Par reading question

[johnj]

Just put my Radion xr15 pro lights over my 3ft tank and running the AB+ Template and did mesurement with par meter and was surprised to only get 92-94 par on bottom of glass under each light and less 85 to sides! 11-12 inch off bottom the Par was only 120-127 under leds and little higher in between led lights at 137 par

Not lot really as the lights was 100% and the sps AB+ Setting! Will it be because im doing mesurements in empty tank with no water in yet?

thanks

 

[Avengerx77]

Unfortunately, that sounds about right. I have one XR15Blue G5 and at 90% I got about 140 at top and 65 bottom. If I only new I would have gone with the XR30Blue to keep my coral selection open. I guess is fine for me as I was planning to keep soft and LPS mainly, but to be honest I left disappointed.

 

[nereefpat]

What PAR meter are you using? How deep is the tank?

 

[johnj]

Unfortunately, that sounds about right. I have one XR15Blue G5 and at 90% I got about 140 at top and 65 bottom. If I only new I would have gone with the XR30Blue to keep my coral selection open. I guess is fine for me as I was planning to keep soft and LPS mainly, but to be honest I left disappointed.

was going with xr30 also but few people saying the fans was really noisy! lot of people rave about par readings on radions also

 

[johnj]

What PAR meter are you using? How deep is the tank?

im using a Apogee 510 par meter and tank is 21 inch deep and the light is on the ecotech bracket at the set height of 8inch!

 

[zaga]

Shouldn't the par reading be higher since it is empty? That is a whole lot of money for low par readings.

 

[johnj]

Shouldn't the par reading be higher since it is empty? That is a whole lot of money for low par readings.

Dont understand how it works with reading with no water in tank because every video iv looked at do the testing in water! Did look at post on freshwater planting forum where number of people said the par would be lot higher under water because less dense !

 

[Hydrored]

It will read higher in water

 

[zaga]

Dont understand how it works with reading with no water in tank because every video iv looked at do the testing in water! Did look at post on freshwater planting forum where number of people said the par would be lot higher under water because less dense !

It will read higher in water

Interesting. Learning something new everyday!

 

[johnj]

It will read higher in water

Good news because was worried at numbers on the radions when iv got 3x older hydra 26hd on 6ft tank thats deeper and getting 200+ midway down on rocks!

thanks for reply and saving the radions from being chucked in the Bin!

 

[Avengerx77]

Good news because was worried at numbers on the radions when iv got 3x older hydra 26hd on 6ft tank thats deeper and getting 200+ midway down on rocks!

thanks for reply and saving the radions from being chucked in the Bin!

Keep us posted on your readings when you have water in. I have them 11"above the water level and got those PAR numbers. I would think they might go up but not that much as you had them at 8". I used the Apex PKM, so if you get higher numbers might give me some hope it was the PAR meter.

 

[Hydrored]

Good news because was worried at numbers on the radions when iv got 3x older hydra 26hd on 6ft tank thats deeper and getting 200+ midway down on rocks!

thanks for reply and saving the radions from being chucked in the Bin!

It will read higher, not a ton higher, your averages around the tank will go higher overall

 

[johnj]

Keep us posted on your readings when you have water in. I have them 11"above the water level and got those PAR numbers. I would think they might go up but not that much as you had them at 8". I used the Apex PKM, so if you get higher numbers might give me some hope it was the PAR meter.

hoping it goes up into at least 200-250 at top of rocks because was going sps after 6-8months of getting over the new tank thing! Crazy thing is though iv got a 320 lx waterbox coming that 86 long and 30 wide i was thinking radion xr30 but looks like id want silly numbers of lights for that!

will keep you posted as hope to get water in tank this weekend

 

[takitaj]

You may already know but didn't mention it...make sure you have both the individual point level and the schedule level turned up or you won't get the full brightness.

 

[johnj]

It will read higher, not a ton higher, your averages around the tank will go higher overall

the spread seems good all over tank at same level with only being little higher in centre where light crosses but numbers id like little better! Got a Straton if really want to fry the corals

 

[Avengerx77]

hoping it goes up into at least 200-250 at top of rocks because was going sps after 6-8months of getting over the new tank thing! Crazy thing is though iv got a 320 lx waterbox coming that 86 long and 30 wide i was thinking radion xr30 but looks like id want silly numbers of lights for that!

will keep you posted as hope to get water in tank this weekend

Awesome, yes please. I was thinking to lower the lights from 11" to 8" but I have them with the RMS arm and it is not height adjustable :mad:. Might need to look for other options to put them, not much of a fan of hanging kits, but if it considerably increases PAR reading might be doing an exception

 

[Avengerx77]

Forgot to mentioned that I am using the Soft/LPS pattern, which probably also is giving me lower readings as opposed as the AB+, as the white in the pattern is set to something around just 20% at default. My best is that it will get you to 200 PAR top.

 

[johnj]

Guys think i may be at fault with the par readings! just looked at the template AB+ im running and the graph where you got all the colours and % you got them at! and iv bean thinking the slider that says Point of intensity is the main/only power setting for each Light! Just noticed on the right side of graph of light schedule there is a % under Schedule! i was running that at 50% and just paying attention to the point of intensity slider! iv just moved the schedule to 90% and the blue dots on graph went lot higher!

 

[Avengerx77]

There are two set of sliders for intensity. The overall one that controls the pattern and then the individual ones that control each led color intensity. If you have a pattern set, not all individual leds will be at the same %. For example, I have my overall slider at 90%, but the Cold White is at 20%, because how the pattern is already set-up

 

[Avengerx77]

If you want to test full intensity go into Mobius and Live Demonstration. Move all individual sliders to 100% and also the slider on the right to 100% as well