Refugium Heat Problems

[rcracer20071]

Hi,
I have a 50 litre sump with a section as a refugium, the problem is that I have a Juwel Vision cabinet and this means that I have a long quite thin sump (30cm wide, 50cm long, 50 cm high.) I currently have a 25w CF bulb (2700k) lighting it but I am worried about heat that the bulb gives off and concerned it may cause a fire if I was to try and run it 18 hours a day like I want to. Currently I run it from 5:00pm to 12:00pm so I can keep an eye on it.
 
I have recently added cheato and have a algae scrubber which is begining to grow hair algae on it, what can I use instead of my current bulb so that I can reduce heat, I have heard that CF flood lights are meant to run cool?
 
Also I have been looking at
 
1.) GroBeam 1000 ND LED - £150
 
2.) Grow Bean 600 ultra (single) - £80
      http/www.aquarayusa.com/aquabeam-600.html
 
 
3.) TMC mini led 400  £60
      http/www.h2oaquatics.co.uk/lighting/leds-and-moonlights/tmc-mini-led-400-tile-white
 
4.) Dual clip on pl 11w lamp (similar to the arc pod but two stuck together £35.
 
5.) CF flood lights - £10
 
Money is tight so less money is better (preferably up to £60) but I want something that will make my Cheato and Algae scrubber work really well to reduce nitrates and phosphates. All advice is welcome.

 

[Donya]

I can't help much with the algae scrubber as I've never done one, although I imagine the requirements can't be too different to chaeto. You shouldn't need a super expensive marine fixture to grow chaeto. For example, I have used IKEA LED lamps for small volumes of chaeto (my 55gal currently has a small aquaclear full of chaeto with just a clip-on LED and the growth is pretty good) and other standard household bulbs for large volumes in the past. I never really saw much difference in growth between things like 2xT5 marine-specific fixtures and cheap household ones or even fw-specific fixtures. However, I wouldn't necessarily assume that the CF flood lights will be a lot cooler than the CFLs you have now unless they are lower wattage. Since you're having heat issues with your current CFL it makes me wonder if it's an air circulation issue. Is all of this stuff locked up in a cabinet? It may be that some small circulation fans are in order more than just trying to get a cool light. If you want to minimize heat as much as possible, then obviously LED is the way to go.

 

[rcracer20071]

Thanks for the update, I was using a 25w CF 2700k bulb which is equivilent to a 110w normal bulb (1200 lumens). I tried a 12w CF bulb equivilent to a 70w normal bulb and did not notice much heat difference. So based upon your post I purchased a new light bulb last night (led mini globe 11w equivilent to 60w 2700k), since using this it seems considerably cooler which is more like a spot light which has enabled me to direct the light and heat rather than heating the entire cabinet.
 
I beleive that from researching the internet that 2700k is better for algae scrubbers, however a 5500 to 6500k is better for Cheato. So once I know that the led bulb is okay heat wise should I get a led 6000k bulb?
 
Please note that the below pics are the only ones I had to hand and they were when I was first setting up the sump / refugium:

 

[rcracer20071]

My mini globe is still working well on the heat front. And here is my algae scrubber 1 week in, I have cleaned it once after it got covered in red slime.

I am new to algae scrubbers anyone know it this is good or bad?