Refugium Light, lil overkill?

Ok haven't been online much this year, And i took down the 36g. when we moved. Now I have set up a 75g. Peninsula tank. i have a 150w DE metal halide hanging over the refuge. think this is too much? if so why?

 

haha. That is a LOT of light. Most people just go with an 18w, 6500K(daylight)spiral CF light, like you can get from HD or Lowe's. I have mine in a cone reflector.

 

id say yes def hhaha thats what I have over my tank itself

 

Yes. It's also not the best spectrum to promote macroalgae growth; you really want something in the 4500 - 6500k range.

 

I have a Iwasaki 6500k DE bulb in it now. I used a 15w CF on my last tank, i was also thinking of going with something diff on this set up, and growing zenia in the refuge. a marine biologist friend said they export a lot of nutrients. Plus poeple always want to buy or trade for it around here

 

Is that so? I may have to try that out.

 

Yeah, actually, Anthony Calfo wrote in the Book of Coral Propagation another...unique...idea along those same lines. Create a raceway - a very long, thin area for water to flow through; lots of surface area is a key goal. Purposely introduce some aiptasia into this raceway, and let them be your fuge.

 

that would scare me....

 

Yeah, a long fuge is a god idea, but I don't know about the aipatia.

 

I was just mentioning it since it's kinda the same concept as using Xenia in a fuge. It would scare the heck out of me too depending on the tank; just one little mistake, hitting one while reinstalling a pump after maintenance, or a multitude of other things, and you can get a whole bunch of aiptasia in the tank.

But, it would definitely be effective. Lots of arms to grab stuff out of the water column, they grow super fast, and they're not sensitive to water or lighting conditions. Possibly a good choice of "water polisher" for a large FOWLR that has a copper banded butterfly or another fish/invert known to eat aiptasia (if you care about their presence in this tank), but not for a reef tank. Especially if you had some of the harder to keep fish that don't do so well with nitrates. Definitely a cheaper solution than most, both in terms of money ("You want this aiptasia-covered rock? TAKE IT!!!") and time (Trimming isn't frequent or anything with this kind of setup).