sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Ok this really isn't a DIY because all I did was screw a bulb into a desk lamp clamped over the fuge... ok with that said.
I noticed CostCo selling a couple of LED flood lights, in PAR30 and PAR38 configuration (PAR is not lighting, but the angle of the reflector) Now these configurations are really silly for LEDs, but its more of a matter of letting you know what fixture they'll fit into. The PAR30 is 3.5 watts at 172 lumens (which yes doesn't seem like much, but remember all of these lumens are going in basically one direction as opposed to every which way with a conventional bulb) and went for a hair under $11, and the PAR38 bulb was 5 watts (no lumen count) at a bit under $14. Both are made by Lights of America. Finally they both are labeled as "Bright White" and 6500K color temperature.
Now I know these setups will not save me money on an screw in CFL or any of that, but honestly I don't care, I simply want to know if this will grow algae (hopefully the good kind), just for kicks and giggles. I ended up getting the less wattage of the two, I figured initially that I should get the 5 watter because it's more light... although ironically the costco price tag states they replace a 45watt bulb... which to me is silly but all these numbers and deceptive cons they try to do to make it seem like a good deal.. whatever, but I did the PAR30 one because the lamp fixture I had in mind to screw this into was quite narrow and held a regular bulb, it turns out I chose well because this light barely fits in it.
Here's all the information they try to overwhelm you with justifying the expense. Things like 30,000 hours, even though the LoA website states 20,000, says its assembled in the US, website says made in China (yeah they both are probably true but it's pretty damn lame to say Assembled in the US), 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, 80% better efficiency (ironically the PAR38 one had 90% on its cardboard), heat free technology, annual cost to operate (with an asterisk with no explanation). They really need to work on keeping their numbers straight. But whatever. It's NEW COOL TECHNOLOGY! (it says so on the packaging!)
Now this is a part of my sump (3 chambered) where the water flows into initially, I put a bit of sand in here, a few rocks, and since I put the tank up it grew a ton of tiny feather dusters and bunch of various sponges... so I see it almost like an additional filtering system, now whether or not the macro algae will inhibit that I don't know. I ripped a small bit of chaeto from my other ball (which slowed down in growth) maybe 2 inches across, and a bit of caulerpa proliferia just to have something else to grow and compare against. Also if you noticed just up of the chaeto, there's a dark spot on a rock, which actually is a little Yuma mushroom, it must have detached some time ago from a little one I was keeping in, and landed here in the overflow area and stuck, funny thing is there really isn't any light at all down here prior to my putting this in..so how it stayed that dark of a color without bleaching I don't know... but we'll see how it grows now!
I might also toss a few junk corals/frags in here just to see what will happen, micropthalama, poccilipora, etc.
Ok that's all for now, I plan on doing weekly or biweekly picture updates just to keep track of what's going down whether for the good or the bad. Could I have made something more powerful? Sure, but when all the parts are taken into account I doubt I could make something that costs only $11 and is as low fuss as screwing in a bulb. Which was my only rational for doing this.
I noticed CostCo selling a couple of LED flood lights, in PAR30 and PAR38 configuration (PAR is not lighting, but the angle of the reflector) Now these configurations are really silly for LEDs, but its more of a matter of letting you know what fixture they'll fit into. The PAR30 is 3.5 watts at 172 lumens (which yes doesn't seem like much, but remember all of these lumens are going in basically one direction as opposed to every which way with a conventional bulb) and went for a hair under $11, and the PAR38 bulb was 5 watts (no lumen count) at a bit under $14. Both are made by Lights of America. Finally they both are labeled as "Bright White" and 6500K color temperature.
Now I know these setups will not save me money on an screw in CFL or any of that, but honestly I don't care, I simply want to know if this will grow algae (hopefully the good kind), just for kicks and giggles. I ended up getting the less wattage of the two, I figured initially that I should get the 5 watter because it's more light... although ironically the costco price tag states they replace a 45watt bulb... which to me is silly but all these numbers and deceptive cons they try to do to make it seem like a good deal.. whatever, but I did the PAR30 one because the lamp fixture I had in mind to screw this into was quite narrow and held a regular bulb, it turns out I chose well because this light barely fits in it.
Here's all the information they try to overwhelm you with justifying the expense. Things like 30,000 hours, even though the LoA website states 20,000, says its assembled in the US, website says made in China (yeah they both are probably true but it's pretty damn lame to say Assembled in the US), 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, 80% better efficiency (ironically the PAR38 one had 90% on its cardboard), heat free technology, annual cost to operate (with an asterisk with no explanation). They really need to work on keeping their numbers straight. But whatever. It's NEW COOL TECHNOLOGY! (it says so on the packaging!)
Now this is a part of my sump (3 chambered) where the water flows into initially, I put a bit of sand in here, a few rocks, and since I put the tank up it grew a ton of tiny feather dusters and bunch of various sponges... so I see it almost like an additional filtering system, now whether or not the macro algae will inhibit that I don't know. I ripped a small bit of chaeto from my other ball (which slowed down in growth) maybe 2 inches across, and a bit of caulerpa proliferia just to have something else to grow and compare against. Also if you noticed just up of the chaeto, there's a dark spot on a rock, which actually is a little Yuma mushroom, it must have detached some time ago from a little one I was keeping in, and landed here in the overflow area and stuck, funny thing is there really isn't any light at all down here prior to my putting this in..so how it stayed that dark of a color without bleaching I don't know... but we'll see how it grows now!
I might also toss a few junk corals/frags in here just to see what will happen, micropthalama, poccilipora, etc.
Ok that's all for now, I plan on doing weekly or biweekly picture updates just to keep track of what's going down whether for the good or the bad. Could I have made something more powerful? Sure, but when all the parts are taken into account I doubt I could make something that costs only $11 and is as low fuss as screwing in a bulb. Which was my only rational for doing this.
