Lighting for Chaeto.

Hey guys.

I think I'm going to do a tiny little sump with some chaeto (tiny as in 1 foot by 1 foot size, not sure on height.. Too small?). I just wondered if that was plausable/ worth it for my 90 gallon. Due to the stand I can't actually go any bigger with the sump unfortunately!

My second question is - what lighting does the chaeto need to grow properly?

Thanks for any help, and if I'm being stupid here - feel free to call me stupid!

 

any light will do. 6500K bulb from home depot is probably the cheapest route

 

Thanks for your help and apologies for wrong placement!

 

My chaeto likes the 14w CFL house bulb replacement. However, some guys in our club have issues with anything less than 70w halides on their chaeto.

If it does under the CFL witha spot type refletor, then try some other chaeto from someone else.

 

well you mentioned that you have a 90 gallon..... growing cheato with 6500k bulbs will be fine in that small sump however if you do get a power outage... the overflow might drain about 1" water from your 90 gallon to the sump... and that would cause an flood problem.

 

I have a 26watt CFL (common householdenergy efficient spiral) with a circular reflector. Bulbs were 3 for $9.99 at walmart, reflector was $4.99 at Mennards. Grows macro at a decent rate.

XXTechXX is correct. A sump that small will not be able to hold all of the drain water. A good test would be to get a small overflow and return pump (majijet or something), and shut off the return and let the overflow fill up a rubbermaid tote or something. Measure how much water fills the tote. Thats how many gallons your sump/fuge will need to be.

 

My sump is a 17g sump on my 90. I would not go much smaller that that personally.