lighting for refugium

[pallan]

Currently running a coralife 96 watt pc on my refugium and my chaeto is turning clear, and falling off.
is this to much light for this plant or what else could be some causes for it dieing off.
water levels are 0 except for nitrates 10-20
i run the light oppisite of the display 12 hours total
its been set up aprox 2 weeks now (the refugium) and i have not seen any new growth and actually quite a bit of it fading to clear
Any ideas?

 

[jakebtc]

I'm not sure, and I don't know how deep or large it is but it sounds like overkill
I was going to get one of those lil 9 watt x 2 power compact for my lil 5 gallon fuge for macro algaes wich I think is pretty good
but unless you have like a 30 gallon tank used for your fuge it sounds like a bit on the heavy side IMO

 

[pallan]

no its just 17 gallon refuge not very deep light is maybe 16 inches off the bottom of the fuge. thats what i was wondering if it was overkill.
the light that came with the setup is a little 18 watt pc but it was busted when i got it so i put this light on. company is sendign a replacement. so ill try that when it gets here. I think thats probably my problem. but wanted to hear what others are using to keep there algae with and what could be the causes for it to turn clear.
Thanks

 

[jakebtc]

many people I've seen use regular old incandescent bulbs to light thier fuge with no problem and they weren't even close to a plant growing color temp or high wattage
maybe someone else knows it might be something else but when you get that other light I would see if that does the trick for sure

 

[maxalmon]

lights in the 6500k range work best, I read somewhere that the 10k lights are simply too much. The coralife 2x9w freshwater light is awesome, really compact and only cost $22, my chaeto is growing like crazy and I have a sump about the same size as yours.

 

[jakebtc]

max you think the freshwater one would be better then the marine one with actinic then?
been back in forth on it

 

[pallan]

the light fixture i got is actually a 13 watt jali pc (sorry thought it was 18 watt)
unsure of the k rating of the bulb its just a 13 watt GE bulb i bought at a hardware store after the LFS could not find a light in their store to fit this fixture. It has a square base with two prongs one on each side.
825 lumens 13 watts GE soft white

 

[maxalmon]

Originally Posted by jakebtc
max you think the freshwater one would be better then the marine one with actinic then?
been back in forth on it

I went back and forth on SW or FW for this fixture, everyone I asked said the 6500k was the best for the fuge and my chaeto is growing really well. My theory is that the light is just too intense for such a shallow amount of water, like what's in a fuge. Like others have mentioned, and I have seen people just use a 1.99 reflector shop light from Home-Depot and it works. Go with the FW version. I even tossed some individual zoo polyps into the fuge, ones that were just to small to frag onto a rock and everything has taken hold on some LR rubble and a few have even multiplied.