light for fuge

[codydemmel4]

I am looking for some light options for my fuge, I really just want to grow cheato and at a good rate.

The dimensions I need the light for is only 18.5 long, 12.5 wide and 17 high.

Please let me know any suggestions, I would like it to be cheap as possible but also to be able to grow cheato at a good pace.


Thank you!

Would these work? http://www.lowes.com/pd_20845-43921...uct_price|0&Ntt=cfl&page=1&facetInfo=In Store or do I need more light?

 

[wetWolger]

I personally would be more likely to use something like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...-425280/203553286?N=5yc1vZbm79Z2bctr9Z1z0vvrr

That's pretty close to what I use to grow phyto. It's not that expensive considering how much more light you will get.

 

[slief]

These LED flood lights will be much better than those CFL's. They will provide much better spread and much more intensity with less power consumption. These are the best lights I've used to date for my chaeto. I used similar but higher wattage CFL's originally and these LED floods are MUCH better for growth and light output. No comparison between these and a CFL.
http://www.amazon.com/Generic-Water...1&sr=8-18&keywords=10w+6500K++LED+flood+light

Like I told you in the PM, you may be able to get away with 1 for your fuge size but having the second one may not be a bad thing depending on how much the chaeto is spread across the length of your fuge and depending on how close the light is to the waters surface. My fuge has acrylic covers and my lights sit directly on the cover about 6" from the waters surface.

 

[codydemmel4]

Thanks for the help you guys, I am going to go with the LED fuge you suggested slief.

I greatly appreciate the help.

 

[slief]

Thanks for the help you guys, I am going to go with the LED fuge you suggested slief.

I greatly appreciate the help.

You won't regret it. The LED's don't have a plug end on them. Just get a couple 2 prong extension cords to splice on the wires to the cord. You could even use one cord for the 2 lights. That's what how I did mine. Two per cord. The yellow wire isn't used. If you have any questions when you get them, feel free to PM me.

 

[codydemmel4]

You won't regret it. The LED's don't have a plug end on them. Just get a couple 2 prong extension cords to splice on the wires to the cord. You could even use one cord for the 2 lights. That's what how I did mine. Two per cord. The yellow wire isn't used. If you have any questions when you get them, feel free to PM me.

Thanks a lot!! I am ordering them now.

 

[slief]

Here is an alternate source and it's cheaper too. You want a 6000-6500k spectrum light. 6500k is the best spectrum for chaeto and macro growth. Select the 10w version.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10W-20W-30W...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3a85b4dd6d

 

[jcmjoe]

My ecoxotic panorama pro 8k grows chaeto like crazy, I remove about a gallon bag every 2 weeks from my fuge

 

[R_Mc]

Get the 100w if you're using the cheato for nutrient export. If you're growing pods get the low watt.

 

[OceanAV]

Here is an alternate source and it's cheaper too. You want a 6000-6500k spectrum light. 6500k is the best spectrum for chaeto and macro growth. Select the 10w version.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10W-20W-30W...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3a85b4dd6d

Would 10w provide enough light for cheato? or get 20w? TIA.

 

[slief]

Would 10w provide enough light for cheato? or get 20w? TIA.

A 10 watt puts out a LOT of light at close range. They are much brighter than the 65 watt CFL's I replaced with these. You would be better off with a pair of 10w then one 20w in my opinion. You can maximize coverage better that way. I run four 10 watts over my refugium but mine is 30"x36"x18" tall and I have chaeto covering about half of that area.

 

[R_Mc]

Relative wattages may be confusing here. By 60W 'equivalent' CFL we're likely talking about a 13W CFL which is very low wattage. 'daylight' also appears to be brighter than 'soft white' or 'warm white' though the latter may actually cause more algal growth.

Recently I posted a question about using high wattage lights over refugiums and got some positive responses indicating that others have had success with this approach: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2469469

I'm not sure where the idea to run low wattage (10W LED / 13W CFL) comes from, but it is only correct in the cases where the refugium is for growing pods and enough algae to eat the pods. If the refugium is one of your main nutrient export mechanisms you should use a high wattage light (50-60-100 real life watts).

If you skim really heavily and use activated carbon and dose vinegar for example...you probably don't even want a refugium except for pods, in which case any light will do.

Analogous to the refugium, the light brightness in a planted fresh water aquarium is limited by the dissolved C02 in the water and the available nutrients. In salt water there is substantially more C02 and generally far more nutrients in the WC. Macro algae normally grows very close to the surface of the water and receives even more light than most SPS in nature. In addition, as the light is not filtered by the water a more red or full spectrum light is going to be the most natural.

Good luck - but I suggest that if you want to use cheato like you would a scrubber that you go for a much higher wattage LED.

More watts, more flow, more nutrient export.

 

[R_Mc]

Do not mean to be argumentative here - Slief, is there a reason you would shy away from higher power lights?

 

[slief]

Do not mean to be argumentative here - Slief, is there a reason you would shy away from higher power lights?

Sure.. There is no need too. Especially when a 90 watt LED light is equivalent in light output to a 250-400 watt metal halide depending on optics. Most of us use the LED's at close range to the macro. My refugium for example is 18" tall with 12" deep water. That places my LED's at 6" off the water. You can get a sunburn under these lights. If you were using fluorescents or CFL's, I'd agree with you but for macro, there is no need to get carried away with wattage on decent spectrum LED's. The stuff grows just fine. I remove up to a gallon of chaeto a week. I have also grown mangroves in my refugium and they too grew just fine under these lights. I used to run a pair of 65 watt CFL bulbs and these LED's are much much more powerful as mentioned above. I'd go as far as to say that one of these 10w LED flood lights puts out as much if not more light than the two 65 watt CFL's I was using. And those CFL's were actual 65w bulbs.

In the case of these lights, the idea is grow the macro, not cook it. If the water is deeper or the light is much further away, then the higher wattage bulb would be fine but in close quarters, all you are doing is wasting energy in my opinion. These aren't your typical 10 watt led arrangement either. They use a cluster similar to the Kessils and the spread and output of these things is unlike any aquarium LED. Given the proper color spectrum, these lights work great. If you were using a conventional bulb be it incandescent or halide, your argument would hold water but with these lights, we can agree to disagree. I've run a few different lights on my refugium over the last 5 years and the best results to date have been with these and these happen to consume the least amount of energy while outputting more light.

Perhaps I should grab one of my CFL flood lights from the shed and put my PAR meter under it and compare the PAR to these 10w lights.. You would be awfully surprised that the little 10w light probably puts out at least as much PAR as a cfl that consumes 6x the power.

 

[JP Reef]

I use this:

https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/fuge-lite-led-bulb/

A little bit more than you probably want to spend, but it grows macro algae like crazy.

 

[slief]

OK.. I went to my shed and grabbed one of my old Lights Of America 65 watt 6500K CFL security lights that was used on my refugium before switching to these LED's. Keep in mind that I use 4 of these leds in place of 1 of the 65 watt CFL's.

I used my Apogee MQ-200 to test the PAR. I measured at about 8" away from the fixture.
Test 1 was the 65 watt CFL.

Results: 117 PAR.

Test 2 was the 10 watt 6500K LED flood light. I had to place the light on a box to get it closer to the power outlet as the leads were short and I just stuck the wires into the socket.

Par results: It fluctuated a bit but the max was 146 at the same distance.

 

[slief]

Do not mean to be argumentative here - Slief, is there a reason you would shy away from higher power lights?

From my experience, the bottom line is that chaeto doesn't need excessive intensity to grow well and the growth won't increase exponentially with PAR. That is to say that I do not believe that going from a 10 watt LED to a 20 watt LED will result in double the growth rate. I also believe that given the spectrum, as the wattage increases, so will the nuisance algae growth. This is something I have seen first hand. If your intent is to grow hair algae or cotton candy algae then sure, use higher wattage lights. As mentioned by Santamonica in your other thread, you are in effect creating an algae scrubber at that point which isn't conducive to the other things we use our refugiums for beyond just macro growth for nutrient export.

But for chaeto, you don't need to go overboard on LED lights. As I said earlier, I am using 4 of these lights but I am also illuminating more than half of a 30"x36" refugium and these lights are sitting on top of acrylic lids. The lights are setup about 4-6" apart in a straight line. I have my chaeto spread across the entire width of my refugium in the very front of it where the water enters so that all water is forced through the wall of chaeto. The biggest thing I've found over the years with growing chaeto is that it really slows down when the nutrients are lower. That seemed to impact growth more than the lights themselves.



Having said that, based on the PAR results, I would not be opposed to using a 20 watt version of the same light if the light placement was going to be further away than 12" from the waters surface. The biggest issue will be spread which is why I think two 10w lights aimed as needed would be better suited.

Here is how my lights are setup on my fuge.

 

[codydemmel4]

Some good arguments are always beneficial for everyone.

Slief, I do think these lights will be great and looking at your tank and pictures I can tell you know what you are doing.

Do you think with these places directly on eggcrate, will it burn through them? I just want to make sure I dont cause the eggcrate to melt and get inside my sump.

Also like in the PM I sent you, should I have the return of the GFO canister to my DT or to the chamber before the fuge where the incoming water from the DT is and my skimmer.

 

[slief]

Some good arguments are always beneficial for everyone.

Slief, I do think these lights will be great and looking at your tank and pictures I can tell you know what you are doing.

Do you think with these places directly on eggcrate, will it burn through them? I just want to make sure I dont cause the eggcrate to melt and get inside my sump.

Also like in the PM I sent you, should I have the return of the GFO canister to my DT or to the chamber before the fuge where the incoming water from the DT is and my skimmer.

The egg crate will not melt but it will block light. I'd use acrylic before egg crate or figure out some way to hang them.

As for your GFO return, the flow through the GFO is very slow and will pale in comparison to the main flow though your fuge. As such, the GFO's effluent will have very little impact on the fuges water quality. If anything, you could have the reactor return to your return compartment in your fuge. Mine returns to the front/in coming side of my fuge and as far as I'm concerned, it's been just fine that way.

 

[slief]

I will also note that the battery in my meter is about dead.. The meter shuts itself off within about 30 seconds of turning it on. As such, the PAR could actually be higher than what I measured. I will try to pick up a new battery in the next day or two if I can remember too. If I do, I will re-test and update the results.