What is the best way to measure Par when using LED's? Is it true par meters are pretty much useless when it comes to LED's?
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What is the best way to measure Par when using LED's? Is it true par meters are pretty much useless when it comes to LED's?
Why build them far above what is needed? Simply to change the corals natural color into something more desirable?
Without the use of a par meter, how will I know the proper placement for my Birds Nest. How long would it generally take for the color to show up? I was told if it didn't color up within 2wks then it's not getting the right light. Yet all my LPS look great. Again with the par factor right?
Corals are very adaptable. In bright light they develop Proteins and Pigments to reflect the excessive light. These often cause the colours we want.
Depending on acclimation it can take a few weeks or months. Also the colour is dependent on pristine water quality. Each tank is different and frags from our EEs Tank look different in my tank...Lights are the same.
Without a Par Meter you can use a camera and note the exposure and f stop. Then adjust your LEDs to slightly below the same f stop and exposure reading....Its not scientific but brightness and PAR are somewhat linear in aquarium lighting.
Overall I like 200-300 PAR on the sand Bed. This allows for carpet anemones and clams.
Bill
lux meter and reduce 30% intensity from old fixture. fwiw an ati Coral + has insanely high par value(40? sorry it late and I dont have my chart)w low intensityWow this is very interesting method I never considered. Can you please expand? I am going from a low end LED to "I think" a higher end full spectrum LED, so I basically want to make sure I switch the lights with the same intensity and then gradually increase. I don;t really care what the PAR values will be (as long as corals are happy I dont care about the #). What I do care about is putting them into shock.
So would I do the following:
1) Have no other lighting in room (say shut shades, lights etc)
2) Put camera in auto focus mode and poingt to same location for before and after (maybe put cam on tripod)
3) make note of current intensity on existing LED
4) Take picture and note exposure and f.stop
5) Replace with new lights (set to an intensity that would like to start with)
6) Take picture with same camera settings, location and other ambient light
7) Note exposer and f.stop
How would you know what to do comparing the numbers? When you say exposure are you talking about ISO, shutter speed or both?
Thanks for the tip - I was on the search for par meter, but I do have a Nikon DSLR - not trying to be exact, but want to feel warm and fuzzy that I have the lights tuned to as close to what corals were getting before. Even though I am going LED -> LED I want to be extrac careful - I killed most of my tank in past when replacing all my T5 HO bulbs at once
Dont sweat those details. we should care less about how the watch works and more about what time it is.I really need to better understand my unit. Least one of us takes a trip out the window Any meter is not an option financially. So I figure, knowing how they work is a must.
What is the difference between a 3w Cool White Cree & a 3w Cool White Bridgelux? Are the differences really so big, making one better then the other?
Is it true that a 1-2 ratio is best, meaning for every 1 white 2 blues should be used?
Brightness of light when it comes to led doesnt really mean anything you can have 400w of led pwr but not have any par value. That is why when you see light percentages on led the blues are usually higher than the whites. The blue spectrum has more of the beneficial wavelengths but there are some in the whites just have to watch how high you drive them take it easy when acclimating led is a much more focused light than t5 or halide
Dont sweat those details. we should care less about how the watch works and more about what time it is.
A light at full on both channels has a specific color temp/ Led seem to land in the 14,000 to 16000 kelvin range. By lowering the white you increase the kelvin temp. Ie 20k like a radium halide. Or decrease the blue to 14l like a Phoenix 14k halide.
imo ime some of my corals DO prefer 14k kelvin over 20k kelvin. and fwiw generally your whites run 10000 kelvin to 14k anyway or a combination to achieve that number.
AND its not a true kelvin temp but that will get confusing
and all light has par value. weird right?
and if you can see the light it has lux intensity. more correctly, intensity that can be measured in lux.