Refugium light

#1
What type of light would you recommend for a growing chaeto including kelvin. If you use incandescent do you have heat issues in your cabinet? My refugium is under the tank in a cabinet and I'm concerned about heat however I'm considering incandescent to grow chaeto.
 

MuralReef

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#6
I got some $10 LED outdoor flood lights off of amazon since they considered waterproof and it saves me from having to change bulbs. Grows macro easily and mangroves too.
 

Fourthwind

Anthias
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#8
that light is only 6 watts, and by the looks of the LED's they are not efficient one's. Hard to say what spectrum the whites are as well. doesn't take much nutrients to grow chaeto.
 

jda123

Dolphin
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#9
The limiting factor with growing macro is iron. It gets used up quick and then the macro stalls out unless you supplement or change a lot of water.
 
#10
I'm going to dose iron using Randys recipe, I got the tablets yesterday. If that doesn't work then I'll look at getting a new light. The current one I think is around 6500k. I want to try an incandescent but only if the tank can handle the extra heat in the cabinet. I believe it's what randy recommends.
 

Fourthwind

Anthias
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#11
A 6500k compact fluorescent will be better than the incandescent heat wise. Seriously though. 6 watts of light is not going to cut it. No matter what your nutrient levels are.
 

Smiley

Nurse Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
lowes and home depot sell a 23w cfl at a 6500k spectrum. works great for macros..... i switched to an led flood they just got in, but its not as bright as the cfl...dont think my macros are liking it.. about to switch back to the 23w cfl... mind you i have three of these over a 125g fuge....
 

jda123

Dolphin
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#13
I would guess that a 23W screw-in CFL probably puts out more PAR than a Kessil. PAR is pretty much a worthless number that people use for whatever they want to say/prove, but don't underestimate the output of a 6500K bulb.
 

Irishman

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
#16
Irishman;n666876 said:
The problem I had with that was the salt. Just the little bits of salt that would either creep up or spray onto it made it rust up and those CFL's do not last very long. LED is by far the way to go and you want to get something more in the plant red spectrum instead of white.
 

Cherub

Hey you
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#17
wasn't sure if this was still being discussed but I watched this interesting video the other day from BRS that might help with your choice
 
#18
Cherub;n669380 said:
wasn't sure if this was still being discussed but I watched this interesting video the other day from BRS that might help with your choice
Looking forward to seeing what they discover as they extend the experiment. Thanks for the post.
 
#20
The Kessil H380 seems to be the refugium light to have. I run two of the Par 38 bulbs but have had great results with two of the 21ledusa.com reef bars over my remote refugium.
 
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