Sps lighting question

Sexytang · Oct 30, 2020

I picked up a screaming green Birdsnest frag yesterday and I was wondering about lighting height and etc
I have a 165w Chinese blackbox with all lenses pulled. 100 blues and around 5 whites
I had the light around 6” off water line Would this be a good distance or should I go higher like 12” off water line the Birdsnest is about a ft down in the tank.

cshouston · Oct 30, 2020

Sexytang said:
I picked up a screaming green Birdsnest frag yesterday and I was wondering about lighting height and etc
I have a 165w Chinese blackbox with all lenses pulled. 100 blues and around 5 whites
I had the light around 6” off water line Would this be a good distance or should I go higher like 12” off water line the Birdsnest is about a ft down in the tank.

Go higher. You’re going to get terrible spread at just 6” off the water line, and possibly create a crazy hotspot. Consider renting a PAR meter to map out your tank and figure out what placement gives you the spread and PAR that fits your needs.

Sexytang · Oct 30, 2020

My corals do really good At 6” 100 blue and 5-10 white but I really like the color of the lights at around 12” but corals don’t come out as good maybe they just need time to adjust

JCTReefer · Oct 31, 2020

As I have suggested numerous times over the last several months. Lol!! Rent or purchase a par meter!!!! It really will take a lot of the guess work out. I promise!!! It is next to impossible to just eyeball it and hope for the best. Especially with LEDs.

Sexytang · Oct 31, 2020

Don’t know of anywhere around me that would have a par tool

maroun.c · Oct 31, 2020

How long did u have the lights and what other corals are there that are looking happy?
You can check the spread visually to see if a bit higher gives u better fill or not. Of course a party meter to check the pqr throughout the tank is best. I changed a couple tanks lights lately and added diy fixtures so I can move the lights around as I need and shifting lights a couple inches left or right or up or down makes a big difference. Led light spread is horrible especially light boxes without diffusers yet you also loose a lot of par with each inch u raise, simply check par at the light, 5 inches lower and 10 inches lower. It gets worse in water.... so need to have the best of both worlds

Anubisxii · Oct 31, 2020

You can rent one from brs.com or buy a seneye cheapest pat meter out there and it's only a few digits off of the to the multi thousand $ units Soo 200 par reads a few points off, doesn't really matter.

USMC 4 LIFE · Oct 31, 2020

Gotta love how people constantly ask for input/advise only to ignore it.

Uncle99 · Oct 31, 2020

Sexytang said:
I picked up a screaming green Birdsnest frag yesterday and I was wondering about lighting height and etc
I have a 165w Chinese blackbox with all lenses pulled. 100 blues and around 5 whites
I had the light around 6” off water line Would this be a good distance or should I go higher like 12” off water line the Birdsnest is about a ft down in the tank.

CBB work better, higher, provides a better mix of the spectrum, unless you supplement with T5.
Mine are 14” above water and another 12” from the birds nest, at only 60 blue, 1 white.

Cole.mormon · Dec 11, 2020

I have a cbb also it works ok

cshouston · Dec 12, 2020

What? What does that have anything to do with this thread, which has been dead for over a month? smh...

Cole.mormon · Dec 12, 2020

Oh lol

blasterman · Dec 12, 2020

I know its a necro thread but...

I've never owned nor used a PAR meter nor do I find them functional for reefing other than reviews of lights. If you can't judge lighting on the basis of how your corals are responding a PAR meter won't help. Also, I've had SPS vary their light demands by 50% based on acclimation and nutrient levels. The two morons at BRS need to get their GED.

I do own a $1000 spectrometer. A PAR meter is nothing more than a photo diode with blue and red weighted filters.

The OP says he has a BB with lenses pulled. The first response nagged about hot spots which is irrelevant with bare LEDs.

I have a BB with lenses pulled sitting 7" on a 20L and it evenly lights 3/4 of the tank. People need to stop answering threads when they have no clue of the answer.