Best plant grow light bulb for cheato?

[Tom Toro]

Right now I'm using a 6500k 23w cfl bulb and wondering if there's a better choice that you guys use.

Has anybody found a great bulb for growing cheato in their refugium? Where did you get it and how much was it?

Thanks,
Tom

[tcp316]

I have a drop light from Home Depot. I think it is the 6500 as well. I was thinking of finding the twist type bulb but wasn't sure if they were successful.
Anyone else have any input? I also thought about hanging a small compact fixture because of all the salt creep. Chris suggested I run a pipe directly into the water to eliminate splash and it has helped tremendously. Thanks Chris.

---------- Post added at 10:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 AM ----------

Right now I'm using a 6500k 23w cfl bulb and wondering if there's a better choice that you guys use.

Has anybody found a great bulb for growing cheato in their refugium? Where did you get it and how much was it?

Thanks,
Tom

I love your tanks. I showed my husband and said, "Wow, that is over the top!" Understand, he thinks I am already a bit over the top and I am always telling him, you haven't seen the other guys!
Do you have one large sump for all tanks or separate ones for each one?

[Tom Toro]

I have a drop light from Home Depot. I think it is the 6500 as well. I was thinking of finding the twist type bulb but wasn't sure if they were successful.
Anyone else have any input? I also thought about hanging a small compact fixture because of all the salt creep. Chris suggested I run a pipe directly into the water to eliminate splash and it has helped tremendously. Thanks Chris.

---------- Post added at 10:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 AM ----------



I love your tanks. I showed my husband and said, "Wow, that is over the top!" Understand, he thinks I am already a bit over the top and I am always telling him, you haven't seen the other guys!
Do you have one large sump for all tanks or separate ones for each one?

Thanks for the good words! I have two 100g sumps for the 240g DT and a seperate system with a 100g sump for the 135g DT.

[tcp316]

Thanks for the good words! I have two 100g sumps for the 240g DT and a seperate system with a 100g sump for the 135g DT.

Wow that is a lot of saltwater volume! It makes sense to have separate sumps for each system. How many gallons do you change out each month and how often? Do you keep it nitrate free or a little high? I guess if you have lots of SPS it would be super clean. Just curious how you are keeping it.
My tank is mostly softies and LSP. I keep a few nitrates with Caulerpa in my sump. I haven't had much luck with the Cheato but want to try it again. I have no issues with algae. I only have to wipe down the glass a couple of times a week and I have no cleanup crew other than my Midas and Tang who both love algae. I had a huge CUC but lost it all but 1 small snail when I was sick and had to ignore my tank for an extended period of time. So I have kept putting off getting another CUC.

[Tom Toro]

Well, you caught me on a massive re-do of the 135g. I just removed all the LR and fish (about an hour ago) and am going to order some dry rock from an online source (not sure where yet). What a mess!

I'm always fighting nitrates, but the Slapshot suggested biopellets seem to be working well. 0 detectable on a Salifert in the 240g and about 10 on the 135sps tank. That's why I broke it down. It's just old and dirty.

I change a total of 150g a month of RC and IO. I buy the 200g boxes so it's not too bad on cost. I also swapped all my MH and T5's for LED's so I'll see if that helps too. Last frontier is my 800watts of skimmer power. I'd like to get that down to about a quarter of that, but so far, nothing produces like my ETSS.

[tcp316]

Wow! Good luck. I'll be tagging along to see your aquascape. I love seeing what others come up with

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