help with par, please!

[smitten with ocean life]

i finally bit the bullet and switched over to 2 kessil ap9x for my 6 foot tank. now i need help figuring them out! im really disappointed with the shadowing. do i need to just turn them up? i REALLY dont want to spend more on supplemental lighting! i thought these lights would be all i need. i have a mixed reef tank. i also have a par meter. what should i be aiming for? and tips would be appreciated!

 

[Troylee]

Turning them up won’t help with shadowing.. only option is hanging them higher or getting supplemental lighting. Par will vary but my tank is 500+ top of the rocks and 175-250 in the sand.

 

[twentyleagues]

i finally bit the bullet and switched over to 2 kessil ap9x for my 6 foot tank. now i need help figuring them out! im really disappointed with the shadowing. do i need to just turn them up? i REALLY dont want to spend more on supplemental lighting! i thought these lights would be all i need. i have a mixed reef tank. i also have a par meter. what should i be aiming for? and tips would be appreciated!

What were your par numbers before you switched? What type of corals are you keeping and where? Pics?
The shimmer and contrast(shadow) is why people like kessils. Kessils are not known for their coverage.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

ah ok. i have mostly soft corals, but was hoping to order a battlebox soon sorry, i tried doing a panoramic pic and it really distorted

 

[smitten with ocean life]

 

[twentyleagues]

That looks good.
Is this with the ap9x?
Did you test par before with your other light?
What is intensity now and par numbers?

 

[smitten with ocean life]

yes this is with the ap9x. i did test before but havent yet now with the new lights. wasnt sure what to aim for. the other question i have is with how long to program them for? someone is usually home and likes the light on. but how long is too long? i had been told 10 hours max including the ramp up and down. does that sound right?

 

[smitten with ocean life]

ok just tested and its about 96 on the bottom and 160 at the top. so turn it up?

 

[VDC]

Looks good, what were par levels?

 

[VDC]

ok just tested and its about 96 on the bottom and 160 at the top. so turn it up?

should be 200 at the bottom, 500 at the top.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

ok but i should do that slowly?

 

[VDC]

If you have coral, yes. What type of coral are you keeping ?

 

[twentyleagues]

ok just tested and its about 96 on the bottom and 160 at the top. so turn it up?

What was it before? And how long did you run your lights daily?

 

[VintageReefer]

For your current tank, 100 sandbed and 300 at top.

When getting certain acros you will need to increase a little.

I know you see a lot of my tank pics, I have 100 on sand bed and 300 on my uppermost coral areas for my lps dominant tank

I have a few basic/beginner sps with no issues on the top in 250-300 par

 

[twentyleagues]

For your current tank, 100 sandbed and 300 at top.

When getting certain acros you will need to increase a little.

I know you see a lot of my tank pics, I have 100 on sand bed and 300 on my uppermost coral areas for my lps dominant tank

I have a few basic/beginner sps with no issues on the top in 250-300 par

This is very realistic numbers wise.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

great! ill try to aim for that. i have the lights ramping on at 8am and turning off at 8 pm. but we would really like them on for longer if it wouldnt hurt anything. i think it was like 150 mid tank before...

 

[VintageReefer]

You can have on longer just make extended night period with no whites and reduced blues

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

there's no way around the ap9x's incredible shadowing, The light is amazing but imo it requires supplemental lighting and lowering the ap9x intensity, the light makes some very hot spots when turning up the intensity to try and remove the shadowing.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

oh man! you pay over a thousand bucks on just lights and you have to but supplement lighting too!!

 

[twentyleagues]

oh man! you pay over a thousand bucks on just lights and you have to but supplement lighting too!!

Almost any light you get will need supplementation unless its multiple bars that you can angle the outside ones on. T5s are a good example of lights that would not need supplements, but then you need to insure you have enough to achieve par numbers you need. Any led is a single plane, the fixture is going to shine light in one direction. Some cover more surface area but still are just a flat plane. If you were to use say AI blades or orphek bars you could angle the outside bars to hit the corals from an angle instead of straight down eliminating shadows. You can add something like this later when you need to. The Kessils are very good lights and will cover the tank for some time before this is needed.

If you had 150par mid tank before I would set the ap9x to that par level and use acclimation mode to increase par to your desired levels over 30 days or more. Increase your ramp up and down time to increase your photo period. I have a 12 hour photo period on my tank but only 4 hours of peak time. Mine ramp up starting at a very low setting for 2 hrs then increase to about 60% of peak for 2 more hours then hit peak for 4 hrs then do the opposite ramp down. I have an hour of moon light at the end of the day on a lunar schedule. This lunar cycle follows the actual phases of the moon so during a full moon it is brighter and a new moon mostly dark but this is no more than 5w no detectable par in the water.

I have my midday schedule when I am home, this may work better for you depending on your schedule. if you are around the tank 8 to 8 then that is best for you, if you are around the tank more in the evening then maybe 10 to 10 or 12 to 12 would be better for your viewing. I dont know if I would go more than 12hrs though with 4-6 hrs of peak par.