Refugium Lighting

[DaveC]

Hello...hope everyone had a good thanksgiving...I got my new refugium setup over the weekend with some plants and some southdown sand with some live sand from my display tank and a few plants in there...but the lighting I am not sure of..what I am using for now is a 75W grow light that I picked up from the hardware store. I have it mounted in one of those round clamp on reflector dish lights, which is mounted approx 10 inches above the water. the height of the refugium is 14 inches (water height) less 4 or 5 inches of sand. Can I expect this type of lighting to work..its a grow bulb meant for plants for not sure if that would work for underwater plants..I do want the plants to grow and thrive if possible to I can trim and feed my tangs some fresh greens so what do you thing??

Thanks
Dave C

[kevinpo]

It will work just fine. I use old VHO bulbs and run them until they burn out.

Regards,
Kevin

[Guy]

The Grow bulb will work but they are very inefficient. You would be a lot better off getting something in a flourescent. Wal-Mart sell a Lights of America worklight that should work well for you. It's basically a 65 watt PC and it's $25. It ain't pretty, but it puts out a lot of light for its size.