Sump lighting?

[kitenski]

I currently have my sump light neatly screwed into the roof of the cabinet which houses the sump.

I've seen others seem to lay the light across the sump area, which I guess gives much more light to the algae.

Anyone care to comment on wether it makes any difference as to where the light is, as long as it provides light?

The light is a single 24" single zoo med Ultra sun, T8 17w.

Regards,

Greg

[dan-the-man]

The closer the better. :)

Be good to upgrade to an envirolite 125w too ;):D

[Bradden]

Are the envirolite's really that good.. my wife currently has ..

Ocean Sun 10,000k T8
Coral Sun Light T8

Would it be worth changing these?

Thanks

[dan-the-man]

All I can say is my experience. I had no noticebale growth for a couple of weeks with two t8's. I changed to an envirolite 125w (6400k) and my chaeto has nearly doubled in a week. :)

Money well spent IMO.

[kitenski]

How did u mount your envirolite and how much did it cost? I assume I wouldn't need the starter etc?

So the main reason to lower the lighting would be to give maximum light to the chaeto?

Regards,

Greg

[dan-the-man]

You can get the envirolites from marine lighting. If you get the reflector its about £55 iirc, but i did without and made my own diy one, so only cost £35 for the holder and lamp.

Yes only reason to lower would be to let it have more light to use.

[Johnt]

125 watt to light the sump :eek: that seems a bit OTT. It would be interesting to see how much wattage others use for their sump, mines a 40 watt T8 fluorescent tube but I'm going to upgrade to a twin 24 watt T5.

John.

[kitenski]

Is your tube lying over the sump ie resting on the glass John??

[Johnt]

Is your tube lying over the sump ie resting on the glass John??

Hi , no it's fastened to to the top of the cupboard without reflectors, the cheato grows well but a few frags I tried in the sump haven't done so good hence the proposed upgrade to a twin 24 watt T5 and two reflectors.:D

John.