Led lighting for fuge?

[Trickdout69]

I have a 55g sump and the center section is a fuge that will house cheto and mangroves I really want to go led has anyone had any luck and what did you use? Any info would be great thank you

 

[Reefing Madness]

:bump2:

 

[TheSaint216]

Theres a red led par 38 bulb ive really wanted to experiment with over my fuge

 

[Connie]

I have a JBJ Nano Glo LED light over my fuge and it works great. Model MT-NG4. Takes up no space and it was cheap.

 

[saratj1]

I use a diy multi chip led from eBay. It works great, I got a 50w blue / white . Just warm white would have been better and cheaper for a refugium, but I already had the led from another project. I also have a 20w red led flood light, but those cheap eBay led flood lights do not seem very powerful. A 20w diy led seems to my eyes much brighter than the 20w eBay flood, but the eBay floods are a little nicer looking and not a bad price.
The 50w DIY led that I made would cost around $65-80 with the heatsink being the most expensive component, because I didn't want to run a fan down there so I got a heavy / large heatsink to provide passive cooling for the big multichip.
I would buy a big 100w warm white multi-chip, then buy a 50w power supply for it and go like that, so you get the max life and a little lower heat from the led. It will cause a little spectrum shift running the led at 50w but the algae probably won't care.

Here are some links to buy the stuff I'm talking about.

100w led- $12

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?index=0&sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=380515680644

50w power supply
(This 50w will work with the 100w led above)

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?index=0&sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=230954868033

This heatsink would be great, it's a little expensive, but you don't want to skimp on the heatsink. I would look around for the size that would be best for your application but the bigger the better.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?index=0&sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=280718194429

 

[shred5]

If you are lighting a fuge for algae you want some red spectrum. The par38 grow lights are really good.

 

[thereeferdude]

I actually grow the heck out of Chaetomorpha with a PAR30 13.5W 5000K Utilitech Pro LED from Lowes. It has 6 emitters for a total of 600 lumens. I would build a grow light with more red spectrum, but why would I when this seems to be going gangbusters? I remove about 50% of the Chaeto every 3 weeks. (sometimes more often).

Kyle Hurt
Via the R2R Forum iOS app

 

[powdermonkey]

I just ordered this one. Should work well.
reefbreeders

 

[onepoorreefer]

This is the led bulb from lowes that I use. It work great for Chaeto . The chaeto doubles in size every 3 weeks Compare

[h=3]90-Watt (23W) PAR38 Medium Base Daylight (5000K) Outdoor Decorative LED Bulb

• PAR 38 light bulb
• Uses 23 watts for 1400 lumens of brightness
• Bulb life is 30000 hours or 27 years at 3 hours a day
• Medium base most frequently used for flood, recessed or spot light applications
• Designed to be weather proof
• 5000K Color Temperature, Day light
• Daylight light can provide clean cool atmosphere and brighten a room
• Light bulb dimensions 5" x 4.75"

[/h]

 

[jedimasterben]

Macroalgaes like light in an approximate ratio of 4:1 660nm to 450nm. That is the ideal light in which it will grow the fastest and absorb the most nutrients. That being said, most will grow very well under just about any light you provide - but I'd stress to keep it shifted toward the red spectrum as macros want far more of that.

 

[bvff3343]

"I actually grow the heck out of Chaetomorpha with a PAR30 13.5W 5000K Utilitech Pro LED from Lowes. It has 6 emitters for a total of 600 lumens. I would build a grow light with more red spectrum, but why would I when this seems to be going gangbusters? I remove about 50% of the Chaeto every 3 weeks. (sometimes more often)."

+1