I've got a roughly 33" x 10" area of my sump that I'm thinking of dedicating to growing cheato (and/or other macro algae). When it comes to growing macro, is more light better? The price of LED grow lights has been coming down enough that I could easily put 300 watts or more of grow light LED over the area. Would that be better, or would that be overkill that would just "burn" the algae I'm hoping to grow?
Refugium lighting... the more the better?
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yea id say 300 watts would be overkill. depending on the depth half that would most likely be overkill. i would stick to 100 watts or less. a taotronics fixture without optics would probably work well even though its a little over 100 watts. but to give you an idea of what they really need im growing caulerpa in sump with about 25 watts of led and it grows pretty well considering that the total volume of my system is around 25-30 gallons and i only have 2 fish
If the spectrum is right (say roughly 5:1 660nm:455nm, plus maybe a bit of 430nm and/or 630nm) and flow is right (slow), how many watts before you've reached diminishing returns?
Picoreef-- think about scaling your system up... If my system and fuge volume is almost 10x yours, then would 10x your 25W = 250W make sense?
Picoreef-- think about scaling your system up... If my system and fuge volume is almost 10x yours, then would 10x your 25W = 250W make sense?
As already stated, spectrum's more important for fostering macro growth than raw output. 2-3 daylight spectrum white PAR30's (any color temp from 3000-5000K) or mid-wattage LED-based halogen-replacement track/strip lighting should do the trick for fairly little money. Unless you've already got the 660nm deep reds lying around + a driver for them.
You're growing macroalgae and not something more...ahm...recreational, right? If yes, than a full grow-light's also overkill ;-)
IMO you won't need the actinics unless this is a display fuge. Macro prefers warmer/"redder" light than corals and enough red-spectrum will be present in any 9-18w LED PAR38/PAR30 product. Assuming it doesn't have to punch down through more than 12-24" of water - in which case you'd need narrower optics on the "bulbs" than the 120's they typically come with.
Edited - piss-poor typing ability today.
You're growing macroalgae and not something more...ahm...recreational, right? If yes, than a full grow-light's also overkill ;-)
IMO you won't need the actinics unless this is a display fuge. Macro prefers warmer/"redder" light than corals and enough red-spectrum will be present in any 9-18w LED PAR38/PAR30 product. Assuming it doesn't have to punch down through more than 12-24" of water - in which case you'd need narrower optics on the "bulbs" than the 120's they typically come with.
Edited - piss-poor typing ability today.
I do have some heatsink, 660nm leds and drivers around, but I am tempted to try one of the commercial Chinese grow units. Prices seem really reasonable, and if it doesn't work, I'm pretty sure it's the kind of thing that I could resell on Craigslist...
The fuge area would be 33"x10" and water roughly 6"-8" deep. My plan is to start with chaeto and see how that does.
My displays are a 125 and a 40B and my sump is 48x18x16 (a converted 75, cut down to 16" deep). If I just put the lights on standoffs on the edge of the sump, they would be 10" above the surface of the water.
The fuge area would be 33"x10" and water roughly 6"-8" deep. My plan is to start with chaeto and see how that does.
My displays are a 125 and a 40B and my sump is 48x18x16 (a converted 75, cut down to 16" deep). If I just put the lights on standoffs on the edge of the sump, they would be 10" above the surface of the water.
Chaetomorpha is pretty forgiving stuff. Provided your water chemistry's got SOME trace measurement of nitrate/phosphate it will grow if lit, and tolerates a lot of different lighting.
Case & point, Thanreef (formerly Vista) used a wad of my leftover chaetomorpha to start the macro section of his sump... which had been sitting in a sealed bucket in a dark garage at room temp for most of the spring/summer/early fall but was still green and wirey when divided. Since then the chunk he took has tripled/quad'ed in size & density. I believe he's using a Lowes'/Home Depot PAR30 on it.
But yeah, CFL's will also work. Heck, a freebie LED keychain flashlight will make it start to bubble if you leave it on a section for more than 15 minutes or so. ;-)
Case & point, Thanreef (formerly Vista) used a wad of my leftover chaetomorpha to start the macro section of his sump... which had been sitting in a sealed bucket in a dark garage at room temp for most of the spring/summer/early fall but was still green and wirey when divided. Since then the chunk he took has tripled/quad'ed in size & density. I believe he's using a Lowes'/Home Depot PAR30 on it.
But yeah, CFL's will also work. Heck, a freebie LED keychain flashlight will make it start to bubble if you leave it on a section for more than 15 minutes or so. ;-)
Looks like Melev has 68 watts of 6500k LED over a refugium with roughly the same area growing culerpa.
I have a cheapo Aqeon LED with 2 LED tubes in it. My fuge is 30X12X12 deep. GROW Cheato and Culerpa WAY to fast. Heck I even threw a "dead" hammer and duncan in there. Not so dead after all. Coming back with a lot of new growth and heads are coming back strong...
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DavidinGA;911603 said:
Ended up going with this 75W multichip Grow LED. Prices are so low now, I couldn't buy the parts to make one for less, and it cost less than even a cheap two bulb T5 fixture. I'm going to rearrange the sump a bit so that I have an 18"x18" area rather than a 33"x10" area, so the single point source will work fine.
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So I ordered the light from Hong Kong on the 12th, with free shipping, which ended up being via FedEx. It arrived today. Wow... the world is flat.
Any pics? How far above the fuge do you hang it?
Build quality is fine, but not elegant by any stretch. There's not much to it. It's a square metal box with vents on the side and back. The reflector seems pretty shiny and there is a glass protector over the opening-- looks kind of like a big flashlight.
Inside, the LED is screwed to a "sunflower" heatsink with some thermal paste, so I could easily pull the chip off if I wanted. There's a fan on the other side of the heatsink that blows air out of the top of the box. It's not a quiet fan, but inside the cabinet, it will be fine.
There's a plug, a switch, a 12v power supply for the fan, and a 600mA 55-70V driver for the LEDs.
Note that makes it at most a 42W light, not 75W. The advertised "75W" is because there are 25 "3W" LEDs. However, typical red "3W" LEDs only take 2.5V or so, and driven at 600mA, they actually consume only 1.5W. In the advert it says the light "consumes" 45W.
All of the components could be switched out very easily.
I think this light will be fine for growing cheato, but certainly won't be burning it with too much par. I probably could have gone with their "200W" version (which "consumes" 110W). Even at 45W or so, it's still less expensive than what I would have done DIY for the same power output. The build quality and fit of the components is fine. Plus, I didn't have to spend three or four hours putting it together.
Edit: I have it sitting on a piece of glass spanning the edges of the sump, so 8-10" off the water. View angle of the reflector is roughly 90 degrees, so the light pretty much covers the 17x17" area without too much spillage outside of it.
Inside, the LED is screwed to a "sunflower" heatsink with some thermal paste, so I could easily pull the chip off if I wanted. There's a fan on the other side of the heatsink that blows air out of the top of the box. It's not a quiet fan, but inside the cabinet, it will be fine.
There's a plug, a switch, a 12v power supply for the fan, and a 600mA 55-70V driver for the LEDs.
Note that makes it at most a 42W light, not 75W. The advertised "75W" is because there are 25 "3W" LEDs. However, typical red "3W" LEDs only take 2.5V or so, and driven at 600mA, they actually consume only 1.5W. In the advert it says the light "consumes" 45W.
All of the components could be switched out very easily.
I think this light will be fine for growing cheato, but certainly won't be burning it with too much par. I probably could have gone with their "200W" version (which "consumes" 110W). Even at 45W or so, it's still less expensive than what I would have done DIY for the same power output. The build quality and fit of the components is fine. Plus, I didn't have to spend three or four hours putting it together.
Edit: I have it sitting on a piece of glass spanning the edges of the sump, so 8-10" off the water. View angle of the reflector is roughly 90 degrees, so the light pretty much covers the 17x17" area without too much spillage outside of it.
