Best Leds for Chaeto?

[mdd1986]

No problem. One thing to consider is the reflective properties of the material you use to block out the light. I'm not sure but the white acrylic may cause some more light to be focused on the chaeto by bouncing off the sides (I'm no expert). I plan to use this black plastic stuff that Jason fox and wwc use on their 700 and 900 respectively in place of a canopy. It's black and just hangs down in front of the lights. Also since it's soft and flexible much easier to move aside during maintenance. Maybe the black would absorb the light rather than reflect it into the refugium. Just a thought.

That could be a concern but honestly this fixture is so overkill that I doubt losing some spelled light is that much of an issue. It would just be to prevent light spill not necessarily focusing the light into more centralized beam to become an issue was my thought. I would be interested in using the material you are talking about. Do you have a link to what it is?

 

[BigJohnny]

That could be a concern but honestly this fixture is so overkill that I doubt losing some spelled light is that much of an issue. It would just be to prevent light spill not necessarily focusing the light into more centralized beam to become an issue was my thought. I would be interested in using the material you are talking about. Do you have a link to what it is?

Just to be clear, I was saying you may not want to use the white acrylic because it might give you more light than you wanted by reflecting it down onto the chaeto. The black material im referring to will absorb it (black acrylic may still redirect some since its shiny and reflective) while still just blocking light spill. I don't know what the material is yet but I asked Chris from WWC. I'll let you know when he gets back to me. I doubt they are concerned with whether or not it absorbs or reflects any of the light, but I think it will work well for our purpose. It's a matte thin plastic/rubber or something like that

 

[Dana Riddle]

That could be a concern but honestly this fixture is so overkill that I doubt losing some spelled light is that much of an issue. It would just be to prevent light spill not necessarily focusing the light into more centralized beam to become an issue was my thought. I would be interested in using the material you are talking about. Do you have a link to what it is?

I'd be interested in seeing a link to this material as well.

 

[BigJohnny]

I'd be interested in seeing a link to this material as well.

Will do. I'm not sure it's anything special, but matte black, light, and flexible fits the bill for me.

 

[Tavyn]

Is the sbreef light water resistant? I had a fuge light that was a plant light and it couldnt handle the humidity/salt in my fuge.

 

[BigJohnny]

Is the sbreef light water resistant? I had a fuge light that was a plant light and it couldnt handle the humidity/salt in my fuge.

Check their website

 

[mdd1986]

I think I may just try out black pond liner. Its rubber, flexible, easy to work with and will absorb most of the light. I will order some and try it out. Much easier to work with compared to acrylic as well.

 

[BigJohnny]

I think I may just try out black pond liner. Its rubber, flexible, easy to work with and will absorb most of the light. I will order some and try it out. Much easier to work with compared to acrylic as well.

You know what, that might be what it is. I remember I saw some video where Jason fox talked about it and I just had a flashback of him saying pond liner lol. Regardless I think that will work.

 

[BigJohnny]

Here it is in this pic. He eventually lowered the lights and it blocks everything out nicely. Easy to lift up for maintenance

 

[Pete1968]

How is the ufo par numbers compared to the mars aqua 300?

 

[BigJohnny]

How is the ufo par numbers compared to the mars aqua 300?

Unfortunately I only had the Mars hydro 300 above my sump for about 5 mins before I realized it was way too big for my application, so I couldn't tell you. I will however be comparing the growstar ufo par vs my Mars hydro par38 though. Had meant to do it already but been very busy. I will try and run it today.

 

[Pete1968]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I went with the Growstar 150w UFO, the one with a similar spectral graph to the Kessil h380 that utilizes a 3000k Cree COB in the middle.

I will take some PAR readings vs my PAR 38 and let you guys know (I assume someone is curious how this light performs) and also come back and update in a month or two on growth.

Par reefings? Please

 

[BigJohnny]

Par reefings? Please

Soon my friend

 

[Pete1968]

Thanks so much!

 

[Pete1968]

I bought a par 38 from amazon it is 36 watts , its all red/blue but no way strong enough, i used to have a kessil h380 it was a beast, but no way i will spend 300 on a fuge light again

 

[BigJohnny]

Ok, so here are the numbers. Keep in mind I did this quickly by hand. Par meter is BTM-3000 which uses the original apogee sensor which registers 410-655nm. The only calculations I did were for immersion, I did not adjust for spectrum and these light sources have different spectral composition.

These are the 2 lights I tested. Both stock except the Par38 is housed in a 6" Home Depot shop light reflector:
Mars Hydro Par38 (24W E26 E27)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ARI3HIG/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_CtcqAbN4EVJRM

Growstar 150W UFO
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07312WKX2/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_XucqAbB6EYFB6

PAR MEASUREMENTS
8" below light source
Center: Par38- 900/UFO- 400
2" off center: Par38- 650/UFO- 370
4" off center: Par38- 95/UFO- 330
6" off center: Par38- 10/UFO- 265

16" below light source
Center: Par38- 310/UFO- 190
2" off center: Par38- 275/UFO- 183
4" off center: Par38- 150/UFO- 172
6" off center: Par38- 35/UFO- 165

You can clearly see that the Par38 with reflector generates significant par, but is heavily focused. The UFO has much wider spread and very even PAR across all measurements. I was very pleased to see that it's not too much par at 8" (not sure what my target PAR should be here which is why I'm looking forward to the testing by @Dana Riddle ) because that means I can lower the fixture and reduce light spill without burning my chaeto. It has so much spread that even at 4" off of the water it covers my entire refugium. I will probably still hang some material to block out any remaining light spill.

I dropped the fixture down to about 6" for now, and am getting about 600-800 across the top of my whole refugium, very evenly spread. It's worth noting that I measured over 1200 par 4" below the center of the fixture, so if I wanted that much I could easily suspend the light at that distance.

In conclusion, I am very pleased with the results of these measurements. This light has better spectrum (which is very similar to Kessil h380) than my old Par38 (which grew chaeto well) and much better spread/power overall. At $41.99, assuming this fixture holds up, I could not be happier. They also sell a 300w for people trying to light a bigger refugium than mine (10.5" x 17.25" x 11.5") although I'm confident this light could work on one at least twice the size.

I will come back and post updates on growth rates in a month or so. Here are some pics of it when it was set up at 8", my phone does not show how bright it actually is. Merry Christmas and happy reefing!

 

[Rakie]

Any light is sufficient for chaeto, what it needs most is nourishment in the form of nutrients.

I ran a cheap 20 watt no name, LED which was in no way shape or form optimized for plant growth, and had explosive growth due to nutrients alone. If you want your macro to flourish, give it nutrients more than light. The lights optimize it's use of nutrients, not just photosynthesis. So give it more food first and see what happens.

That said. Removing chaeto was the wisest decision I've ever made.

 

[BigJohnny]

Any light is sufficient for chaeto, what it needs most is nourishment in the form of nutrients.

I ran a cheap 20 watt no name, LED which was in no way shape or form optimized for plant growth, and had explosive growth due to nutrients alone. If you want your macro to flourish, give it nutrients more than light. The lights optimize it's use of nutrients, not just photosynthesis. So give it more food first and see what happens.

That said. Removing chaeto was the wisest decision I've ever made.

Depends what you consider sufficient. Personally, I don't try to do anything just well enough to be sufficient, I try to optimize and therefore maximize performance. A more powerful light with better spectrum will improve growth rates (assuming you don't reach photo inhibition and halt photosynthesis), nutrient reduction, ph stability, and help reduce algae growth in the display. I am not going to give my chaeto more nutrients to grow faster, the whole reason I'm growing chaeto is to reduce them (also it wouldn't work, there's plenty already).

It's all relative my friend, and what works for you is certainly not guaranteed to work for others.

 

[tigé21v]

......That said. Removing chaeto was the wisest decision I've ever made.

Would you elaborate? I go back and forth between which is better, heavy skimming and little or no macro growth, or drier skimming with heavy macro growth.

 

[Rakie]

Depends what you consider sufficient. Personally, I don't try to do anything just well enough to be sufficient, I try to optimize and therefore maximize performance. A more powerful light with better spectrum will improve growth rates (assuming you don't reach photo inhibition and halt photosynthesis), nutrient reduction, ph stability, and help reduce algae growth in the display. I am not going to give my chaeto more nutrients to grow faster, the whole reason I'm growing chaeto is to reduce them (also it wouldn't work, there's plenty already).

It's all relative my friend, and what works for you is certainly not guaranteed to work for others.

I agree! In almost every post I always try to say how everything in this hobby is relative.

But what I mean by sufficient is doubling my growth in a few days. Any light is capable of that if your chaeto has enough nutrients at it's disposal. If doubling your quantity of chaeto in 3-4 days isn't sufficient than I'll concede my point. But I'd wager most would be happy to double their chaeto twice a month, let alone twice a week. For me, chaeto was an unmanageable nightmare of constant growth, and caused my SPS to pale. On the other hand, my colors and growth have never been better -- I'm currently running no3 at 40, and po4 at 0.80 (not a typo, 0.80, NOT 0.08)

Would you elaborate? I go back and forth between which is better, heavy skimming and little or no macro growth, or drier skimming with heavy macro growth.

For me, it would be removing macro.

As I said above, my colors and growth have never been better than running no3 at 40, and po4 at 0.80 (NOT 0.08). Macro was a big problem. it stripped my water bare with minimal light, and all my corals began to pale and stunt. Removing chaeto, dosing phosphates, and getting my nutrients higher helped all my SPS improve greatly.