Advice? Cheato Lighting

We run led reef breeders on our sump 24/7 on full blast multi color and whites. And have excellent growth and our testing is perfect.

 

Went to menards and bought a 20 dollar led light there the cheeto grows like crazy, on for 12 hours opp to display, and I believe it is 5700k

 

Red and green grow algae faster than blue

 

@jeremy has one he might....

 

I have used red only LEDs on chaeto, some have red and blue LEDs too. The idea is just that red is a very efficient spectrum for growth in most algae, so getting the most growth per watt. That being said it's not a big deal for most of us. Saving a few watts that is.

 

I normally do 24 hour and it makes my chaeto explode. I have cut it back to 12 in order to get rid of some cyano on my chaeto and my growth is easily half of what it normally is. Never attempted red LEDs, I am using the Eshopps curve LED.

 

What Ace25 says in this post,

Spectrum Led light Colors for ATS and UAS

 

Check this one out:

Do you need a cheap sump light?

 

Check out the Mars Aqua Hydro led light. Mostly red led. Grow algae like crazy. Super strong light.
I run my refugium light for 18 hours. Mostly opposite display lighting.
I had to put lower power light over my refugium. I bought some 20 watt warm white outdoor led fixtures for about $20 a piece. Works great.

 

A par38 bulb was recommended to me by a couple people around Des Moines. works well and no complaints. run it 24/7 about $20+ online

 

As you can see it doesn't really matter much! Most people that use red LEDs, which I have, like them for their longevity, but clearly many sources and photoperiods will work and it's also important to consider the size and bioload of the system as if using macro as an export the growth must keep pace with the input. A 40g tank feeding 1 frozen cube a day will not have to grow much macro mass, but a 200g heavily stocked tank that is fed several cubes, coral food, nori and more is going to need a lot more macro algae export and in that situation may need more light.

One thing to keep in mind when talking about the red spectrum is to keep things relative. Sure 5W of red LED might grow macro better than 5W cool white or even warm white, but 5W of red vs 10W of warm white is harder to say especially if changing light types.

If your macro isn't growing it doesn't mean the light isn't strong enough either, the algae could be nutrient limited. Not just by what we normally test for, phosphate and nitrate, but other harder to test for elements such as iron. This does happen from time to time and is something to keep in mind.