Refugium Lighting

[zeeter]

Yesterday I completely re-did my under-tank filtration. I bought a 25 gallon rubbermade with three shoe-box type plastic containers. I drilled holes in these to facilitate water flow (took some trial and error to prevent overflow), and placed the fiber, carbon and filter drain containers a bit above the main container's waterline - held up by another container with holds drilled throughout. Thus far that is working perfectly - much better than the make-shift sump that I had been using. That was built for an over-the-back overflow while mine has an in-tank overflow.

So I included another container for a refugium, filled it with around 2-3 inches of sand and some vegetation. This container I drilled with holes towards the top and just below the waterline. This facilitates a passive water flow through the refugium.

Here's my problem. I thought this was the steal of the century: I bought two $10 battery powered fluorescent lights from Home Depot that are about 8" long. They were working great, but now they've lost power. This could either be the close proximity to the saltwater since they aren't "marine grade" (re: not sealed) or just that the batteries only last a few hours.

Anyway, what would you guys suggest? I'm thinking of getting an electric fluorescent and hanging it higher over the refugium. Or I could get an LED clip-on light that will hang higher over the refugium.

Any suggestions?

[Amphiprion]

There are tons of options. In any case, I recommend as bright as you can find and a lower kelvin lamp, as well. Somewhere 6500K and under--3000K works just fine and seems to be better for algal growth.

[redfishblewfish]

I just switched out a 23W compact fluorescent 5300K bulb for a new Lights of America (from Sam’s Club) 11W LED Spotlight. It has 9 cree-style LEDS and I believe was labeled as 4300K. I will tell you that the compact florescent made the cheato grow like crazy. These bulbs were/are in a cheap aluminum cone shaped, clip-on fixture that came from Home Depot.

FYI, your batteries are dead and you definitely need a plug in version for the refugium. My refugium light is on every day, for 12 hours a day.

[zeeter]

Thanks for the replies. The reason I went with the battery powered ones was that I'm not home for most of the day. I'd prefer not to put something with external power in an area with so much water movement in case something happens while I'm at work. I'm also concerned about heat. The big clip on the back lights that I'm seeing produce more heat than I'd like for a few plastic containers. I'm afraid of melting.

BTW: what size refugium would you folks recommend for a 75 gallon reef tank? I had heard 20% the size of the tank, but that can't be right. I've never seen a sump with a built in refugium that was anywhere near over five or six gallons.

[Amphiprion]

Depends on the tank and sump design. My old 75 had a 20g rubbermaid refugium separate from the sump. If your sump is large enough, large refugia are easily made.

As for how big--the bigger the better. 20% is the preferable minimum, but this is a particular subject where any is better than none.

[redfishblewfish]

I would never go by “standards” when it came to sizing your sump. What you need to consider is what you want to put in it. I had a 46 gallon bowfront with a 40 breeder sump. The reason is that I wanted an in-sump skimmer with refugium and bubble trap before returning to the tank. The 40 breeder allowed me to do that with room to spare. I actually like 40 breeders and currently have one on my 90 gallon. The only difference is that now the skimmer is external…with external pump feeding the skimmer as well. The other consideration is what will fit under the tank (I’m assuming this is under tank sump). If you have a three foot display, you don’t want to use a four foot sump. So again, another consideration. My one suggestion is to go with MORE versus LESS water volume when discussing this relatively small tanks. The more volume of water you have, the better off you are.

In regard to heat produced by your lighting. LED's produce very little heat. Either compact flor's or LED's would be the way to go with minimal concern about too much heat

[vinhjamin8302]

use one of those cheap clip on lights from the depot, the one like you were talking about and instead of a regular halogen bulb use the compact flourescents they have, works just fine and without the excess heat:thumbsup:

[zeeter]

use one of those cheap clip on lights from the depot, the one like you were talking about and instead of a regular halogen bulb use the compact flourescents they have, works just fine and without the excess heat:thumbsup:

That is what I wound up doing. Now I'm having a problem feeding the refugium. I had wanted to feed it from the return of my skimmer but of course I can't find the right size tubing, and even if I could it's about impossible to get the tubing to go where I want it to due to stiffness of the tube.

[LMThomson]

Yesterday I completely re-did my under-tank filtration. I bought a 25 gallon rubbermade with three shoe-box type plastic containers...

Hello,

A point that might be worth checking: The plastic that Rubbermaid products are made of may contain a mollifier (an additive that makes the plastic flexible). In the case of Rubbermaid containers, maybe not use a lot of mollifier but some.

The point is that mollifers are toxic. Plastic containers may be okay for short-term storage or carriage of marine animals but for long term use, like in a refugium/sump, the mollifiers may leach out of the plastic and build up in your system's water, which could lead to a toxicity problem.

Not wanting to cause any alarm, just being careful. Perhaps one of our professional members can shed some light.

Cheers,

LM Thomson

[Amphiprion]

It is true that some containers may actually begin to leach something. Even the "food grade" rubbermaid trash cans can do this. However, it seems to vary based upon the individual batches, etc. Some people have issues, others don't. At the same time, the issues that aren't observed may not be ones that are readily apparent, either, such as decreased reproductive rates, decreased larval survivability, etc. In general, the harder, more inflexible plastics tend to be safer, but there's still no guarantee. I found that completely inert containers often have a very prohibitive cost, however, which will immediately turn many folks off to their use.

I've been using a Rubbermaid container, myself, with no noticeable ill effects and seemingly good larval survivability (like copepods, amphipods, worms, etc.). I've been using it a while (years), though, some much of the mollifiers/plasticizers may have already leached from it more completely. That doesn't mean that others may not have an issue using them, however.

[zeeter]

These are #5 PP containers, used for long-term food storage. While certainly there is a chance of some toxins being present I'm comfortable with the one I got. It isn't actually a Rubbermade; it's another brand that I can't remember.

[vinhjamin8302]

In my opinion you should just make a fuge out of a used tank, the bigger the better, heres one i made out of a 10g tank with some plexi glass from the depot and marine safe silicone/100% silicone

[zeeter]

I'd love to be able to do that, however I can't get a tank down in there unless I do so from the top. There is no side door and the front doors have a stopper conveniently placed so that I had to bend the rubbermade just to get it in there. I used to have a 20 gallon tall tank in there but it didn't leave me enough room for stuff which is why I decided on something longer rather than higher. I actually had to break the glass to get the 20 gallon out of the bottom.