Refugium lighting: Bias against Warm Light

[Hermie]

Hi, I have been wondering this for a few months, and I mean this in as an objective/scientific sense as possible.

Why is there a bias against using 2700K to 3500K lighting for macroalgae?

Given two bulbs, one that's 3000K and one that's 6500K:

• Let's say this hypothetical 3000K bulb uses more power (watts) than the 6500K bulb, and
• let's say the 3000K bulb has the same level of photons hitting the blue spectrum as the 6500K.

Would not the 3000K bulb grow the algae just as well? There would likely be more heat from the 3000K bulb, and there would be additional visible light (non-PUR spectrum), but the plants would be getting what they need.

This is not even bringing up the fact that horticulture industries use warm light for various setups, which lends that warm spectrums could be effective for refugiums as well.

Is there some reason we don't want yellow/green/orange spectrum light in macroalgae-based refugiums? Excess heat? Waste of power/money?

Secondly, is increased wattage in the red spectrum damaging to macroalgae? Is it because the ocean does not absorb much warm light at depth?

Curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks

 

[Triggreef]

double post sorry

 

[Triggreef]

I've tried them all. Since swapping to red LED the growth is out of control. Red is the way to go. Hands down.

 

[hart24601]

I thought the current trend is the exact opposite, use low K for refugiums. Less blue.

 

[Hermie]

I thought the current trend is the exact opposite, use low K for refugiums. Less blue.

maybe it's just my impression based off a small sample size

 

[Captmcfly]

Horticulture grow light macro is loving life

 

[Captmcfly]

Low k is for people who wish to use a cheap lamp and in my exp you get what ya pay for will it grow ?? Yea it will. Will it have massive nutrient uptake and massive growth? Probably not. But it will do a ok job. However reds will be far more productive
I use to use a cheap 6500k lamp and it did work so no hate here. Just did some reading and came to the conclusion red is best for Chlorophyll based plant growth.