Why Pay $$$ For A Refugerim

[427HISS]

Why do we need to spend hundreds of dollars for a algae lights, when a cheap grow light, heavy in the red spectrum ? I have four Kessil's and like them, just not for my refugium. I figure that if many more professionals reefers do not have them, why not just use a 5000-6500k, grow light, so why spend all that money. We all like to save money, so that much can go somewhere else.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

People like name brands over what just works.

 

[mch1984]

I don’t spend the money, my display and frag tank both run $50 amazon UFO lights and they preform great.

 

[427HISS]

People like name brands over what just works.

'' Name Factor'', as it may......$$$

 

[ReefWithCare]

Member when ppl used to use cheap HD/Walmart lights for a fuge [emoji28]

[emoji848]

 

[KrisReef]

A nicely built fuge or Chaeto reactor look nice.
My bucket with a shop light and $18.00 65ooK LED look like a dead anemone.
The difference is in how different people appreciate the dead anemone; some think it's cool and other's think it stinks.
Both work just fine, one just is easier to be around but it costs a bit more money.

 

[Hemmdog]

If your fuge light puts out more par than your display lights, nussance algae will be more prone to form in your sump. Super high par fuge lights that aren’t hot like a metal halide tend to not be very cheap. That’s why I spent 150 some odd bucks for a good kessil fuge light, I couldn’t be happier with that purchase, no gha or any nussance algae ever in my tank, rarely get algae on my glass, chaeto grows like crazy. Idk, I personally think it’s worth it. It’s not that expensive compared to like a new powerhead or skimmer.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

A nicely built fuge or Chaeto reactor look nice.
My bucket with a shop light and $18.00 65ooK LED look like a dead anemone.
The difference is in how different people appreciate the dead anemone; some think it's cool and other's think it stinks.
Both work just fine, one just is easier to be around but it costs a bit more money.

A fresh water planted tank light is like $30. Led. Programmable
About 8000 k. You can grow coral with it too. .

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If your fuge light puts out more par than your display lights, nussance algae will be more prone to form in your sump. Super high par fuge lights that aren’t hot like a metal halide tend to not be very cheap. That’s why I spent 150 some odd bucks for a good kessil fuge light, I couldn’t be happier with that purchase, no gha or any nussance algae ever in my tank, rarely get algae on my glass, chaeto grows like crazy. Idk, I personally think it’s worth it. It’s not that expensive compared to like a new powerhead or skimmer.

What light is that ?
The small pink kessil fuge light is pretty low power I’m pretty sure.

 

[Hemmdog]

What light is that ?
The small pink kessil fuge light is pretty low power I’m pretty sure.

Personally I have a H80. It works good for me. But if I had more powerful lights over my display and a larger sump the H350 or whatever is killer.
I just had trouble growing chaeto in the past, and once I got this light I’ve had a lot of success in my main tank. It really does help with the nussance algae though even with the H80 being small, it must be spectrum & high par. My sump is loaded with all kinds of bad and good algae.

 

[Hemmdog]

My question in this thread is , why have a display refugium?
It seems like it’s defeating the purpose of keeping the yuck in the sump and the display clean and tidy. The extra nutrients have to be settling somewhere... no way they are all getting skimmed out or consumed to grow macro and corals alone.

 

[cracker]

I use Nova Evergrows over my fuges around 140$ They work just fine !

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Personally I have a H80. It works good for me. But if I had more powerful lights over my display and a larger sump the H350 or whatever is killer.
I just had trouble growing chaeto in the past, and once I got this light I’ve had a lot of success in my main tank. It really does help with the nussance algae though even with the H80 being small, it must be spectrum & high par. My sump is loaded with all kinds of bad and good algae.

H80 is actually fairly low par. Fwiw.
Does work well though.

Any of the pink lights will and some of a agricultural hydroponic ones are in the par range of the mars aqua and black boxes. 150 165 etc.
To the ops point , most are far cheaper than the name brands.

 

[Hemmdog]

H80 is actually fairly low par. Fwiw.
Does work well though.

Any of the pink lights will and some of a agricultural hydroponic ones are in the par range of the mars aqua and black boxes. 150 165 etc.
To the ops point , most are far cheaper than the name brands.

Nicee, yea I didn’t really shop around to be honest. I heard they worked well and gave it a gamble. Worked out well for me this time, lol.

 

[Hermie]

If your fuge light puts out more par than your display lights, nussance algae will be more prone to form in your sump. Super high par fuge lights that aren’t hot like a metal halide tend to not be very cheap. That’s why I spent 150 some odd bucks for a good kessil fuge light, I couldn’t be happier with that purchase, no gha or any nussance algae ever in my tank, rarely get algae on my glass, chaeto grows like crazy. Idk, I personally think it’s worth it. It’s not that expensive compared to like a new powerhead or skimmer.

Personally I have a H80. It works good for me. But if I had more powerful lights over my display and a larger sump the H350 or whatever is killer.
I just had trouble growing chaeto in the past, and once I got this light I’ve had a lot of success in my main tank. It really does help with the nussance algae though even with the H80 being small, it must be spectrum & high par. My sump is loaded with all kinds of bad and good algae.

Hmm. At first I thought you may have ben on to something with "high power" but an H80 as Salty mentioned is fairly "low" power for an LED and also I am now wondering how high off your waterline do you have yours mounted? The reason I bring these things up is because maybe "low par" is better at controlling nuisance algae than "high par" because A. That seems to be how yours is currently set up and B. lower light means higher competition for "scarce" resources which would likely mean Chaeto beats microalgae (higher organism beats lower).

I say all this in the frame that I'm currently experiencing a lot of nuisance algae in my sump's chaeto (lotta hair algae) and I run a light directly over the waterline (1" or less) but maybe I need to lower the par by raising it up higher. The other issue is spectrum, your H80 likely has a better spectrum if it's purple, because I think nuisance algae does better in white light (more green,yellow,orange) than in the absence of it. But that's a theory based a little on some threads in Dana Riddle's forum, and don't quote me on it.

 

[Hemmdog]

Hmm. At first I thought you may have ben on to something with "high power" but an H80 as Salty mentioned is fairly "low" power for an LED and also I am now wondering how high off your waterline do you have yours mounted? The reason I bring these things up is because maybe "low par" is better at controlling nuisance algae than "high par" because A. That seems to be how yours is currently set up and B. lower light means higher competition for "scarce" resources which would likely mean Chaeto beats microalgae (higher organism beats lower).

I say all this in the frame that I'm currently experiencing a lot of nuisance algae in my sump's chaeto (lotta hair algae) and I run a light directly over the waterline (1" or less) but maybe I need to lower the par by raising it up higher. The other issue is spectrum, your H80 likely has a better spectrum if it's purple, because I think nuisance algae does better in white light (more green,yellow,orange) than in the absence of it. But that's a theory based a little on some threads in Dana Riddle's forum, and don't quote me on it.

I think your right! That would make sense for my situation. I have mine mounted on the mini gooseneck, it’s about 8 maybe 10 inches off my fuge water level. I keep it at 100% intensity and the spectrum in the middle of grow & bloom, it’s more purplish than pink. I run it 20 hours a day and let my chaeto & caulerpa rest during the middle of my peak in my display. (I turn it off, lol)

 

[EMeyer]

N

A fresh water planted tank light is like $30. Led. Programmable
About 8000 k. You can grow coral with it too. .

Not familiar with FW suppliers, I would love to see a link to read more about the kind of lights you're talking about.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

N

Not familiar with FW suppliers, I would love to see a link to read more about the kind of lights you're talking about.

Take s stroll though. eBay. You want full spectrum planted tank lights.
Amazon has them as well.

 

[ReefWithCare]

Take s stroll though. eBay. You want full spectrum planted tank lights.
Amazon has them as well.

Would this be a good example? I’m actually looking for one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-47-6500...hash=item4424092242:m:mh2cBW7UQeh1l5wDHTa20zw

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Would this be a good example? I’m actually looking for one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-47-6500...hash=item4424092242:m:mh2cBW7UQeh1l5wDHTa20zw

Yes it is.