A question for Randy, though not chemistry

[MCsaxmaster]

Randy,

I believe I remember reading a thread where you were using floodlights to light your refugium where you grow Chaetemorpha and that you experienced lower growth rates with flourescent tubes.

I was just wondering if you would mind commenting a bit on how you have this system set up? If you had any photos of this system I would be just tickled :D

The reason I ask is that I am soon going to be setting up a "refugium" (although I don't really like calling it a refugium if it's intent is the growth of Chaetemorpha) and would like to maximize growth for nutrient uptake and export.

Cheers,

-Chris

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I use 2 Hagen 802's to pump water from my sump up to a plastic Nalgene tank (30 gallons, I think).

The water flows out through a bulkhead fitting a few inches below the top, and on to a second refugium that is a back ABS plastic continer from Home Depot. From there it flows back to the sump via another bulkhead.

The first refugium has the Chaetomorpha, and is lit by track lighting. Here's a thread describing the lighting:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=216369

The second refugium has Caulerpa and corals, mostly. It is lit by a 175 w mh lamp (bell pendant).

There is a thick sand bed in each. About 6 inches of Southdown aragonite. Also, they both have substantial live rock.

[xfactor]

Use a lower Kelvin bulb like Here (http://www.1000bulbs.com/product.php?product=1086) and its a 42watt PC that will screw into any house hold lamp, the best bet is to buy one of those cheep work lights with the reflector and use them and focus it over the refug part of your sump or what ever your using.