Product Showcase: Refugium Grow PAR30

[CoralCompulsion]

We get a lot of questions regarding the specifics of some of our PAR bulbs. So, we will be doing a series of posts over the course of the next few weeks showcasing one of our bulbs in each post.

Our first showcase will be for one of our most popular bulbs, our 14w Refugium Grow PAR30 bulb.

14w Refugium Grow PAR30 - $59.99

We are avid saltwater hobbyists ourselves, and many of our products are the direct result of experimenting with things to meet our own needs. The refugium bulb experiment started a couple years ago after one of our compact fluorescent bulbs we were using over one of our refugiums burnt out. We replaced it temporarily with one of our older model PAR38s with all royal blue and cool white leds. Over time we didn't see much growth in the refugium. So we decided to experiment some more.

We decided to go with a smaller, lighter PAR30 bulb instead of the large heavy PAR38. This would allow people to still use the cheap hardware store clamp on fixtures that many people use over their refugium. After researching into the world of using LEDs for "horticulture" purposes, we decided on 4 models to test with. We had an all royal blue, all deep red, half royal blue half deep red, and an all warm white bulbs made. We tested each bulb over the same refugium in the same system for 1 month each.

Our results were as follows; the all royal blue bulb gave us average growth, similar to what we got with a CF bulb, however visually the various macros in the refugium we not pleasing to look at. The blue made pretty much everything look a brownish red color, and overall not appealing to look at. The all deep red gave us good growth out of anything at the water surface, but anything at the bottom of the refugium did not grow well. We attributed this to the red spectrum of light being the first spectrum to be lost when passing through water. As many of you already know, this is why the ocean looks blue underwater. Blue light can penetrate the deepest through water, while red is filtered out in shallow water. The half blue, half red bulb gave us better growth and visual appearance than any of the other bulbs, including the CF, but was still a bit lacking in making the refugium somewhat appealing to look at. Finally, the all warm white bulb, which was very similar to many of the PAR bulbs you can pick up and your local hardware stores, gave us good growth, similarly to the blue and red combo bulb. This bulb by far gave us the nicest looking visual appearance. However, it also gave us a good amount of unwanted nuisance algaes growing along with our nice macros.

So, based on our results, we decided we needed to combine some of the best features of each of the bulbs we tested. We went with 2 royal blues and 2 deep reds to give us some of the growth benefits we witnessed from the blue and red combo. We knew we wanted the other three diodes to be whites, but didn't want to go overboard with warm whites, as we were concerned with being too heavy in the red spectrum and the potential nuisance algae growth. So we decided to go with 2 warm whites, and 1 slightly cooler neutral white. What we ended up with is the bulb we sell today.

Our 14w PAR30 Refugium Grow bulb has been one of our most popular bulbs we sell from the day we released it to the public in September of 2012. We have many customers who are frequently hesitant to buy one due to the higher price when compared to a CF bulb or warm white PAR38 from the hardware store. However, we have yet to have a customer tell us they are dissapointed with it. On the contrary, we have many customers who go out of their way to tell us how impressed they are with the results! Check out some of the actual customer reviews below.

"This light has made my chaeto grow out the water in one week. I had to push the chaeto back down 3 inches under the water last night."

"This light is awesome, best value for led for your refugium."

"This light is absolutely incredible. After trying several CFL twistys and the JBJ Nano Glow, I am absolutely amazed at the color and growth of my chaeto under this light. No heat, minimal power consumption and a very striking appearance; really a must have for a serious reefer."

So there you have it, the story of our famous Refugium Grow bulb! If you want to pick one up for yourself, you can get them right here:

14w PAR30 LED Refugium Grow Bulb

Thanks for taking the time to read our story, and check back for more product showcases from us!

[Tamberav]

I love mine! My only regret is you don't have a larger version for big fuges.

[CoralCompulsion]

I love mine! My only regret is you don't have a larger version for big fuges.

 

We have tested par38 versions of them, however the majority of people don't need anything larger than a par30, and you really don't get a significant increase in spread from the par30 to the par38. In the end, 2 par30s usually work out better for larger fuges than 1 par38 would.

[Arkayology]

I love my CC PAR30 fuge bulb. It is growing chaeto and dragon's tongue like a champ. I also am getting a TON of coralline algae growing on the walls of the fuge. I give it an A+.

[Muraki]

14w Refugium Grow bulb: Received mine Little over a week ago. I put small pieced of Blue Ochtodes, Dragons Breath, Chaeto, G. Hayi, and Codium. Within a week the Ochtodes doubled in size, the Chaeto went from golf ball size to baseball size, Codium is still questionable, Dragons breath and G hayi are rapidly growing as well. This light is incredible to grow Macro under.

 

Will update if anything changes.