PAR Readings - Manufacturer Specifications

[RaymondL]

I'm curious when manufacturer's publish the PAR readings on their lights is the assumption that they have all the channels at 100% and measured outside the water?

Knowing that Blue lights are more the dominant wavelength used and needed by corals, shouldn't PAR values be listed on each individual channel instead of overall PAR? For example, for those that like to run their lights mostly Blue, what if the PAR value is actually lower than what is needed - that'll create issues for Coral growth/health - since they don't use other channels such as white, etc.

 

[T-J]

And this is why you should use a PAR meter when setting up lighting in your tank. Tank size, rockwork, sand/barebottom, distance to the glass, clarity of your water, etc. will all play a role in PAR throughout the tank.

 

[oreo54]

I'm curious when manufacturer's publish the PAR readings on their lights is the assumption that they have all the channels at 100% and measured outside the water?

Knowing that Blue lights are more the dominant wavelength used and needed by corals, shouldn't PAR values be listed on each individual channel instead of overall PAR? For example, for those that like to run their lights mostly Blue, what if the PAR value is actually lower than what is needed - that'll create issues for Coral growth/health - since they don't use other channels such as white, etc.

Yes most do par at 100% and possibly only in the sweet spot (unless they do a "map"of course)
Likely in "free air" as well.

Not sure what benefit say "just blue" par is or the "unrecorded" photosynthetically active parts past 400nm and 700n.
but in a perfect world yea each color and par measurements would be nice.

Red and green (green more than most think) are also photosynthetically active.

You want mostly "blue par" buy a Red sea light (80% blue)
You have a blue plus white 50/50 light you get 50% less par with shutting the white channel off.

Cludgy but rectified with ones own par meter what the par is at ones chosen (infinite choices) spectrum.

I don't disagree with you here. It would be nice if they broke the par into "blue" and "not blue" portions but it is not real difficult to make an educated guess though with say 5W blues and 3w whites in a fixture it does get a bit difficult.

Would be nice if each manuf did this:

Product Review: Orphek Atlantik iCon Reef Aquarium LED Lighting By Dana Riddle

Product Review: Orphek Atlantik iCon Reef Aquarium LED Lighting By Dana Riddle,This article will examine Orphek’s new Atlantik iCon LED luminaire. This light differs from the Atlantik in connectivity (via Android or iOS devices) and spectral quality.

orphek.com

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

They'll never do this, the same reason that your internet provider won't guarantee speeds. It isn't because they can't, it's because it would hold them to metrics that they either won't be able to meet or would produce a metric in which they could be sued or publicly ruined if the light didn't stand up to testing.

Everything in this world is related to money and legal.

 

[oreo54]

Found this for the ATI Straton:

• My units pull a maximum of 215W (advertised is 230W)
  • This is likely due to the units being designed for 220V power (Europe) and using them in the USA (110V), higher restive losses due to higher current is my hypothesis
• To match the PAR of my 8 bulb powermodule, I had the units drawing 145W EACH, so a total of 290W.
  • I need to stress that. The 48" Powermodule draws 550W (Apex power monitoring) and to match that coverage and PAR, I am now using only 290W

 

[aleksanderalski]

I can only share the perspective of Reef Factory and the Reef Flare Pro PAR measurements.

From our perspective it's useless to show only partial PAR measurements, because users are not idiots. Questions will appear and if the brand wants to be reliable, every single one should be answered.

When we were launching Reef Flare Pro, we did PAR tests on all channels 100%, blue Chanels 100% and white only 100%. PAR meter was placed just below the surface, on 11'' and 20'' from the middle of the tank to the side. Of course it's not a laboratory test so if someone is expecting perfect measurement conditions, we did some mistakes for sure. But it was possible to take average PAR result from around 100 points we tested during the measurement.

I agree that manufacturers are afraid to show detailed PAR measurements, because it's easier to count cost per Watt or something similar to that, what doesn't tell you anything important in terms of the LEDs. To get high PAR result, good spread and thus, impressive PAR measurements in detailed tests, you need to have a really good light in all aspects.