How much light is required in the refugium?

My Chato Alge is not growing. I havent added Pods to it yet in feer my lighting is not enough. I have an under cabinet led fixture tucked in the corner out of the way. It has enough light for me to work in there to see what im doing. However I dont think its enough. Its not over the refugium as i dont have much space. My sump is 2 5.5 gal tanks stacked. The fug is on the bottom with about 3 1/2 - 4 inches of head room. see image below.

How much light is required and what kinds of fixtures would work in such a tight spot?



The other question is reversing the light schedule so the fug lights are on at night... I get too much light leaking out into the room and the back of the DT for my liking at night. Are there any solutions you guys might share?

 

Your light is probably fine. The issue is you don't have a lot of nutrients in your system for the chaeto to grow. What are your nitrates at? And also, go ahead and add pods, they don't need light.

 

My Nitrates are at around 20 consistently. I have phos-ban in a micron bag tied to the drain pipe. Also have a skimmer in the sump before the fuge. Its hard to see its a HOB that is in the back of the stand. I'll get some Pods... thx. I assume that the algae will grow slow then. Also its a higher flow fuge than some people like. I was getting explosions of Diatoms in the DT before i increased the flow rate and added the phos-ban. Now my water is crystal clear and whats left of the algae in the DT is enough to keep my CUC occupied and alive.

 

Do you have the K rating of your light? Ideal is 5500K-6500K.

 

A cfl bulb from the local hardware store will work great, if you want to go LED a par 38 bulb with about 12 watts or so of light at 6500K works awesome for chaeto growth as well.

 

I dont have a k rating... it was a led fixture on the clearance rack for 6 bucks. Unfortunately there is no k or par rating on it.

 

Not sure If I could fit a standard bulb fixture down there. I was thinking of a simple waterproofed 12inch florescent would do the trick, however Id have to find the right one. I have the fixture from my old Tank-top I could probably break it apart and build something to fit. Just dont want to break something i could resell or include with my tank if i ever upgrade.

 

Im using a LED PAR30 6000-6500K, and my cheato is growing crazy. Purchase the light bulb on ebay for 10 bucks.

 

This might help you, I have a very confined space in my stand and was forced to make my own light. Maybe this will help you too.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/diy-low-profile-cost-effective-refugium-light-w-pic-131301.html