George Monnat Jr Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 I had an Aqueon dual T5 flourescent 24" fixture (1x 14W 6700K & 1x 14W ColorMax, 28W optical) from my old 20 gallon FOWLR over my sump, but it was too long and was making microalgae grow in undesirable places like my return line hoses. Last Saturday I replaced the dual-T5 fixture with a single 75W, 5100K, PAR38 CFL. I chose that particular bulb, because this article claims that the 5100K is better than a 2700K or 6500K CFL for growing Chaetomorpha (I've got chaeto in my sump). Some on RC claim 6500K is better. Does anyone have empirical evidence for a preferred bulb or color temp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 (edited) I use the 6500k. Mine was growing good till I started dosing kalk and baking soda. Now its all crunchy and frail. Edited April 30, 2012 by DerrickH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 I bought some of the 5k bulbs from lowes, they seem to be working well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Word on the streets is 6500k Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Just curios are you having a hard time getting it to actually grow? Mine never grew until I started tumbling it and cutting it up every week or two. The more I feed the tank the better it grows! Good for me cause I love feeding the fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 30, 2012 Author Share Posted April 30, 2012 Just curios are you having a hard time getting it to actually grow? Mine never grew until I started tumbling it and cutting it up every week or two. The more I feed the tank the better it grows! Good for me cause I love feeding the fish It grows slowly. I'm hoping that's because it's downstream of my skimmer. I like to feed, too, and I want the chaeto to export nutrients and let me know when I'm feeding too much. Especially when I finally get the Anthias I'm waiting on and will need to feed 2-3 times a day. I found this 6500K bulb on Amazon. I might just stick a 2nd fixture next to the 1st (simple DIY in cabinet above sump - good thing it doesn't need to be pretty). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Ahh. I shut my skimmer off after a few weeks of putting the fuge together. Haven't used it in weeks now, I love not having the skimmer on! I have some small chunks of calurpa and some red macro that I just stuck in there but I'm pretty surethe chaeto is sucking out all the nutrients. Now that the chaeto seems established both nitrate and phosphate in this heavily fed tank are unreadable. Its a super simple setup and I don't have to buy any media or nothing. Sps and my clam are doing great, everything looks good, no nuisance algae, if the tank is happy means I'm happy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 30, 2012 Author Share Posted April 30, 2012 Bannerfish, do you manually tumble and pull it apart? Last time I did that (Saturday) a 4" bristleworm jumped out at me (not literally, but it was there). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 I went to the article and was surprised to see the original light socket from the clamp on kit in the refugium. While I use these bulbs and the clamp kits, I do not put that cheap socket in the dampness of the refugium area. For $4 more, replace socket with damp proof pigtail sockets at Lowes/Home Depot. If anybody knows Melvin, they may want to point that electrical problem out to him. Patrick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 i have an extra power head in the fuge to tumble it, but i just tear it apart with my hands. i don't think any worms hang out in there since it tumbles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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