Refugium/ATS lighting, does it have to be purple

[Duzzy]

Hi there,

Does the Refugium and ATS lighting have to be purple or is it about lumen, kelvin, watt and nm numbers?

Regards Duzzy

 

[Spare time]

Having the wavelengths peak where chlorophyll A and such are most excited makes it more efficient

 

[StatelineReefer]

I mean, technically it can be a bare 25w bulb, as long as it provides enough light for your algae to photosynthesize at night to minimize your ph drop.

 

[Ordovician_Reef]

Hi there,

Does the Refugium and ATS lighting have to be purple or is it about lumen, kelvin, watt and nm numbers?

Regards Duzzy

The 'burple' lights (blue/red) just give you the most photosynthesis for watt.

 

[Wasabiroot]

You don't need a 300 dollar specialized refugium light. Just something with sufficient luminosity and appropriate spectrum. Anything "full spectrum" or 5000k-7000k would be fine. Heck, I grow plants like crazy in my basement planted freshwater tank with simple LED spotlights.

I would recommend ensuring it is secure enough that it doesn't fall in, or purchase a fixture suitable for damp locations.

Purple lights aka "grow spectrum" work very well also, but I find they come with a markup

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Does the Refugium and ATS lighting have to be purple or is it about lumen, kelvin, watt and nm numbers?

A quick rundown on lights:

-Lumens are a measurement of how bright light looks to us, not how useful it is to photosynthetic organisms (like plants, corals, algae, etc.). Some lights look very bright to us, but are useless for photosynthetic organisms.

-Kelvin is what color we perceive the light as being (not what colors are actually produced).

-Watts are how much electricity the lights use (some people use this as a measurement of the strength of the light, but it’s not always a good indicator of that; to measure the strength of the light, you want to look at PAR - the higher the number, the stronger the light). [Edit: the higher the PAR, the stronger light is for photosynthetic organisms; as a note, the higher wattage, the higher the cost to run the light.]

-The “nm” numbers describe the wavelengths of the light produced by the light; in other words, it tells you what kind of light is being produced. This is important, as photosynthetic organisms prefer certain kinds of light. As mentioned, light that produces wavelengths that excite Chlorophyll A are generally going to be the a really solid choice (the excitement peaks are ~440nm [blue] and ~660nm [red]); full spectrum (including those red and blue peaks with some yellow and green mixed in) are the best for photosynthesis, but - as mentioned - may not be the most cost effective.

TLDR; you want a light with high PAR values that produces ~440 and ~660nm light (either “blurple” or full spectrum”).

 

[Digimes]

Along this line, thoughts on adding a 4" square refugium box in the main part of a 5g nano. The tank lights would run through the day. A) would this provide enough light on a basic level? B) would this actually be beneficial to the little reef? and c) what would be the preferred macro algae?

Goal is just to help balance the tank, no specific issues to deal with.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A) would this provide enough light on a basic level? B) would this actually be beneficial to the little reef? and c) what would be the preferred macro algae?

A) If the light is good enough for coral, it's probably good enough for macroalgae (again, though, full-spectrum lighting is best for photosynthesis/macro while "blurple" may be the most cost-effective [dependent on the light fixture]).

B) It might be - refugiums are generally used to help with nutrient export, so if you're wanting to use it to help control your tank's nutrient levels, then it may help.

C) Most people seem to use Chaeto, but here are some more that could work (the faster growing the algae is, the faster it should take up nutrients):

Macro isn't my strong point, but possibly Ulva (Sea Lettuce), Gracilaria (Ogo), or possibly Grape Caulerpa? Some species of Botryocladia (Red Grape Caulerpa) may work as well, but I've heard some may be too slowgrowing to work as an effective refugium.

Some people even use Green Hair Algae, so pretty much any algae can work, it really just depends on how fast it grows and what you want to use.

 

[Duzzy]

A) If the light is good enough for coral, it's probably good enough for macroalgae (again, though, full-spectrum lighting is best for photosynthesis/macro while "blurple" may be the most cost-effective [dependent on the light fixture]).

B) It might be - refugiums are generally used to help with nutrient export, so if you're wanting to use it to help control your tank's nutrient levels, then it may help.

C) Most people seem to use Chaeto, but here are some more that could work (the faster growing the algae is, the faster it should take up nutrients):

Some people even use Green Hair Algae, so pretty much any algae can work, it really just depends on how fast it grows and what you want to use.

That’s what the algae turf scrubbers for using the same/similar type light at least I will be.

 

[Digimes]

A) If the light is good enough for coral, it's probably good enough for macroalgae (again, though, full-spectrum lighting is best for photosynthesis/macro while "blurple" may be the most cost-effective [dependent on the light fixture]).

B) It might be - refugiums are generally used to help with nutrient export, so if you're wanting to use it to help control your tank's nutrient levels, then it may help.

C) Most people seem to use Chaeto, but here are some more that could work (the faster growing the algae is, the faster it should take up nutrients):

Some people even use Green Hair Algae, so pretty much any algae can work, it really just depends on how fast it grows and what you want to use.

Currently, I have 2 of the stock Fluval EVO 5g lights on just the one tank. One runs purple for10-12 hours a day and the other switches the full spectrum from noon to 6pm. Neither are "great" in the reef spectrums but it is what I have to work with for now. My corals are happy though, so that is what matters in the short run. I don't need make it scrub a lot, just figured something pretty or colorful would brighten up the tank. I am looking at the back wall, which seems to have great water movement from the filtration and the wave pump. This may be when the tank is a little older, just trying to figure out my 6-12 month plan.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

No, any fresh water light for plants will work great. T5 6500 will work. I hated the purple look and use a fresh water plant light on a display refugium. Looks awesome and everyone who sees it comments on it . I will shoot you a PM of when it was first set up. Of course the macro algae has really grown sense the video.

 

[RedoubtReef]

My fuge light is a 1st gen maxspect LED light that is mostly white and the Caulerpa grows just fine. My old fuge was lit with t5 daylight bulbs. So no, not required but if you can't run a fuge that is at least 50% of your display volume maybe it helps maximize that smaller fuge space.