Looking for recommendations for sump/frag light

[IPWitan]

My sump is supposed to be a refugium, but it has ever really worked. For some odd reason, macors do not thrive. I have 2 lights (standard CF bulbs in the 6500 light range, a power head circulating water, but alas, since no growth. Without dwelling on this, I have decided to put frags in the tank, and screen off the macros to only a small section of the tank.

The refugium is a 30 gal long, divided into three sections (lf is return, rt is skimmer, and middle15 inches is the refugium. I want a light to go acros the middle, the short way only. Thus, I believe the distance is about 12 inches. The tank is probably 12 inches high. Water levels vary from 4 inches to about 10 high. I can keep it more constant if it mattered.

My display has 6x54 watt t5 lighting and the frags will come from the display. This is on a budget and I have no interest in style points. This LED bulb looks cool, but I don't know if it would be enough. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+23655&pcatid=23655

Thoughts, recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

David

 

[Mini4x]

What bulbs are you using?

I use the highest wattage CFL "spotlight" bulb i could find at home depot. I think it's 23w, 6000k. Seems ok for the cheetos.

 

[IPWitan]

yeah. I have one of those too. But nada, so I added another, and still nada. I had a thread on this before and I haven't a clue why cheato does grow.

 

[Ruge13]

Are you running GFO? When I started with GFO I had a basketball size fuge full of cheato shrink to a baseball over the course of a couple weeks.
Without GFO I have had no issues with even low lights like an incandescent.

 

[IPWitan]

No GFO in use.

 

[MPevine11]

i have carbon & gfo and cheato still grows like crazy!

i plan to make a DIY led light for my refugium......still in the planning stage but i love building LED fixtures!

 

[IPWitan]

I never got this question answered as I strayed it off topic. I am looking for a sump light to turn it into a frag tank. The sump is a standard 29 gallon long. The area itself is probably 12 inches by 12 inches. I want to grow out trimmings before I sell them. It will also grow the chaeto, which is in another compartment of the sump. It doesn't have to be pretty - just functional.

IpWitan

 

[IPWitan]

...and the frags will likely be acros (non-high light requirements), zoanthids, lps. A mix really. The main display has a 6 t5 light fixture.

 

[KSC]

I use a couple of PAR38 led's in my sump. You can probably get by with one and 60-80* optics for a 12 x 12" area. I could never grow macros either until I put a 65k led over it. It put out about 700 par on the surface and the macro took off.

 

[IPWitan]

Here are a few links I was looking at:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+23646&pcatid=23646
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+16770&pcatid=16770
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+23738&pcatid=23738

or a LED bulb that works in a standard socket.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+23655&pcatid=23655

 

[KSC]

If you're just looking for a sump light for growth and not concerned with color, for $25, this will do the trick. They light about an 8 x 8" area pretty good if you keep the corals shallow.
http://ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=518

 

[IPWitan]

this looks like the same thing at Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...alogId=10053&R=202668659&catEntryId=202668659

Re color, I would like it to have some color as I want to ultimately sell them. For example, I trim the hydropora. I will make about 5-8 frags. I cannot put them all in the display. I would want to store them in the sump until I sell them. In the meantime, they can grow and not die. That is the idea anyway.