- Which one of these 11 refugium lighting options
puts out the most punch in par?
Which one has the widest spread?
the lowest mounting height,
or even the lowest, our highest cost per par?
Today you'll finally get to see the data that we found.
We have over 50 Reef lighting investigates videos
in our light testing platelets,
but not a single one is based
on refugium lighting performance.
So that all ends today with a sort
of BRS Investigates two part-er.
Where in today's part one,
we dive into the par data, spread data, cost per par data
for these 11 different refugium lighting options.
Innovative Marine ChaetoMax.
The Neptune GRO.
Kessil H80.
Tunze, 10-K LED.
The Kessil H160.
AI Prime Freshwater
and AI Fuge.
The A360 Fuge light.
The XR15
and XR30 Freshwater lights
And the big boy, the Kessil H1200.
So to set the stage for today's testing results
here's the breakdown for how we approach
this testing process.
Much like we in our Reef lighting testing,
the first episode, determine an optimal
mounting height where less than 15% of the light is spilled
outside the area you're trying to illuminate
which is in this case, your Fuge.
We use our standard 36 point testing grid
which is roughly a two foot by two foot area
mounted each light at six inches above the par meter,
and then raise the light until we crossed over a 15% loss
in par due to spillage.
And yes, we are testing an air for this one.
Since the vast majority refugiums
will have a massive Chaeto that typically floats at,
or near the surface to the water where the most par will be.
That's really all there is to today's test
because with a mounting height determined,
will not only be able to compare
the highest to lowest mounting
but will also be able to see each light spread performance
as well as used today's cost for each of these lights
to determine an overall cost per par.
With that let's jump right into the data,
starting with what we found from mounting heights.
We see six light modules at a eight inches,
three lights at nine inches off the surface,
one at ten inches.
And the one Kessil H1200 behemoth
comes in at a whopping 25 inches.
This one's actually pretty interesting of results to me
because outside of that mammoth H1200,
there are 10 Fuge lights here that I already have confidence
saying they will work for most common installs,
whether I'm space limited with my sump under the stand,
or I have an open or remote sump with nearly limitless room
as for that H1200 wait till you see the next par results
to see what job fits this tool the best.
First, let's take a look at that hotspot center comparison
where not surprisingly the H1200 on the bloom setting
rounds out the highest hotspot at 1465,
but surprisingly the 46 watt AI Prime Fuge
also made it in the top five highest par output
behind the H1200 and the XR30 Freshwater.
On the other end of that we see the ChaetoMax,
Neptune GRO and H80 with some of the softest warm spots
in the center at 61, 113 and one 17 respectively.
Again, not surprising here since these three
have some of the lowest wattage output of the entire group.
Next, we wanna look at spread and answer the question.
If there's a hotspot in the center
how evenly is that hotspot distributed
across the two square foot area and out towards the edges?
Well, for comparison, in our reef lighting tests,
we found that some of the best spread performances
have as little as a 20% change
from the center part of the outer edges.
Over here in our Fuge light testing
the most even distribution we see is the H1200
from 1465 in the center to 500 in the outer ring.
That means just across 16 inches from the center
to the edge there's a full 66% reduction.
Now, does that mean that everything else performed
even worse?
I would argue that's not necessarily
the case and here's why.
The sheer size and essentially four A360 axis
in one H1200 housing lets itself
to having the most even spread on top of the fact
that it's mounted at 25 inches or 15 inches higher
than the next light.
Along with that, the average refugium sizes
aren't likely going to be as large as a 24 by 24 inch area.
So it's no surprise that these smaller form factors
don't perform as strongly in the outer edges.
And most likely weren't even designed to be most effective
in that large of an area to begin with.
So with that in mind, here's that same spread data
and what it looks like in just half the size
at 12 inches by 12 inches.
And we see that really there's no change
to the order of the lights by spread
but there is absolutely a different story here,
with much smoother spread across a more relevant area.
All right, now let's get into that good stuff.
We have a recommended mounting height for each light.
We have an idea of the par spread.
Now we can use both to show a total average par
across all 36 points
and use that total average par along with today's cost
for each light to determine what each one's cost per par is.
I'm pretty sure you'll be as surprised as I was.
Okay, so for total average par we have a range
from as low as 23 to as high as 769.
And when we work in today's cost of each light,
we see that only $2 separates the cheapest at 1.44
to the most costly at 3.45 per par.
And here's the shocker for me,
of the five lowest cost per par options.
Two have some of the most expensive upfront sticker costs
the H1200 and XR30.
While two others fall into the most economical group
the Prime Fuge and the Tunze 10K.
With that information I guess we're really left
with the question of should we focus on cost per par,
to choose the right Fuge light?
Or what about spread, mounting height or total average par?
Here's how I would interpret today's data
to make a more informed decision.
First, is Fuge size.
If I have a trough or extremely large Fuge
obviously the H1200 is my first choice
on the opposite of that,
if I have a Fuge area of eight inches to ten inches or less
I'm looking at those lower wattage lights,
like ChaetoMax, the Neptune GRO, the H80 or the Tunze 10K.
But what if I'm in between those two extremes
which is likely the majority of you watching this.
What should I focus on?
Honestly, I don't think I've seen enough data yet.
I still want to know the spectrum output for each one
and even beyond that, what Spectrum's even right
for the refugium in the first place.
Also, sure there are some lights
that can push almost 1500 par
but do I really need that much?
And how much does Chaeto need anyway?
I can tell you that we're not even close
to being done testing refugium lights, yet.
We actually plan to answer those questions and more,
starting with that spectrum out output question
which you should be able to see very soon right here.
But in the meantime we do have some data on which lighting
technology grows Chaeto the best right here.
Wait until you see which one quadruples the size
of your Chaeto ball.