Best Leds for Chaeto?

[steven87vt]

Hello and thank you for the amazingly helpful thread @BigJohnny! Your saving people time, money and energy (literally and metaphorically)!

I would love to know if you have any ideas on the UV output possibly being strong enough to kill pods. From some of the photos, the density of the chaeto masses people are growing might make it a mute point after a period of time but what are your thoughts on it? I am on the fence between the Growstart 150w and the MarsHydro 300w due to its lack of UV.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi wattage or Blue or Midrange red. fr the low price, this is one of the best lights I know of for chaeto growth

 

[BigJohnny]

Hello and thank you for the amazingly helpful thread @BigJohnny! Your saving people time, money and energy (literally and metaphorically)!

I would love to know if you have any ideas on the UV output possibly being strong enough to kill pods. From some of the photos, the density of the chaeto masses people are growing might make it a mute point after a period of time but what are your thoughts on it? I am on the fence between the Growstart 150w and the MarsHydro 300w due to its lack of UV.

Absolutely zero risk of killing pods with any fuge light.

 

[West1]

Case is a giant heat sink, so no fan required.

I have some air flow for the cabinet so temps shouldn’t be an issue. We will see about reliability.

Updates?
I was looking into this like a few hrs ago

 

[cobra2326]

Here's an Action Spectrum for the endolithic green alga Ostreobium (an Action Spectrum defines the effect of wavelength, in this case 0n oxygen production.) I have little reason to think that any of the Chaetomorpha species would require a substantially different spectrum. Of equal importance, is the quantity of light. Chaeto will grow under low levels of light - too much will slow the rate of photosynthesis.

Hi Dana,

I'm wondering if you could expound on the "quantity" aspect. I'm blasting my Chaeto with light, based on the findings from BRS' video comparing PAR/Spectrum of some refugium lighting.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Hi Dana,

I'm wondering if you could expound on the "quantity" aspect. I'm blasting my Chaeto with light, based on the findings from BRS' video comparing PAR/Spectrum of some refugium lighting.

Here are some numbers found in John Kirk's 2000 Light and Photosynthesis in Aquatic Ecosystems:
Chaetomorpha linum at 21C (69.8F)
Compensation Point (where oxygen production meets respiratory requirements, or minimum light required): 10 microMol/m2/sec. If we're using full spectrum light and use the standard conversion factor of 50, lux would be about 500.
On-set of the Saturation Point. Saturation is when additional light will not increase the rate of photosynthesis. On-set is when the rate begins to slow. It is 82 microMol/m2/sec, or 4,100 lux.
Saturation Point: 418 microMol/m2/sec, or 20,900 lux. Increasing light past this point could cause Photoinhibition (either Dynamic or Chronic) when the rate of photosynthesis falls in an effort to protect the photosynthetic apparatus. High amounts of light could be damaging to the macroalgae.

 

[cobra2326]

Interesting. So 1000 PAR is probabaly too much Guess I need to setup the dimmer on my refugium lights.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Interesting. So 1000 PAR is probabaly too much Guess I need to setup the dimmer on my refugium lights.
[/QUOTE
Since Chaeto is often like a Brillo pad, and if this is correct in your case, the exterior portions are likely photoinhibited, but the interior is not.

 

[little_trader]

I was asking to a link for the growstar ufo vs Kessil comparison you were referring to.

I got my Kessil h380 yesterday and finished my par testing (see image below). Basically Kessil puts out 46% more par on average when both lights are mounted at heights that achieve the most even distribution of par (without significant hotspots) in the 12x12 center area. Outside of the 12x12 the par measurements are similar. Kessil mounted at about 18" and growstar at about 7". The mounting height difference is necessary due the Kessil being a much more focused light source. You can achieve center hotspots of up to 1600+ par on both lights by mounting closer but that is way too much par imo and the distribution is terrible obviously.

In my case, the end result is I reduced my photoperiod to 8.2 hrs to match the DLI I was providing with the growstar at 12 hrs and can increase my photoperiod more down the road if I want to exceed the DLI. I am actually a little concerned the 850 peak will burn the chaeto so I may have to reduce the photoperiod further to acclimate or in general. I will document how the chaeto responds.

I have 2 other kessils already as portion of my display lighting so I'm very familiar with the quality and of course it is a fantastic light.

Out of curiosity, how many watts does each light draw? If the UFO actually draws 150W than electricy usage along with 46% reduction of PAR makes the H380 at 90W break-even in 3-5 years at 10 hours/day.

 

[BAUCE]

I have the TaoTronics LED which grows the chaeto like crazy but I have looked at CF Grow 100W. I'm worried of one of the reviews talking about it as a "UV sterilizer" it killed all of his critters overnight. I would hate to put this over my chaeto and see my over populated copepods die off.

lol that one scared me too. I was pretty excited that I could get by with such an inexpensive option till i read that review.

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

Hey y’all, got a killer deal/trade on an A160WE like This.

My goal is to build my fuge into a display with multiple varieties of macro including chaeto.

has anyone run this light for a fuge? It makes sense to me that it would work well and after installing it today, man does it look better than my bright pink grow light I had in there.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey y’all, got a killer deal/trade on an A160WE like This.

My goal is to build my fuge into a display with multiple varieties of macro including chaeto.

has anyone run this light for a fuge? It makes sense to me that it would work well and after installing it today, man does it look better than my bright pink grow light I had in there.

No but you can to support reef life. One issue you will have with the A160 is that it lacks red hue often needed by macroalgae for phosphorous (Not Phosphate)

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

No but you can to support reef life. One issue you will have with the A160 is that it lacks red hue often needed by macroalgae for phosphorous (Not Phosphate)

Gotcha, thank you. I have a tunze eco chic submersible I could use in conjunction maybe… always something to ponder