PAR - Coral guidelines?

[Avengerx77]

I will be taking some PAR measures for my tank during this weekend. However, I am not sure what PAR levels should I be looking/adjusting to. I am currently running my XR15 at 15% intensity, which I think I need to raise significantly when I introduced corals. I am looking to keep mostly zoas, mushrooms and LPS, might want to add very few SPS down the road right on the top.

Is there a place I can refer to on recommended PAR levels for each type of corals? The PAR meter is borrowed, so want to make sure I nailed them right off the bat for my future corals.

 

[ZoWhat]

I am looking to keep mostly zoas, mushrooms and LPS,

Aim for 100 PAR halfway up but below 150

 

[blaxsun]

For soft and LPS I believe the optimal range is 50-150 PAR, although this can vary a but depending on the coral (zoas can typically tolerate a lot mote, for instance). SPS is typically 250 PAR and up.

 

[Avengerx77]

So I got the PAR meter (Apex PMK) from a fellow reefer and just did some quick readings. To my surprise it seems I am barley getting the recommended PAR levels for soft and LPS corals as stated above (50-150). I could say I got some readings I am a bit suspicious when compared to similar tank levels, but I guess key takeaways are:

1. I am almost at full intensity (90%) with my XR15 unit to hit PAR targets
2. Seems I will be able to keep my initial coral preferences
3. There goes my hope of introducing some SPS at the top of the tank, or at least the more light demanding ones. Maybe I can get away with different species of Montipora?

Any other recommendations? Any tips to keep in mind for Apex PMK that could help for accurateness? Don't want to upgrade to XR30, so any issues of running the unit at 90% intensity.

 

[Schraufabagel]

So I got the PAR meter (Apex PMK) from a fellow reefer and just did some quick readings. To my surprise it seems I am barley getting the recommended PAR levels for soft and LPS corals as stated above (50-150). I could say I got some readings I am a bit suspicious when compared to similar tank levels, but I guess key takeaways are:

1. I am almost at full intensity (90%) with my XR15 unit to hit PAR targets
2. Seems I will be able to keep my initial coral preferences
3. There goes my hope of introducing some SPS at the top of the tank, or at least the more light demanding ones. Maybe I can get away with different species of Montipora?

Any other recommendations? Any tips to keep in mind for Apex PMK that could help for accurateness? Don't want to upgrade to XR30, so any issues of running the unit at 90% intensity.

What mounting height is your XR15 at? Good entry SPS that I'm having success with are Stylophora, Montipora Digi, and Birdsnest

 

[Avengerx77]

What mounting height is your XR15 at? Good entry SPS that I'm having success with are Stylophora, Montipora Digi, and Birdsnest

Tank is 19” and lights are 11” above from water column, which probably is also another reason why I might be getting low readings. Unfortunately the XR15 are sitting within their own RM stand arm, so I believe they are not height adjustable.

 

[Schraufabagel]

Tank is 19” and lights are 11” above from water column, which probably is also another reason why I might be getting low readings. Unfortunately the XR15 are sitting within their own RM stand arm, so I believe they are not height adjustable.

Yeah, I was going to say at a 9" or 10" height you'd get slightly higher PAR both on top and bottom.

As is though, your PAR readings are good for LPS and softies. And probably good enough for the birdsnest and stylophora

 

[Avengerx77]

Any other reactions here? I am getting mix opinion results on the web. Some old 2015-2016 articles said that for LPS/Soft should be around 150 PAR average and have found very few recent ones saying that 80-100 PAR to be ideal. I guess that as technology progress maybe with the new Radion XR15Blue G5 we don't need as high as PAR level, because now lights are more efficient and better quality (PUR).

Any takes on this? I am still leaning to run the lights either at 70-90% intensity under the LPS/Soft pattern, but want to double check as I don't want to go underpowered from the start.

 

[cmoore806]

I think you need to investigate increasing the "point intensity" for each point on your lighting profile/template in the Mobius app. If you raise all the point intensities you can see it is very easy to get VERY high PAR at the top of your rockwork with the XR15. Can you screenshot your lighting template?

Essentially the "point intensity" sets that specific point to a percentage of the total available light from the fixture itself. The schedule intensity will reduce the total lighting as a percentage of that "point intensity".

So for example, if your Point Intensity is at 100% and you put your Schedule Intensity at 100% your light will be putting out 100% of its available power at that time in the schedule.

If your point intensity is at 50% and your schedule intensity is at 100% then you are getting "100% of the 50% point intensity" So your light puts out 50% of the lights available power.

To continue, if your point intensity is at 50% and your schedule intensity is at 50% then you are only getting 25% of the lights total available power.

 

[Avengerx77]

Actually I will be using the LPS/Soft default pattern at 90% Program Intensity, which will give me around 70% total point intensity. I was actually thinking about having a 4 hour period in the middle at full intensity by moving all individual color sliders at 100%. But I guess I will wait to see how they react when I get some and adjust accordingly.

 

[Freenow54]

Watch Bulk Reef Supply Video addresses light height, Par, and intensity. All situations are different. They recommends 75-150 SPS 200-350. Also all corals like different flow rates as well. So need to set height for dispersion, and get rid of hot spots. Set Par and intensity. My light presets