Looking for a PAR meter.

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

Does anyone have a PAR meter they would be willing to lend to me or come to my place to take a few readings. I have done a couple of DIY LED fixtures and would like to know how they compare.

 

[KhensuRa]

I am looking for one as well. Would really like to see how well my LEDs really are (or are not) working.

 

[ChrisB]

I am looking for one as well. Would really like to see how well my LEDs really are (or are not) working.

Swing by my place if you fry one

 

[SAZAMA]

why dosent the club buy one. I'll pitch on it

 

[Collwins]

So would this be a big benefit to know when you need to change out bulbs on t-5's?

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

I think it would be a benefit in many situations. Detrmining bulb life and replacement is definitely one of them. Also mapping out and panning an aquarium. If you know the par levels throughout the tank than you will have a better idea what corals will do well in different parts of the tank. For instance, where will the $300 acro that you just purchased have the highest chance of survival or will that clam you have been looking at do ok on the sand at the bottom of your tank?

 

[hurrafreak]

why dosent the club buy one. I'll pitch on it

At some point I believe "thatoneguy" was going to buy one and sell it to the club, I don't see him around much anymore.

 

[Cake_Boss]

In the mean time, go to RC and find D.A.R.C. in the reef clubs page and sign up for DARC. Find the where's the par meter thread, I believe it's stickied at the top of the first page. Post that you'd like to borrow the PAR meter. Give David the deposit check and then you'll be good to go.

 

[SAZAMA]

I did that like two and a half years ago and nada

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

In the mean time, go to RC and find D.A.R.C. in the reef clubs page and sign up for DARC. Find the where's the par meter thread, I believe it's stickied at the top of the first page. Post that you'd like to borrow the PAR meter. Give David the deposit check and then you'll be good to go.

Thanks for the info on D.A.R.C. I got a hold of Dave and should have the PAR meter this weekend. I will only have it for a short time, but that is all I need it for. I will post the results in my build thread, when I have them.

 

[KhensuRa]

i wanna use it!!!!

 

[djkms]

i wanna use it!!!!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1247231

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

I am picking up the PAR meter from DARC in about an hour. I will post results in the next day.

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

I got the PAR meter and tested all of the tanks. Here is what I found. (all tests taken in the middle of the tank at full power)

setup #1 - 34g Solana w/400w 20k MH 16" above water surface

1" below water surface - 200
10" below water surface - 135
20" below water surface(on sand) - 110

Setup #2 - 3g pico w/12 CW XPG & 12 RB XPE Custom LED fixture 5" above water surface

1" below water surface - 1020
7" below water surface(on sand) - 615

Setup #3 - 3g pico w/6 CW XPG & 6 RB XPE Custom LED Fixture 5" above water surface

1" below water surface - 410
7" below water surface - 270

I am not sure what ideal par levels are but it seems to me that setup #1 is on the low end, setup #2 is on the HIGH end, and setup #3 is pretty good. I was somewhat surprised by these results as I expected the MH to be better and I did not expect such a huge difference between the two LED setups. For the mean time I have dimmed the LED's on setup #2 to match pretty closely the PAR of setup #3.

 

[dv3]

surprised that the solana doesn't have a bigger drop off from top to bottom ...my leds were 1200+ plus at thetop and 180 was the lowest at the bottom

the first pico is really high ...might be ard keeping some corals in that

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

surprised that the solana doesn't have a bigger drop off from top to bottom ...my leds were 1200+ plus at thetop and 180 was the lowest at the bottom

the first pico is really high ...might be ard keeping some corals in that

I retested after reading this and got very similar numbers. I found that under the halide if I moved the sensor away from the middle about 6 inches I got a higher reading on the top. However the highest reading at the bottom were in the middle of the tank. Hmmmmmmm... I dont get it.

I turned the lights down on the first pico so that the PAR is closer to the second pico. Do you think that is a good PAR to keep it at or is it still too high or too low?

 

[dv3]

I retested after reading this and got very similar numbers. I found that under the halide if I moved the sensor away from the middle about 6 inches I got a higher reading on the top. However the highest reading at the bottom were in the middle of the tank. Hmmmmmmm... I dont get it.

I turned the lights down on the first pico so that the PAR is closer to the second pico. Do you think that is a good PAR to keep it at or is it still too high or too low?

as far as the pico i think it would be better turned down ...you will just have to experiment ...i still have trouble keeping chalices in the bottom of my tank ...but with a pico you can pick and choose and only keep what works in that tank
if you search my threads you will find my par reading from the same meter