0.5w led or 3w led fixture for in-sump fuge?

[Muffin87]

I removed the filter sock holders from my Waterbox sump, which has increased my total potential fuge area by about a third.
Fuge area: 16 to 24 " Long x 8" Wide x 11" tall

I have two freshwater fixtures in mind to light this fuge:

		leds	wattage	Waterproofing	Price
Nemolight E-600		133 LEDs 0.5w run at 0,25w max	max 34w	IP67	114€
Nemolight NH-600		72 3w WRGB LEDs 5054 SMD run at 1,20w max	max 85w	Unspecified	257€ (+125%)

The cheaper one has 0,5w LEDs. The more expensive one has 3w. In both cases, the max wattage shows the LEDs can't run at full power.
These are the PAR figures for the more expensive one:

What do you guys recommend?

I like the fact that the cheaper one is IP67, but am not sure that I won't regret getting the cheaper one, when I get more fish and need more nutrient export.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I removed the filter sock holders from my Waterbox sump, which has increased my total potential fuge area by about a third.
Fuge area: 16 to 24 " Long x 8" Wide x 11" tall

I have two freshwater fixtures in mind to light this fuge:

		leds	wattage	Waterproofing	Price
Nemolight E-600		133 LEDs 0.5w run at 0,25w max	max 34w	IP67	114€
Nemolight NH-600		72 3w WRGB LEDs 5054 SMD run at 1,20w max	max 85w	Unspecified	257€ (+125%)

The cheaper one has 0,5w LEDs. The more expensive one has 3w. In both cases, the max wattage shows the LEDs can't run at full power.
These are the PAR figures for the more expensive one:

What do you guys recommend?

I like the fact that the cheaper one is IP67, but am not sure that I won't regret getting the cheaper one, when I get more fish and need more nutrient export.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

Option C - throw back by 17 years, LEDs were still relatively expensive... now a 5k 10w bulb is $3 dollars and 33 cents... and your ongoing energy costs are even less than your above options (based on watts). This is what I run my refugium on:

An inexpensive Refugium Bulb | Melev's Reef

melevsreef.com

WOW - not until today did I realize that article was 15 years old when I stumbled across the info... but it still applies (thank goodness - love my sump - refer my build thread).

OR, if you wanted to 'splurg' on a different discount bulb - having more red spectrum helps for those Red Ogo and/or Red Pom Pom macroalgaes, and I've got those growing right now in my converted (temporarily) 5gallon fish QT (no fish needs QT and tangs getting special holiday treats). I'm using this $10 dollar (not one hundred... ten) LED grow bulb on the white/red setting (my tank refugium on 5k spectrum for regular and feathered caulerpa on 24 hour light cycle):