T5 lights and par readings

jda · Sep 19, 2018

Here is outdoor PAR in Boulder Colorado. ...need to unapply the immersion factor for my meter, so 1895 is the open-air PAR.

dragon99 · Sep 19, 2018

Velcro said:
That outdoor par seems low. There's a website where you can type in longitude and latitude, as well as a bunch of other parameters to estimate par at that time and date. I find it to be very close to my apogee. Last time I did this it was around 1400 par.

http://clearskycalculator.com/quantumsensor.htm

I'll have to recheck that on a clear day. It was cloudy (like rain cloud, cloudy) so there's no telling what an accurate par# would really have been. The seneye got the kelvin reading about right though.

Herby’s reef · Sep 20, 2018

So I got a new apogee 510 today, and it is so different from the seneye. The odd thing, is it reads the t5 to be much higher than the seneye did, but the radions show up a little lower. The radions are not much different, but maybe 50 to 100 different than what the seneye gave me. The t5 showed up at almost double the value on the apogee. They are still lower than I would expect though. 8 bulb 24 inch ati blue plus on a cheap amazon fixture was giving me 400 out of the water 6 inches away. I guess the fixture is just not very good.

jda · Sep 21, 2018

The Seneye will oversample the middle of the visible range for the LEDs whereas the 510 is a bit more flat. Check the serial number of your apogee 510... if an early one, then it needs calibrated (BRS found an error in their software), but if past a certain number, then it is cool. I forgot what the number is, but you can search BRS for this.

6" away from a T5 does not really give enough room for the bulbs on the outside to contribute. What does it read a foot down, or 15-18 inches?

Herby’s reef · Sep 21, 2018

jda said:
The Seneye will oversample the middle of the visible range for the LEDs whereas the 510 is a bit more flat. Check the serial number of your apogee 510... if an early one, then it needs calibrated (BRS found an error in their software), but if past a certain number, then it is cool. I forgot what the number is, but you can search BRS for this.

6" away from a T5 does not really give enough room for the bulbs on the outside to contribute. What does it read a foot down, or 15-18 inches?

15 to 18 inches is about 200 to 250. So really not very good for 8 bulbs.

oreo54 · Sep 21, 2018

re: Velcro

cloudy sunlight at noon CST

Depending on "cloudy-ness" not unreasonable..

For best accuracy, comparison should be made on clear, non-polluted, summer days within one hour of solar noon.

oreo54 · Sep 21, 2018

Davenkim said:
15 to 18 inches is about 200 to 250. So really not very good for 8 bulbs.

Again, why do you think it's incorrect?
"Because"???

you can't accept it might just be that low?

Dana Riddle · Sep 21, 2018

jda said:
The Seneye will oversample the middle of the visible range for the LEDs whereas the 510 is a bit more flat. Check the serial number of your apogee 510... if an early one, then it needs calibrated (BRS found an error in their software), but if past a certain number, then it is cool. I forgot what the number is, but you can search BRS for this.

6" away from a T5 does not really give enough room for the bulbs on the outside to contribute. What does it read a foot down, or 15-18 inches?

Thanks! I was not aware of the Seneye tests by BRS. I'll look it up.

jda · Sep 21, 2018

Dana - the BRS tests that I was referring to are the ones that you know about... and for the Apogee 510.

Dana Riddle · Sep 21, 2018

jda said:
Dana - the BRS tests that I was referring to are the ones that you know about... and for the Apogee 510.

OK - thanks. Haven't looked yet, saved me some time.

Herby’s reef · Sep 22, 2018

oreo5457 said:
Again, why do you think it's incorrect?
"Because"???

you can't accept it might just be that low?

No I think it is correct. Just surprised with 8 bulbs

dragon99 · Oct 1, 2018

So I now have a MQ-510 also. It's reading 680 PAR at the center (compared to 413-452 on seneye). Which is just a touch lower than I was expecting. So the seneye definitely struggles when it's too close to the light source. When I get the seneye back I'll add some more side by side measurements throughout the tank. From the BRS and other reviews it should do much better.

Patx · Oct 21, 2023

Pntbll687 said:
How far above the water was the fixture?

I have a four bulb over a 20 long and have no problem with sps. I didn't measure par, but don't think you should have a problem growing acros with that light.