I need a better refugium light.

[jrse7en]

I have a standard incandescant hood over my 10g refugium and it does not support macro algae. Does anyone have any reccomendation for a specific light on the market that will work extremely well on my 10g. My goal is to breed more copepods and lower nitrates. Thanks!

 

[yearofthenick]

The Rio Mini Sun seems to be regularly used around here. It's about $20 and they're LED's so they'll never burn out.

 

[jrse7en]

I don't think that rio will work. I have an Azoo LED light like that but much larger and it killed my chaeto. I finally got teh flow situation worked out in the fige but the lighting is way too weak. I was looking for something more along the lines of a small VHO. Something small but extremely bright where plants will thrive.

 

[chrisnif]

The W-mart store sells an aquarium bulb that is about 6500k 10 watt that is designed to go in those hoods, should be fine for algae, i think they run about 5-6 bux. Otherwise you could put one of the coralife 50/50 screw in compact fluorescent bulbs in but those are like $20 and i think the 10 gal takes 2 bulbs, so thats more than I'd want to spend to light a fuge
The mart bulbs are in the fish section, even if your store doesnt have live fish they should have the bulb...its a straight tube instead of coiled so it fits the hood well.

 

[paulyd1978]

I built a sump/refugium from a 10 gallon aquarium and have used this lighting for over a year now. My cheato goes nuts and so do the pods!
http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

 

[bimm3rb0y]

i too have the bulb from wal-mart. i bought a clip on lamp and bought a 10 watt 6500k light bulb and it supports my chaeto just fine. i spent $20 on it.