2 250 watt halides and 2 96 watt PCs I was spending $33.11 a month just to light the tank! The pumps were an additional $49 a month. These fish tanks eat a lot of power, that's for sure!
Here is the wattage calculator I was using, my local rate is $0.11/kwh.
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html
you can use this site as a calculator, or calculate use on your own.
A 25 watt light bulb running 24 hours a day will cost $2.05 a month at my local rate.
If I used an incandescent bulb to grow algae I would need at least 60-75 watts for the growth results. running 24 hours a day that would cost me $4.95 a month at my local rate.
Off subject, but when I was running my 2 250 watt halides and 2 96 watt PCs I was spending $33.11 a month just to light the tank! The pumps were an additional $49 a month. These fish tanks eat a lot of power, that's for sure!
Here is the wattage calculator I was using, my local rate is $0.11/kwh.
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html
jpsika08
Well-Known Member
This would be the formula for any of you that would like to put it in an excel sheet and make all your tank elec. consumes costs:
(((Appliance Watts x hours per day) / 1,000 = kWh Per Day) x Local Rate Cost) x Days in the month (I usually do 30.5 to have an average)
So for the above example from 61scout80:
25watt Bulb x 24 Hours (Day) = 600watts
600watts / 1000 = 0.6 kWh per day
0.6 kWh x $ 0.11 = 0.066 cost per day
0.066 x 31 = $ 2.046 Actual appliance cost per month.
(((Appliance Watts x hours per day) / 1,000 = kWh Per Day) x Local Rate Cost) x Days in the month (I usually do 30.5 to have an average)
So for the above example from 61scout80:
25watt Bulb x 24 Hours (Day) = 600watts
600watts / 1000 = 0.6 kWh per day
0.6 kWh x $ 0.11 = 0.066 cost per day
0.066 x 31 = $ 2.046 Actual appliance cost per month.
NewburyNewbie
New Member
Thanks you guys! I guess it's off to Home Depot of Lowe's this weekend! I'm going to put some of small pieces of live rock. Should I put some of the sand as well?
LPS_Blasto
Member
Fish girl,
Start a new thread in the beginners section.
It's better to start your own thread and ask specific questions, rather than hijacking an existing thread thats is only specific to lighting.
Start a new thread in the beginners section.
It's better to start your own thread and ask specific questions, rather than hijacking an existing thread thats is only specific to lighting.
LPS_Blasto
Member
I didn't mean to sound unfriendly. I hope I didn't come off that way.
I just thought she might get more "specialized" help if she started her own thread. But by all means, ask away.
I just thought she might get more "specialized" help if she started her own thread. But by all means, ask away.