Best Leds for Chaeto?

[Gungo]

Ebay ufo light no matter the wattage. I purchased the 150w for 20$, the sellers sell for 30$ but best offer him! since I put this on my tank chaeto its duplicating its size weekly. just for 20$!!!! best light was ever seen for algae growth.

 

[75galOCD]

I believe the horticulture lights (h380/h80) that most people use for refugiums only have a "growth" and "bloom" setting, both of which are pretty red. I dont think it would effect any refugium creatures unless you mean higher life forms like shrimp or fish, i wouldnt do that. You could use something like the Kessil a160 tuna sun (or smaller a80 tuna sun), which is definitely more white and tunable to your liking, while still good for plant growth. It is designed for freshwater planted tanks I believe.

OK Thank you BigJohnny
I was thinking that I would try and have pods and what not flourishing in there with the micro algae! I'm going to check out the a160

 

[siggy]

Hey Johnnie has anybody tried any of these, I went to the web site for information on this stuff after hearing of poor success with the H80. @crabs_mcjones any news on these kool-aid flavors. @randyBRS anything on these?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Hey Johnnie has anybody tried any of these, I went to the web site for information on this stuff after hearing of poor success with the H80. @crabs_mcjones any news on these kool-aid flavors. @randyBRS anything on these?

I have been reading up on them. They're basically the A160's of horticulture. But are not adjustable. You buy each individual color as needed.

 

[BigJohnny]

Hey Johnnie has anybody tried any of these, I went to the web site for information on this stuff after hearing of poor success with the H80. @crabs_mcjones any news on these kool-aid flavors. @randyBRS anything on these?

I believe some of those are discontinued but regardless they are older lights and hard to find new/may need special order.

The H150 purple is a general purpose grow light. H150 magenta adds more red to focus on flowering/blooming. Either would work well. There was an h350 which was a bigger version of the purple I think but the newest is the h380 which allows you to switch between the purple and magenta essentially.

The H150 red and blue are supplements to existing light sources and wouldn't be as good as the others.

I would definitely take an H150 purple or magenta over the H80 imo. I don't think they are much more and definitely more powerful.

 

[siggy]

Thanks guys, I was hoping for a mid range unit but will keep shopping

 

[rock_lobster]

Kind of pointless..... Chaeto is essentially a weed... It is not hard to grow. For growth rate of chaeto it is exponentially proportional to nitrate and phos levels with just about any light sources... IE if you have a 200$ chaeto light and no NO3 or PHOS then you will have zero chaeto growth... IF you have a 5$ 3600k flood light with sufficient NO3 and PHOS then you will grow A LOT OF CHAETO.. If you have a 200$ light +NO3+PHOS.. Then you may grow 10% more or some other insignificant amount...

 

[rock_lobster]

Also to expand on that further, It is counterintuitive to have a 200w super red spectrum LED on your chaeto because then yes the rate of NO3 and PHOS absorption will be far too fast and it will be impossible to maintain a low steady level of NO3/PHOS.. It would make more sense to have an average range and rate of absorption that can be achieved by a 5$ flood light.

 

[BigJohnny]

Kind of pointless..... Chaeto is essentially a weed... It is not hard to grow. For growth rate of chaeto it is exponentially proportional to nitrate and phos levels with just about any light sources... IE if you have a 200$ chaeto light and no NO3 or PHOS then you will have zero chaeto growth... IF you have a 5$ 3600k flood light with sufficient NO3 and PHOS then you will grow A LOT OF CHAETO.. If you have a 200$ light +NO3+PHOS.. Then you may grow 10% more or some other insignificant amount...

It's all relative, I don't get why people keep saying that any light is sufficient, it's not always sufficient. Also I'm not sure how many people grow chaeto without nitrate and phosphate, the whole point is to reduce nitrate and phosphate. I upgraded my light and doubled my growth, so have thousands of other people.

 

[BigJohnny]

Also to expand on that further, It is counterintuitive to have a 200w super red spectrum LED on your chaeto because then yes the rate of NO3 and PHOS absorption will be far too fast and it will be impossible to maintain a low steady level of NO3/PHOS.. It would make more sense to have an average range and rate of absorption that can be achieved by a 5$ flood light.

You just said youd only get about 10% more growth or some other insignificant amount with a $200 light, now it would grow far too fast and it will be impossible to maintain levels? Again, it's all relative, and that's why you can't say either way, because you don't know.

By saying things like that you are basically just assuming every single tank's size, lighting, water parameters, live stock, feeding routine, photoperiod, temperature, refugium size, flow rate through refugium, refugium photoperiod, height of refugium light, ratios of nitrate to phosphate, bacteria, other nutrient export methods, target for nitrate and phosphate etc are all the same. There are so many variables, you can't just say that light will grow it well enough or slow enough or far too fast and then that magically applies to everyone's situation.

 

[Matthew Frost]

Also to expand on that further, It is counterintuitive to have a 200w super red spectrum LED on your chaeto because then yes the rate of NO3 and PHOS absorption will be far too fast and it will be impossible to maintain a low steady level of NO3/PHOS.. It would make more sense to have an average range and rate of absorption that can be achieved by a 5$ flood light.

Rock, BRS did the initial tests on this and they found that under identical or nearly identical circumstances the light can and does make a HUGE difference.

 

[BigJohnny]

Rock, BRS did the initial tests on this and they found that under identical or nearly identical circumstances the light can and does make a HUGE difference.

Sure did. So have thousands of other people who have upgraded refugium lights when their home depot bulbs weren't producing the results they wanted.

 

[IonicBond]

This one grows Chaeto like crazy for me, and it's a cheap Amazon Par38

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWP37SD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[BigJohnny]

Just a reminder everyone, let's focus on positive comments about the best led lights for chaeto and your experience with them. This thread was not meant for debate.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I think what we all need to understand is that not every tank is the same. Therefore not every light source is going to perform the same for everyone. Some people have huge success with the H380, others it just melts their chaeto to nothing. Some have huge success with 5$ cfl bulbs and others can't grow it not matter what. It all depends on the individual system. So please dont critisize others fir their light choice or their money spending choices. Thank you

 

[BigJohnny]

This one grows Chaeto like crazy for me, and it's a cheap Amazon Par38

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWP37SD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Nice, that's obviously a mostly blue light geared towards corals etc, but plenty of people have success with a variety of spectrums. The purple/magenta blend which is usually around a 3:1 red:blue combo is the trend right now, but Triton actually still recommends white and blue t5 bulbs. Now obviously the white bulbs have some red, but this is why I am excited for the results of danas tests on spectrum/intensity on chaeto photosynthesis etc.

 

[IonicBond]

Nice, that's obviously a mostly blue light geared towards corals etc, but plenty of people have success with a variety of spectrums. The purple/magenta blend which is usually around a 3:1 red:blue combo is the trend right now, but Triton actually still recommends white and blue t5 bulbs. Now obviously the white bulbs have some red, but this is why I am excited for the results of danas tests on spectrum/intensity on chaeto photosynthesis etc.

Yeah I originally got it for my nano reef project and then I *cough* stumbled on an Radion XR15 for it instead and stuck this one in the sump lol. All I can tell you is that it works.

 

[BigJohnny]

Yeah I originally got it for my nano reef project and then I *cough* stumbled on an Radion XR15 for it instead and stuck this one in the sump lol. All I can tell you is that it works.

Haha nice

 

[lbacha]

The H80/360 color blend is just optimized for plant growth. It removed all the aesthetically pleasing colors that make the light look like daylight and just go es for plant growth. A 6500 kelvin daylight (Kessil tuna sun for example) will grow cheato just as quickly as a h360 it would just need to be higher wattage since there is wasted colors in it. Even the h360 has wasted colors because the growth setting actually cuts out a lot of the blue so you are not getting the full 90w. I actually think on a display refugium your best light option would be a Kessil a360we tuna sun as it would provide plenty of light for the cheato (and as a bonus the intensity is adjustable) and it looks much more natural. It would also grow coral better if you wanted to put Xenia or other softies in your fuge.

 

[siggy]

I can attest to a stronger light on chaeto. I just did a 1 year cleaning of tank and sump. I have a led under cabinet strip light 80% reds 10% blue 10% white, its strong enough to maintain coraline and red cabbage microalgae
in the sump but not grow them I do have green algae growing on the walls of the sump and skimmer, as far as nutrients i had too much which led me to remove 1/2 of my live rock and do a thorough cleaning.