Is a PAR Meter Worth it

[BeanAnimal]

Anyone else used the app on the thread?

Waste of time - Watch the BRS lighting video - fast forward to the section with the light you have and look at the table showing distance and spread. That simple.

And no, the app is not accurate or even close. Sure under certain conditions it may give what looks like the same reading, but that does not mean it will or that you can trust it.

 

[Narideth]

Take note that if it's a general PAR map like most lights provide, lights dim exponentially with distance. The map is a guide but won't tell you specifics to your tank, your lid, your water clarity and surface turbulence between the surface and the max distance.

Example: From a light I measured which puts out 120 PAR at 24" at 100% power according to the lighting map, also puts out 750 PAR at 7 inches (surface) and 320 PAR at 12 inches at just 40%/100% white/blue power output. Nowhere in my tank reaches the 24" depth from the light so the map is useless in that example, as well as lower power output information.

At $30, I would take it, but ultimately it's up to what you feel comfortable with. I went a year and a half without checking and nothing happened, but I felt better and more confident as a new reefer knowing what my lights were capable of. I measured at several different % in case I wanted some brighter or more powerful lighting in the future. Make that one rental worthwhile yeah?

 

[areefer01]

Looking to "rent" the BRS PAR meter to get my lighting down before getting into SPS. Anyone who has used them, is it worth it? Or should I take the $80 and put it into, let's say, a new wave maker? I have 2 AI Prime's about 12 inches above the surface of the water, in a 15" tall aquarium. Thank you!

It is a tool. One would use it during initial installation but then after that it would be in the tool box and not often used. I would rent be it BRS or a local club or LFS or a fellow hobbyist if one is near you.

On the other hand if you are going to practice QT, medication, or isolation protocols, and it is wise to learn this, then you could buy a Seneye. Decent par meter but also has ammonia slides. May get more use out of this and not that huge of an investment. In my opinion.

 

[BeanAnimal]

The "map" is by far not useless, nor are the results from BRS.

The "map" shows you the fixtures general light distribution and where to expect hot spots, or weak areas.

Yes, light falloff follows the law of inverse squares. Yes, things in the tank can shadow light. None of that matters in the big picture here.

Our tanks are predictably deep and have predictable widths. The BRS guide will tell you for typical tank dimensions what the light spread and general "map" will look like.

I am not against PAR meters, I have owned (3) over the years. But many of you are not seeing the context here and answering the question without that context.

This is a NEW hobbyist on a limited budget. The least of his worries is measuring PAR. $30 is a lot of money for something that just doesn't matter at this stage of his involvement.

Side note: We all ran T5s or halides for decades without PAR meters. They came in all shapes, sizes, wattages and spectrums. Most that ran LEDs for the better part of a decade did not have access to an affordable PAR meter and they too grew corals and clams, arguably just as well as reefers today with PAR meters and automated testing and everything else under the sun.

 

[Narideth]

You're taking my words out of context. I said in that specific instance the map provided by the developers of my specific light was useless. It was merely an example of taking the information provided by others over what I measured personally.

I am also a new reefer and I paid more than that to rent my meter. Confidence in our equipment is something that matters. It is a fact that the maps I used were useless as they underestimated the light values in my tank. This is an argument of opinions and it is my opinion that knowing the PAR, especially if they want to add new and more expensive corals (the exact reason I rented mine) is a good step in the development of understanding what those values mean.

It is also a point to mention that none of the lights I own have ever been mentioned or reviewed on BRS.

 

[BeanAnimal]

This is an argument of opinions and it is my opinion that knowing the PAR, especially if they want to add new and more expensive corals (the exact reason I rented mine) is a good step in the development of understanding what those values mean.

You are certainly free to form your opinion

I will offer mine:

I am not a new reefer, and my opinion based on 25+ years of experience is that "PAR" is not as important as many folks make it out to be.

Corals, if they grow, will grow out of that ideal spot that you picked using your par meter. They will shadow other corals, changing their "PAR" too.

As much as we want to think "PAR" means coral will grow, spectrum is more important, as is flow and a dozen other variables. That is why you will see beautiful coral under radically different spectrums, intensities and photo periods.

Most reasonably sized lights will provide "PAR" in a reasonable range as long as mounted at a reasonable height. Most corals will adapt to whatever conditions you place them in as long as you give them time to acclimate. Usually going from low light to high light is more of shock than going from high to low.... so put frags in low light and move them into higher light areas over a few days or weeks.

It really is that simple and I don't think "new" reefers need to worry about PAR outside of just using a reasonable sized fixture at a reasonable height for their aquarium. Such a combination is easy to find if one just looks at other people running similar setups or simply follows the manufacturers recommendations for the fixture.

 

[Z0RN]

I never bothered. Just use common sense and move the coral elsewhere in the tank if it looks stressed. That being said I only keep softies and lps in my tank

 

[mrpontiac80]

I bought one a couple of years ago. I intended to rent it from brs and just kept it. I discovered that my lights were no where near the numbers I thought they were, and ended up adding a 3rd over the tank. Fast forward a bit and I was finally seeing success with acro and the tank was doing great, but I was ready to upgrade from my 65 g to a 180 g. I was pretty happy to have that par meter as it helped me transfer everything over to a much bigger tank with zero losses.
Even now I grab it now and then to make changes or whatever.

Is it necessary no…. But now that I have one I’m glad I do.

 

[areefer01]

You are certainly free to form your opinion

I will offer mine:

I am not a new reefer, and my opinion based on 25+ years of experience is that "PAR" is not as important as many folks make it out to be.

Corals, if they grow, will grow out of that ideal spot that you picked using your par meter. They will shadow other corals, changing their "PAR" too.

As much as we want to think "PAR" means coral will grow, spectrum is more important, as is flow and a dozen other variables. That is why you will see beautiful coral under radically different spectrums, intensities and photo periods.

Most reasonably sized lights will provide "PAR" in a reasonable range as long as mounted at a reasonable height. Most corals will adapt to whatever conditions you place them in as long as you give them time to acclimate. Usually going from low light to high light is more of shock than going from high to low.... so put frags in low light and move them into higher light areas over a few days or weeks.

It really is that simple and I don't think "new" reefers need to worry about PAR outside of just using a reasonable sized fixture at a reasonable height for their aquarium. Such a combination is easy to find if one just looks at other people running similar setups or simply follows the manufacturers recommendations for the fixture.

Marketing and socialites target new hobbyist sadly...

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

I don't think they are for everyone but as someone who has been reefing for nearly 2 decades and I don't see an end any time soon I eventually bought one. It is kind of like my lab grade Hydrometer. There are plenty of other tools I use for Salinity but when I have an issue I trust the Lab Hydrometer more than my Hanna salinity pen, swing arm Hydrometer, or Optical Refractometer. My PAR meter has definitely helped me.

I recently took a nice grapefruit-sized montipora out of one of our office tanks and moved it home. It was really doing poorly and I couldn't figure out why but I took the PAR meter and found that it grew to the size that it was at 175 PAR and I moved it to 350 in 1 day. While 350 is good for SPS. I needed to acclimate the coral. Simply having the meter to check where the corals are coming from and where they are going can be very valuable. Both tanks looked similarly bright to my eye.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I don't think they are for everyone but as someone who has been reefing for nearly 2 decades and I don't see an end any time soon I eventually bought one. It is kind of like my lab grade Hydrometer.

Yep - not needed really and misused or misapplied by most but a cool toy if you are out of other toys to buy but shouldn't be on the radar of somebody just starting, let alone just starting and on a tight budget.

 

[Bear Claw]

Thank you guys for all the replies! The BRS map for a 40 breeder is similar enough to mine that I think I will change my schedule to that one. I also found a guy who will let me borrow it for free, so I will probably do that as well

 

[Bear Claw]

Should I change my schedule even though I have had this one set for over a year now? Not sure if it will negatively affect my current corals, but will definitely be better for the load of corals I will be getting. I only have a few corals now.

 

[Narideth]

IF you change it, do it over a period of time if possible to ramp up to the final goal. Earlier comments about corals being able to adapt to a variety of lighting is 100% accurate, they just need a little time to adjust, especially if you're going brighter.

I keep LPS (hammers, blasto, duncan) under lights that would sustain most SPS with no trouble if I give them time to adjust.

 

[Bear Claw]

IF you change it, do it over a period of time if possible to ramp up to the final goal. Earlier comments about corals being able to adapt to a variety of lighting is 100% accurate, they just need a little time to adjust, especially if you're going brighter.

I keep LPS (hammers, blasto, duncan) under lights that would sustain most SPS with no trouble if I give them time to adjust.

Thanks! How long should I ramp up the light for?

 

[Narideth]

I'll ask others to chime in here, because it seems to vary. I gave mine a few weeks even up to a month between changes, but I adjusted in thirds - one third higher, then one third higher and a final third to where I'm at now. I've read that some do it 10% more each week but I think it depends on the coral type and the intensity of the change.

The whole goal is to not bleach your corals. You might see them starting to spew out brown stringy looking goop - zooxanthellae, which means they're trying to adjust to the new intensity. This is normal in small quantities when the lighting changes upwards in intensity but just watch for too much of it. Getting rid of too many means they might not be able to transform that light into energy anymore - which is what happens when they're bleached, they've spewed out almost all of the zooxanthellae.

 

[darinsmall86]

I have the Seneye reef. I can play with the par meter if I am changing light settings. Then I also use it to monitor the temp and ammonia in my qt tank if I happen to have anything in it.

 

[Max93]

Absolutely matters. Rent it once, set it, and forget it.

SPECIALLY with LED… those are the most finicky lights fixtures in this hobby. You can have not enough, or too much, and not even know it and spin your wheels trying to figure out what’s wrong.

Get the clarity you deserve and rent it.

 

[ErikVR]

So far it has been the most valuable tool I've purchased!

 

[chooofoojoo]

When setting up my main display I picked up the apogee MQ-650 meter. I initially used it to get a feel for the Reefi Uno 2 Pros, and I use it each time I make any significant addition or change. The specific PAR number doesn't really matter to me, but the relative reading from point to point in the tank.

If a coral/clam isn't happy where it is, I'll move it to somewhere that is ±15-20% of where it was depending on what it needs until it is happy.

Bottom-Line: The animals will tell you what they need, but the meter gives me informed data on making the right next choice. To me, that is worth the expense.