how much light required to grow caulerpa in a sump.

[eses]

I've rebuilt my sump to my liking, with the intention being to grow feather caulerpa in the sump. The sump is a 10 gallon and the "caulerpa chamber" is about half the size of the sump. At the moment I have a 15 watt light above it which is on 24/7 and a 55 watt incandencent(sp) lamp during the day.

Is the 15 watts alone enough to grow & maintain the plant, or should I invest in more / larger light. I can't keep the 55 watt on all the time as it gets the fixture and the tank too hot.

Thanks for your ideas.

[Boatwizard]

I started out with 2-13 watt PC's. Moved them to canopy for dusk effect and put in 32 watt PC on 24/7. I have seen 2-20 watt striplights used with success.

[organicreefer]

sounds like a job for loa 9266 ,its what i use over my 10g refugium.under 40 dollars with power cord at home depot.

[organicreefer]

and as for how much light to use,the more light the better,more light =more growth=more nutrient export.hth

[dsb1829]

It can grow and do well under the light you have. This might be a question for someone who knows a bit more about photosynthesis to answer. IME the stuff will do great under intense lighting, do well under everything else. It is pretty much a weed and will grow just fine under what lighting you have now.

I personally have one of the 9266 Flourex fixtures from Home Depot. It works great and is in a great splash resistant() housing. These give a good amount of light for macro algaes and corals can even do well under them. I am running a bit of xenia in our refugium right now as a test. Could be a really good place for a xenia farm. At any rate I have used this light for about 6 months with no complaints and great growth results.