Building a small xenia fuge

johnny5

johnny5

Member
Couple questions:
-Would 40w PC be sufficent lighting for a 20" hob fuge? (20"x5"x12") or would 2x40w/1x96w(quad bulb) be better? The xenia would be sitting roughly 8-10" from the waterlevel.
-Are there any species that would fair better? I have access to 4 types here locally (pompom, true blue, waving hand, and silver)
Any help/tips would be very much appreciated.
Ohhhh last question, I read about a few people buying some type of lights from home depot. Would xenia be able to survive on this type of lighting?
Thanks!
 
johnny5

johnny5

Member
I believe the light in question, is an LOA 6500 from home depot. Is that a strip light or something?
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
I have been pondering this myself LOA light w/xenia.
The LOA light is a 6500k flourescent screw in bulb. Flourex is the type if that means anything to you. It grows macros great, but burns out often. It probably wouldn't burn out as often if it wasn't on 24/7. A xenia fuge won't be on 24/7.
 
johnny5

johnny5

Member
Yep footbag, thats the ticket there. I would only have it lit like 10 hours a day tops. Im going to look for one tonight. I wonder how many watts it is.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Its 65w. I have to say though that the color changes very quickly over its liftime from a very nice white to an ugly yellow. I don't belive that it really holds that 6500k. Fine for a macro fuge, but a Xenia fuge IMO deserves to look better. It does grow macros well though.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Kip do you find that your bulbs change color? Mine seems very yellow. I'm starting to think that it may be about to burn out. It is my 8th one of these lights and I'm getting sick of home depot.
 
A

asbury030

Active Member
ok so correct me if im wrong xenia eats up nitrates and macro eats up phosphates and nitrates right?also what are the best xenia to get?
 
johnny5

johnny5

Member
Thanks for the tips everyone! And kip's infinite hands-on wisdown is always appreciated. :happy:
I ordered one of those Fluorex floodlight(could not find it at HD) from the loa site, the price is right even if the bulb burns out every few months.
And went and picked up a nice colony of xenia for the fuge too. got about 5-6 healthy stalks, looks to be silver in color (not sure if its redsea, dont think it is).
Truth is the lfs that had a good selection of xenia started closing early and I had to work late. So I went to a new lfs literally 3 blocks from my apt, this colony looked too good to pass up.
Ya know, xenia looks so damn cool! I may have to get one of each species I can find! And when I upgrade to a larger tank, im seriously considering using my entire 46 bow for a xenia/macro fuge.
 
johnny5

johnny5

Member
Good point kip, I'll make a little shelf on one side with some eggcrate to get them up higher. I already have about an inch of sand in there and about 2-3 pounds of lr.. ill break up the rock some more (its hatian so its pretty easy to make nice flat pieces) and put some of the larger peices on the shelf. I'll definitely leave some lr on the sand for the pods (ive got like millions and millions of pods in there already, its crazy to look at the glass at night with a flashlight).
Thanks again, this forum rocks! Its like a support group for herion junkies, that actually encourages the junkies do herion.
 
sultan

sultan

Member
I just bought the same HOB fuge and was planning on putting macros in it............ until now. What are the benefits of each?
 
golfish

golfish

Active Member

Originally posted by Kip4130
yikes.... small fuge... definitely xenia.. get yourself a ton of small rock rubble
Took the words right out of my hand... Good filtration, good for pods and you'll be able to frag the Xenia real easy for your LFS and or local reefers.
I don't have Xenia in my fuge yet (still pondering the idea) but my 65 watt LOA fixture seesm to work VERY WELL at growing Macros...you can't beat it for 10.00
 
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