Current USA Orbit LED

[saltyfilmfolks]

Cool. It's also for the op as well and anyone curious.
Now knowing how much light you can get from the fixture. It would be fine for a tank half the depth or for lower light corals at the same depth.

It's one reason to get to know where a coral comes from so you can gauge what kind of light it wants.

It's another good reason to take the meter to the Lfs when you buy a light.

 

[mcarroll]

Awesome share! But doesn't lux measure only what light can be seen and not the intensity? Or am I crossed here (wouldn't be a 1st).

Both measure the intensity of whatever light is shone upon them and convert it to an electrical signal. Also, the base model par and lux meters we are talking about are built very similarly. So they are pretty similar tools!

Lux tries to interpret the electrical signal similarly to the human eyeball whereas a par meter tries to take an even reading across the visible spectrum. Tries.

They are similar enough that this is mostly irrelevant for us for this purpose, but it is useful to know that a lux meter will underestimate the power of blue light significantly. So any readings you take of strongly blue lights, you can rest assured that they are very conservative readings.

I do not spend any time worrying about the accuracy of lux versus par and the lux meter still works great for me. You can definitely get further into the (infinite) detail of light measurement in water, but that is not the point for me - I am setting up aquarium lights.

 

[MikeyAl]

well yes. BUT we see light. so it is measuring the intensity of the light we see. it is actually the amount of light present. therefor the intensity of a light that can be seen.



yes. i kind of does. if you pointed both light at the disk at the same time you would have about 10,000 lux. assuming the meter is correct. I belive we have spoken and I assured you you likely have plenty of room to increase the intensity. SLOWLY.(and watch the corals) That was based on the knowledge of the 2 fixtures mentioned, depth of your tank and your settings.
My current puts out about 18,000 lux at 2 inches at full. Im confident(&have another tank I prove it with) I can increase my light to 40,000 lux, as I have few lower light corals.
My 55g 24in dt has an average(measured 2" under each fixture) of 20,000 lux. And my zoas are suffering on the bottom.
My 30g 24in deep has 34,000 lux and the zoas are happy on the bottom, the SPS are super happy on the top.

It is best to find a spot where you can hit the sensor with both lights. (on a phone its very small and a meter has a disk to help)
Dont worry about the glass it cuts very little.

If you have 10,000 lux at the top averaged. You have plenty of room to go up.

So I downloaded a lux meter on App Store. Pointing directly under my T5 it reads 2000. Point directly in my tank it reads between 75 and 115. That can't be right.

 

[mcarroll]

It is possible that's a bogus reading.

If they don't manage the camera's aperture and compensate for the different way a camera meters light (@saltyfilmfolks) it will give false lows.

But check a few things before we jump to that conclusion...

• The idea is to hold it at the water's surface (close...not too close ) and point it strait at the lights.
• For the peak measurements, that should mean that the phone faces straight up - "looking up" 90º from the water...so the light falls straight down onto the camera lens.
• We don't care too much about other measurements.
• But it can be interesting to also see how high a reading you can get around the edge of the tank....and halfway between a peak area and the edge. Just to know.
• Watching where the shadow from your phone falls on your rock work, you can gauge pretty well what any area in your tank is getting for lux.

Anyway, if you're doing all that as-described, then you're doing it right - just try a different app.

"Galactica Luxmeter" is one that's been tested by a number of folks and seems to work reliably.

 

[MikeyAl]

Hmm. With the galactica holding right above surface I got 1.4k lux reading.

 

[MikeyAl]

Pointing to my light I get 28k

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So I downloaded a lux meter on App Store. Pointing directly under my T5 it reads 2000. Point directly in my tank it reads between 75 and 115. That can't be right.

hold the camera at the top of the water pointed at the light, gently move the camera across the surface of the water, you should see highs and lows. you dont need to point it down.
the app I belive has 2 settings up or down(reflective?), you want up.

Pointing to my light I get 28k

this sounds about right. 28,000 lux. is that a 6 tube fixture @ about 4-6 inches from the water?

The idea is to hold it at the water's surface (close...not too close )

Thats the second biggest reason to get the $15 meter. My phone is more than $15
and less accurate too.

 

[MikeyAl]

hold the camera at the top of the water pointed at the light, gently move the camera across the surface of the water, you should see highs and lows. you dont need to point it down.
the app I belive has 2 settings up or down(reflective?), you want up.


this sounds about right. 28,000 lux. is that a 6 tube fixture @ about 4-6 inches from the water?


Thats the second biggest reason to get the $15 meter. My phone is more than $15
and less accurate too.

Correct.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

weird I can estimate stuff like that.
Any way, thats a pretty good amount for most anything you want to grow. some of the SPS tanks Like mcarolls are running 50-80k my little cube right now is at about 35k (and climbing)with the highest coral to the top being about 5 inches from the surface. And Im pretty impressed so far.
Ill post a pic in in a second of one of my "$3 tester corals".

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

jan 29

These are yesterday same coral

 

[mcarroll]

28,000 lux sounds believable!

It's within what seems to be the ideal range of around 20,000-80,000 lux. 40,000 lux seems to be a sweet spot for lots of corals, but I don't run my lights any brighter than what seems to make the corals happy. It's usually less than I think. I do run one tank around 40,000 lux, but another on the same system with mostly the same (SPS) corals runs at less than 20,000 lux.

I think three Orbits or two Orbit PRO's would be the way to go if that's your preference. $700-$800 or so. If that works, I do think your corals would like either one of those options as much as your current light. Spread should be nice under either one too.

I pretty much agree with all the recommendations on their sell-sheet:

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

28,000 lux sounds believable!

It's within what seems to be the ideal range of around 20,000-80,000 lux. 40,000 lux seems to be a sweet spot for lots of corals, but I don't run my lights any brighter than what seems to make the corals happy. It's usually less than I think. I do run one tank around 40,000 lux, but another on the same system with mostly the same (SPS) corals runs at less than 20,000 lux.

I think three Orbits or two Orbit PRO's would be the way to go if that's your preference. $700-$800 or so. If that works, I do think your corals would like either one of those options as much as your current light. Spread should be nice under either one too.

I pretty much agree with all the recommendations on their sell-sheet:

yea its a neat little light. 3 on my 55 would probably do it but Im not sure you can sync them. and dollar for dollar theres better ways to skin the cat.