Is a Par meter an essential?

[RaymondL]

Hi all,

We all know how much corals can cost, and to that I"m wondering how many here own a PAR measuring device - granted these things are expensive to own. Do you see it as an essential piece of equipment to own? I know it's a huge price to pay for a very limited use - I mean, once you get the lights down right, probably don't need to use it again or that often unless of a change.

Thoughts?

 

[rwreef]

Not essential, but another useful tool to potentially save you headaches. I've used mine a few times to help my corals. I went many years without one, but glad to have one now.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

I feel it's necessary if you tinker with your lights, change them out for different ones or have multiple tanks with multiple needs. If you have one tank with perfect set lights and never change them, it's not as needed. But for me, I'm tinkering always, or getting new corals often with different light needs, so I find the perfect spot with the par meter.

The USB Apogee is a great deal. Long cord and works well with my spare old laptop. The program is basic and didn't require logging in or anything extra. Plug and play after initially downloading it. I'm really happy with my investment knowing I can change my lights and dial them in.

 

[Lavey29]

Not essential to own but available to rent. I was shocked how low my par was in my tank when I finally rented one to check.

 

[Pntbll687]

Not essential.

For most premium brand lights BRS has done testing in a 2ft x 2ft tank, and also over a 4ft 120g tank, and you can get a good estimate of what par you're going to see by using these numbers. Now that's just an estimate, so I'd say you'll be +/- 10% for the most part, especially if it's just a single light. Multiple lights, that's gonna have more factors at play.

If the light is dimmable, then you can always start low and ramp the light up over a few weeks.

Only time I've ever looked up par numbers was when I set a kessil ap700 up over a low boy frag tank. I found a video where fishofhex set up the same light over the same tank and took par measurements. I went off those, and everything has been going great with the light.

 

[14 foot reef]

Not essential for sure, but a very helpful tool that will most likely get you into the success stages of this hobby a lot faster without as many losses.
BRS's rental program makes this a no brainer when setting up new lights. I use the seneye as it has more fuctions than just par and can make it a little more palatable to spend the money. I don't use the slides any more as I've moved to the Neptune world so some of its other uses don't justify the monthly slide cost.
In 10 years I've went from Metal Halide, to Kessil, to Kesill with T-5 hybrid, to now All Radion XR30 G6. For me, having a PAR meter more than paid for itself. Here are some PAR meter readings running my G6 Radions at 60% and this is 10" underwater with lights mounted 8" above the water line.