Diggler's Weird 90 Gallon Reef Tank

[DirtDiggler2823]

Some pictures from today. Had a crash and lost most of my euphyllia, all my shrimp, and a bunch of snails, but it is recovering. Just added some new frags that came in today.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

The wall of control and shame. I'm in the process of redoing it to accommodate the doser and bottles, and running the hoses in a much cleaner manner.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Just did PAR measurements on my reef, and I am less than pleased.....

 

[crusso1993]

Just did PAR measurements on my reef, and I am less than pleased.....

I would say there is something that is definitely off/wrong. On a 4 bulb, T5 set up you should see much higher numbers everywhere and, especially so, near the top. How high is the light mounted off the water? What lamps are you running in the fixture? What measurement device did you use and how recently was is calibrated?

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

I would say there is something that is definitely off/wrong. On a 4 bulb, T5 set up you should see much higher numbers everywhere and, especially so, near the top. How high is the light mounted off the water? What lamps are you running in the fixture? What measurement device did you use and how recently was is calibrated?

The light was 10 inches above the glass, and it's an apogee quantam

 

[crusso1993]

The light was 10 inches above the glass, and it's an apogee quantam

Yeah, there's something off. At 10" off the water, you should be seeing much higher readings.

Is the Apogee calibrated correctly? How old are the lamps? What make and type of lamps? Which type of fixture and how old is the fixture.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Yeah, there's something off. At 10" off the water, you should be seeing much higher readings.

Is the Apogee calibrated correctly? How old are the lamps? What make and type of lamps? Which type of fixture and how old is the fixture.

The fixture itself is several years old. The blue bulbs are about 6 months old, and the whites less than a year. The apogee belongs to my local reefing club, and I'm not sure of when it was last calibrated, but I don't have any reason to not trust it to give me ballpark numbers. I'll pull the acrylic shield off the fixture to see how much that helps.

 

[crusso1993]

As I am sure you know, not all T5 fixtures or lamps are created equally. Some lamps and fixtures (ballasts) inherently put out more PAR and PUR than others. i.e. - ATI fixtures and lamps put out higher numbers than CoralLife fixtures and lamps.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

As I am sure you know, not all T5 fixtures or lamps are created equally. Some lamps and fixtures (ballasts) ingerently put out more PAR and PUR than others. i.e. - ATI fixtures and lamps put out higher numbers than CoralLife fixtures and lamps.

I actually didn't know that. Good to know at this point. Going to try to cut the glass and open things up a bit, which should help in any case.