New kessil light for Chaeto?

MikeyB · May 13, 2019

So i was looking for a new light for my refugium, i've tried the kessil h80 and one of those par 38 bulbs from amazon and never had much luck with them. Chaeto always died off so i need to get a real light.

The space i have is about 8" wide, 18" deep and 9" tall. It's actually the last chamber in this sump.

https://www.marinedepot.com/Marine_...gger_Systems_36_inch-MD81690-FIFRBSCU-vi.html

I immediately though the kessil h380 and was going to go with that, but then after some searching here and checking some reviews the newer-ish kessil h160 seemed to be pretty popular as well..

For the space i have would the h160 work pretty well since its not a huge area? or would i be better off going with the h380 instead.

Clarksski · May 13, 2019

I would go for the h380. Grows cheato like no other. It also will grow GHA and the tang and foxface just love to eat it after I harvest and attach to a rock.

Peace River · May 13, 2019

You may have already done each of these, but if not I would encourage you to (1) check your nutrients before you upgrade the light, and (2) search for "growing chaeto" here on R2R. This is not an uncommon issue and often it is not solved by new lighting. . . although that H380 would be really nice! Good luck!

landlubber · May 13, 2019

probably not what you want to hear but that h80 is about all you need for that space. I wouldn't get too wrapped up in it not working for you previously as chaeto can be weird in that it can grow amazingly for months and one day decide to fragment and die off.

Hemmdog · May 13, 2019

What’s your nutrients? I’m having a surprising amount of success from my h80. Chaeto and caulerpa grow like crazy, needs harvested every other week. I also dose trace elements due to macro algae’s consumption of them, iron specifically amongst others.

MikeyB · May 13, 2019

Wow ok, haha that was quick..
I know i have enough nutrients as there's some hair algae popping up in the tank in a few spots.. I havent tested it in a while but i figured if some HA is popping up, there's more then enough to be able to grow some cheato.

I've done a bit of research already, i even tried dosing a bit of iron as well. I was just figuring that h80 wasnt powerful enough to out compete my main tank lights, hence me possibly going with something alot stronger.

Oh also i was keeping the h80 about 8" off the water as well, if that matters, cant really get it much lower then that though.

Do you guys think i should give it another shot with the h80? or could it be it's just not powerful enough. i could never get it to tumble really, i could put a powerhead in there and get it moving around though pretty decently i'd say.

Hemmdog · May 13, 2019

MikeyB said:
Wow ok, haha that was quick..
I know i have enough nutrients as there's some hair algae popping up in the tank in a few spots.. I havent tested it in a while but i figured if some HA is popping up, there's more then enough to be able to grow some cheato.

I've done a bit of research already, i even tried dosing a bit of iron as well. I was just figuring that h80 wasnt powerful enough to out compete my main tank lights, hence me possibly going with something alot stronger.

Oh also i was keeping the h80 about 8" off the water as well, if that matters, cant really get it much lower then that though.

Do you guys think i should give it another shot with the h80? or could it be it's just not powerful enough. i could never get it to tumble really, i could put a powerhead in there and get it moving around though pretty decently i'd say.

I’d give the h80 another shot, attempt to get it 4-6 inches off the water. I have the mini gooseneck for mine, not sure how yours is mounted. I also keep the spectrum in the middle between grow and bloom, running at 100% 20hrs a day.

MikeyB · May 13, 2019

Hemmdog said:
I’d give the h80 another shot, attempt to get it 4-6 inches off the water. I have the mini gooseneck for mine, not sure how yours is mounted. I also keep the spectrum in the middle between grow and bloom, running at 100% 20hrs a day.

I have the gooseneck as well, i can get it alot closer i think, i was just worried about getting it that close to the water. And cool thanks for that note on the spectrum! Guess it's better to start there then drop 250$ on a new light.

Appreciate all the help everyone!

*edit* do you think adding a powerhead in there to really get the flow moving will help? I'm not really sure how much flow is going through there.. its not a ton, i do know that

acbaldwin · May 14, 2019

I'd do a 150w equivalent CREE par38 from homedepot, not an amazon one. The home depot lights grow great. Also +1 about nutrient levels.

AllSignsPointToFish · May 14, 2019

I have an H150 magenta. I couldn't grow anything with low nutrients, so I agree with checking those first .

MikeyB · May 14, 2019

acbaldwin said:
I'd do a 150w equivalent CREE par38 from homedepot, not an amazon one. The home depot lights grow great. Also +1 about nutrient levels.

If I don't have any luck with putting my h80 right over the water that will be my next option. Thanks!

I can test for nitrates but I found I had better luck just going off how the tank looks then trying to chase numbers.. I don't even have a phosphate test anymore..

Silver14SS · May 14, 2019

I use a H160 over my 10.5″ x 14.5″ x 11.5" refugium. Macros struggled a little while I had cyano, but after clearing that up, they grow like weeds!

MikeyB · May 14, 2019

Here's my nitrates. Definitely pretty high. Don't have phosphates but here's a little bit of what I'm dealing with as well..sorry for the blue ness of it.

AllSignsPointToFish · May 14, 2019

Carbon dosing will knock that out quickly as long as you have a good skimmer.

MikeyB · May 14, 2019

Kinda funny you say that, i actually started carbon dosing (vinegar) just a little bit about a week and a half ago. I still want to get the chaeto going though and rely on that more so then the dosing or even do both if the need arises

AllSignsPointToFish · May 14, 2019

I started carbon dosing about two weeks into starting a new reef. Never had to go through the "ugly phase". As long as I keep nitrates around 1 ppm with phosphates in the 0.04-0.08 ppm range everything does well.

AllSignsPointToFish · May 14, 2019

MikeyB said:
Kinda funny you say that, i actually started carbon dosing (vinegar) just a little bit about a week and a half ago. I still want to get the chaeto going though and rely on that more so then the dosing or even do both if the need arises

You're going to need a heck of a lot of chaeto to keep nutrient levels like that down! Lol

MikeyB · May 14, 2019

AllSignsPointToFish said:
You're going to need a heck of a lot of chaeto to keep nutrient levels like that down! Lol

That's the plan!

but for reals, if i can get chaeto growing for me, ill let that do its thing and then supplement with carbon dosing

MikeyB · May 21, 2019

Wanted to give a quick update here. I dropped my h80 closer and increased the flow a bit and still having no luck.

Went from a nice dark green dense ball to now its turning white and falling apart.

I'm going to stop by home depot and try a par 38 Cree bulb first as that was also suggested.. Do I want a normal size bulb? Or a flood light. Also I'm guessing around 5k Kelvin is what I want?

acbaldwin · May 21, 2019

Any version of this light will do you fine, this is the one I used:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-15...Bulb-TPAR38-1803040FH25-12DE26-1-11/304150141

Have you tried a water change or anything? I'm wondering if there's some trace you're missing? I don't know if iron was talked about but iron is pretty huge, especially with green plants/macros. Kent's iron supplement works well.

I haven't seen the h80 in person, but I'd be surprised if kessil made *anything* that couldn't grow chaeto.