Good "starting par for acros"?

[OriginalUserName]

Picked up some new acros recently and also a seneye par meter. For the high light guys what is a good par to start off with? I have a kessil 360n. It was set to about 50% intensity and I was getting some bleaching on my center high birdnests. This was happening at far lower par than I expected.

Would maybe 150 be a good starting point and increasing from there as needed?

 

[tdileo]

150 is a good starting point in my opinion. In my LFS SPS tank, PAR ranges anywhere from about 160-180 and down to 130 in the corners. I would imagine that is a common spot for other LFS as well.

 

[Scorpius]

I run my Kessil 360we's no more than 40% intensity around 11in above the water line.

 

[BoomCorals]

I’d say your average sps need at least 200-250 PAR.

 

[Cuong]

I'm at ~420 at the most. Average ~350 for most of my sps though.

 

[29bonsaireef]

I would say it depends on your light source and the coral, but best color and growth comes from the corals in the 350-450 par range (T5s), IME. This is an overall view of SPS I've grown. There's a few that do better a tad lower and some that do better under even more par.

 

[jda]

I am a high light guy too, but I use quality lights (mostly MH, some T5 and a few VHO) that do not harm coral. 350 is pretty much my min except for under shelves and colonies where I have about 200 and do grow some echinata and dragons.

Remember, coral buring is not always a quantity (PAR) thing, but also a quality thing.

150 PAR might be OK for a birdsnest. I would try and get it up another 100, at least. The coral might respond to very slow increase, but it also might reject any. In any case, you will need more light if you want to expand past birdsnests. This is why nearly all people who have Kessils end up adding T5s... almost all of them, it seems. Also seems like if people knew this before they purchased, they might have purchased differently in the beginning.