Using a par meter

unclephatpat42 · Jul 17, 2016

When using a par meter do u record your par with surface agitation turned on or off from the wave pumps? Also if u do record your number with surface agitation which numbers do u use since its jumping all over the place? Highest, lowest or rounded number? Thanks for the help.

d2mini · Jul 17, 2016

Recording it with agitation would give you a more accurate reading.
But I have so much surface agitation that the meter was jumping around so drastically I had to turn my pumps off.

unclephatpat42 · Jul 17, 2016

So u go based on no agitation then?

d2mini · Jul 17, 2016

unclephatpat42 said:
So u go based on no agitation then?

Yeah, i didn't really have a choice.
I just know that whatever readings I did get, weren't going to be constant every second of the day.

NanaReefer · Jul 17, 2016

I was told to measure with zero flow as the meters are sensitive. The Par only changes for the meter not the corals.

unclephatpat42 · Jul 17, 2016

Just curious, what is the par range everyone likes to use for sps corals?

Sabellafella · Jul 17, 2016

unclephatpat42 said:
Just curious, what is the par range everyone likes to use for sps corals?

I use mine also with the pumps on. The jump is just a few points, with the pumps off the par is alot higher. For sps, 150 to 600 depending on species/types of acros. For leds i wouldnt go over 450 par, t5s over 550 and mhs over 700. Is a good starting point imo. Higher lighting can do alot more bad then good opposed to keeping them low and raising the coral overtime

mcarroll · Jul 17, 2016

unclephatpat42 said:
When using a par meter do u record your par with surface agitation turned on or off from the wave pumps? Also if u do record your number with surface agitation which numbers do u use since its jumping all over the place? Highest, lowest or rounded number? Thanks for the help.

Any of those measurements could be interesting to you, but if you're trying to take a reading of "normal" then you gotta have everything running as usual.

You should do everything reasonably that you can to get the maximum reading from the location you sample. I don't know if you'll see it in the meter, but you should pick up higher peaks when the wave pumps are on.

mcarroll · Jul 17, 2016

Oh! And make sure at minimum to take a surface measurement among any others you collect. This makes comparisons of your light with others more useful!

It's not quite as simple as a "best level for SPS".

The shortest answer is that anything between about 20,000 lux and 80,000 lux (400 PAR and 1600 PAR) will be acceptable. Possibly even higher or lower than that range, depending on the coral and general tank conditions.

For example, I have two tanks, mostly with the same stony corals growing between then. One tank gets about 14,000 lux (280 PAR) and the other gets about 50,000 lux (1000 PAR)....there's nothing to suggest to me that one tank is any healthier than the other.

Most corals I've seen numbers for have a light compensation point somewhere around 5,000-10,000 lux (100-200 PAR) - not very bright.

I think anywhere around 20,000-50,000 lux (400-1000 PAR) might be considered a sweet spot though.