Light spill in sump

[chaewon]

Hey All!


I am looking to set up a refugium in my sump but a bit worried about the light spill on the rest of the sump and also the return hosing. What is the best way to isolate the light to just the first chamber?

Cheers

 

[Spare time]

AI PRIME LIGHT SHROUD - Google Search

 

[Doctorgori]

Hey All!


I am looking to set up a refugium in my sump but a bit worried about the light spill on the rest of the sump and also the return hosing. What is the best way to isolate the light to just the first chamber?

Cheers

Yeah it’s a PITA cleaning algae outta a skimmer body,
I have a Red Sea 750 XXL that I’m not adding a refugium to for exactly the same reason you are held up….

I’ll follow this thread to see if someone offers a solution …
thus far I’ve been considering masking the divider glass with either dark window tint film or spray paint it black or installing a black piece of plexiglass the same size as the divider…

also @vetteguy53081 had me considering a ATS,
(pardon the summons, but you were the only/ first ATS person I could think of)

FWIW I am using the Tunze Refugium Light in another tank…since it has a small form factor and is submersible, the light spill is minimal. ( maybe submerge one or two of these lights and in tandem mask your glass divider)

…I also have the Tunze macro reactor, It grows ulva just fine but it’s nitrate reduction capacity is suspect

 

[chaewon]

AI PRIME LIGHT SHROUD - Google Search

Thank you, I've seen this floating around in other threads prior to me posting this one but I'm not convinced about the effectiveness it has on light spill. Hosing and skimmer will still get hit by light... If you have used it in your refugium, do you mind sharing a picture of what it looks like?

Yeah it’s a PITA cleaning algae outta a skimmer body,
I have a Red Sea 750 XXL that I’m not adding a refugium to for exactly the same reason you are held up….

I’ll follow this thread to see if someone offers a solution …
thus far I’ve been considering masking the divider glass with either dark window tint film or spray paint it black or installing a black piece of plexiglass the same size as the divider…

also @vetteguy53081 had me considering a ATS,
(pardon the summons, but you were the only/ first ATS person I could think of)

FWIW I am using the Tunze Refugium Light in another tank…since it has a small form factor and is submersible, the light spill is minimal. ( maybe submerge one or two of these lights and in tandem mask your glass divider)

…I also have the Tunze macro reactor, It grows ulva just fine but it’s nitrate reduction capacity is suspect

Hopefully someone has a better solution

I really like the idea of ATS, unfortunately aside from the super high ends no one makes them in Australia so we have to import from the US. The cheapest ones here are ~$800 from Santa Monica Filtration.

Tunze Refugium Light seems really cool as well, I'll try to see if I can maybe swap my AI Prime for one! That would probably solve the light spill issue. I just had a spare light laying around so I didn't really want to spend more on another light haha.

On a side note, how is the growth rate of Ulva in the refugium? They are found in cold tide pools here, does it hold up well in warmer water for reefs?

I was watching some videos online as well and BRS recommending something like Aquamesh, maybe this will help minimise light spill in your redsea.

 

[Doctorgori]

On a side note, how is the growth rate of Ulva in the refugium? They are found in cold tide pools here, does it hold up well in warmer water for reefs?

Not sure what is growing down there as I thought ulva is a genus with a few species…again not sure…
the strain I have is the type that forms huge sheets if allowed. It seems to outcompete chaeto but I have my doubts about its ability to pull nitrates in a given area vs chaeto….it just might not be dense enough (the actual biomass weight per area is less)
…the main reason I use ulva in my Tunze reactor is that often the chaeto gets “wound up” and will fail to “spin” thus resulting in uneven light spread ..
Ulva being translucent and a flat sheet vs “stringy” seems to do better “geometrically” and spins within the reaction chamber better, thus lighting the algae more evenly…

 

[Doctorgori]

…yeah I saw that vid; using coarse open cell media as a divider….
I have mostly removed those as they seem to just get clogged with chaeto fragments and pineapple sponges in the refugium
…I’m gonna lurk here and see if you or anyone else come up with a good idea I can shamelessly steal LOL

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey All!


I am looking to set up a refugium in my sump but a bit worried about the light spill on the rest of the sump and also the return hosing. What is the best way to isolate the light to just the first chamber?

Cheers

I have a light specific to the sump but if you want to prevent it from spreading past the sump area, you can hang a black acrylic panel or black construction paper or cardboard laced with foil to reflect light back to sump only. I dont mind the light spread as it allows me to see my ATO, control board and more
I dont have an algae issue but do run an algae scrubber and protein skimmer in the area

 

[Spare time]

Thank you, I've seen this floating around in other threads prior to me posting this one but I'm not convinced about the effectiveness it has on light spill. Hosing and skimmer will still get hit by light... If you have used it in your refugium, do you mind sharing a picture of what it looks like?


Hopefully someone has a better solution

I really like the idea of ATS, unfortunately aside from the super high ends no one makes them in Australia so we have to import from the US. The cheapest ones here are ~$800 from Santa Monica Filtration.

Tunze Refugium Light seems really cool as well, I'll try to see if I can maybe swap my AI Prime for one! That would probably solve the light spill issue. I just had a spare light laying around so I didn't really want to spend more on another light haha.

On a side note, how is the growth rate of Ulva in the refugium? They are found in cold tide pools here, does it hold up well in warmer water for reefs?

I was watching some videos online as well and BRS recommending something like Aquamesh, maybe this will help minimise light spill in your redsea.

I have used a prime in a refugium and just didn't mind the light spill since I used the skimmer chamber for a larger refugium.

 

[chaewon]

Thank you vetteguy53081 and Spare time! Seems like keeping it simple might be the best way so I'll see how it goes with the light spill.