Testing Reef Lights: What would you like to see?

Ryanbrs · Mar 18, 2017

Monkeynaut said:
What did you guys decide to look into?

I am still putting this together but I think we are going to start by doing PAR measurements under water, at multiple depths and heights in common arrangements like a single light on a 24 cube as well as a 120 with multiple lights. To start all this it pretty critical we know the PAR intensity and distribution of the available light sources at various depths. Followed by spectrum availability, spectrum blending, visual elements, programming and anything else relevant. Now is the time to ask if there are other things you would like to see : )

Once the community has a working set of comparable data on historical and current light sources I think we can work with the community to develop longer term growth and coloration tests based on that data. It's a fairly long path but I think it is going to be a fun exploration of the hobby : )

James72 · Mar 19, 2017

Hi BRS,

Love your program n videos. For lighting I would like to know if Actinic T5 tubes are useful or useless for corals?

Csr1978 · Mar 24, 2017

Your videos have been extremely helpful to me. I am just setting up my first reef tank and I have not selected my lighting yet. I am looking forward to this investigation so I can purchase the best light fixture for my setup and budget. When will some results be available?

dullyxxx · Mar 29, 2017

Bulk Reef Supply said:
We're kicking off a new segment in BRStv Investigates and we're out to change EVERYTHING we know about reef tank lighting! With that in mind, we want to know; what you would like to see us test and/or challenge in regards to reef lighting?

everything you can on Giesemann AURORA HYBRID LED / T-5 & Giesemann SPECTRA HQ / T-5

hart24601 · Mar 29, 2017

LED shading fixture vs fixture. I think you could do this with putting say a 1" disk over the top of the sensor maybe 3" up. But you can play around with the actual size of the disk and height. What you are testing is how much the light can reach that sensor over the test area. 1st look at PAR as you normally do, then put that disk over the senor and repeat looking at % loss. Then look at other fixtures and you should be able to see shading.

For example, lets say you have two light fixtures, a single point source and one that LEDs are spread out. These two might produce very similar PAR values in a empty tank, but if testing the single point fixture directly under the LED cluster that shading disk will block almost all the light and you would get very little PAR, but a fixture that has diodes across 24" or so you will see much higher PAR in the center of the tank as the light is coming from the edges. This should indicate the 24" light will have less shading issues. Do it with T5 of various sizes and metal halides too. Then have a benchmark for fixtures like coralcare and G4 which looks to improve shading issues - have some real numbers to look at.

WhiskyTango · Apr 9, 2017

Put a pair of Kessil A80's on a IM Fusion 40 or Lagoon 50. I'd really like to see the par and coverage these little pucks can produce on a tank that size. Thank You

BoomCorals · Apr 9, 2017

Bulk Reef Supply said:
We're kicking off a new segment in BRStv Investigates and we're out to change EVERYTHING we know about reef tank lighting! With that in mind, we want to know; what you would like to see us test and/or challenge in regards to reef lighting?

PUR ratings for LED. PAR is so misleading with LED and doesn't tell you the whole story.

Csr1978 · Apr 13, 2017

ReefBright XHO. Particularly with a 5 x 24" combo of 3 XHO Blue & 2 XHO White.

WhiskyTango · Apr 16, 2017

What do you guys think about this? I hoping that small fuge compartment fills out with chaeto. Grow at 100%

Reef man 89 · Apr 16, 2017

Like to see the Maxspect Ethreal vs ecotech G4 pro

Reef man 89 · Apr 16, 2017

WhiskyTango said:
What do you guys think about this? I hoping that small fuge compartment fills out with chaeto. Grow at 100%

What tank is that? Also do you have problems with the light having spill over to the next chamber and going algea on the glass? Seeing that the light is design to grow algea.

Monkeynaut · Apr 16, 2017

Along with ideal PAR to PUR ratings I want to know. Is a high Par with mostly blue as dangerous as high par with more white?
Set one light up at 600 PAR and super white light and one at 600 with white toned down and much more blue. Then see if a coral tolerates one better than the other.

pdiehm · Apr 16, 2017

Would like to see the difference in spread and PAR of say 4x54 and 6x54 using common bulb combinations like B+, B+, C+, Actinic and 4 B+, C+ and actinic.

Do this over 48", 60" tanks at a depth of 24" and a normal height of 9" over water

WhiskyTango · Apr 16, 2017

Reef man 89 said:
What tank is that? Also do you have problems with the light having spill over to the next chamber and going algea on the glass? Seeing that the light is design to grow algea.

IM Fusion 40, the Kessil H80 arrived from BRS yesterday.

Reef man 89 · Apr 16, 2017

WhiskyTango said:
IM Fusion 40, the Kessil H80 arrived from BRS yesterday.

I am running the same tank and thought about doing the same thing but with the spill over was not sure how much algea would be growing on the glass in the 2 chamber

pdiehm · May 12, 2017

Bulk Reef Supply said:
We're kicking off a new segment in BRStv Investigates and we're out to change EVERYTHING we know about reef tank lighting! With that in mind, we want to know; what you would like to see us test and/or challenge in regards to reef lighting?

Definitely would like to see a test involving the Reefbreeders lights. For me, personally, I have had a horrible time dialing in the 48" version.

Looking forward to this!