2800 K good for chaeto?

[cduran02]

I have a hang on tank refugium with chaeto in it. Originally I had a natural daylight bulb over it which Im guessing is around 6700 k. Now I found a Hagen 2800 K bulb which says its "ideal for plant growth". Just wondering if anyone has any experience using this bulb for chaeto. Should I switch back to the natural daylight or will 2800 K be better?

[cduran02]

??

[cduran02]

?

[Samala]

CD.. no need to bump in this forum.. we get loads less traffic than the others. I would just stick with the 6700K bulb myself. Lower light temperatures are just a shift in the spectrum, I dont think there is enough shift in the PAR values between a 2800K and a 6700K to really make a measurable difference in growth rate for the Chaetomorpha. The one other value I always like to see for bulbs from Home Depot or other sources is the CRI index. Try to find bulbs that are high CRI.. over 85 or better.

All that said.. I have not seen or personally done any experiments with Chaetomorpha to see if a side by side test of low K bulbs vs. higher K bulbs make a difference.

>Sarah

[AIMFish]

Originally posted by Samala
I have not seen or personally done any experiments with Chaetomorpha to see if a side by side test of low K bulbs vs. higher K bulbs make a difference.

LOL I was thinking along those lines. Change the bulb and see if you get different results and then report back to us!!

[cduran02]

I had the Daylight bulb going for about a week. What Ill do is leave the 2800 K buld for a week and see if there is any difference. Though I think a week isnt enough time (not sure what the growth rate of Chaeto is) Ill just repeat the experiment with longer periods of time, about a month for each.

[AIMFish]

Good idea, try to keep stock and husbrandy levels equal of course. BTW is that your dog, if so he/she is awesome! I had a chihuahua when I was a kid that had head markings just like that!!

[Triterium]

I used a 4000K MH that worked well for caulerpa and chaetomorpha. It was a 175 watt and seemed brighter than a 400 watt 10k MH i had.

[AIMFish]

Originally posted by AIMFish
Change the bulb and see if you get different results and then report back to us!!

OK not the same spectrum but I think this link will show some good comparisons and may help you make that decision w/out doing your own experiment http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

[cduran02]

Great link, thanks I think Ill give 5100K bulbs a try. Ill see if I can get something in that color temp (weather flood style or tube).