How to measure the par of my Red Sea 90 lights?

[Reef Devils]

I want to get a better understanding of the par light in my tank so than I know where to place my corals. Does anyone know what the par measurements are for the Red Sea 90 light? I have 2 of them on my Red Sea 350 G2

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I want to get a better understanding of the par light in my tank so than I know where to place my corals. Does anyone know what the par measurements are for the Red Sea 90 light? I have 2 of them on my Red Sea 350 G2

Buy/rent/borrow a PAR meter.

 

[Floyd-]

Buy/rent/borrow a PAR meter.

This is the only way. Anything else is just a guessing game. Even someone with the same tank and same lights might have slightly different readings.

 

[Reef Devils]

Buy/rent/borrow a PAR meter.

Do you know the best par meter to get?

 

[Uncle99]

I do 250 surface, 150 middle and 80-100 bottom, 70 in the corners.

 

[Reef Devils]

I do 250 surface, 150 middle and 80-100 bottom, 70 in the corners.

Is this for the Red Sea 90 lights?

 

[Uncle99]

Is this for the Red Sea 90 lights?

Nope, any lights, just PAR readings.
I keep it simple, people play way to much with light.

 

[Reef Devils]

Nope, any lights, just PAR readings.
I keep it simple, people play way to much with light.

Oh so it doesn’t matter on the light. Does the intensity of the light matter? Like 60% blue and 20 percent white?

 

[Lavey29]

Oh so it doesn’t matter on the light. Does the intensity of the light matter? Like 60% blue and 20 percent white?

You typically want blue and UV channels wide open. Much lower for red and green and even lower for whites. The white light does nothing for coral it is mainly for viewing pleasure.

Try the Photone app on your phone, It gives a fairly accurate par number which I confirmed with a par meter on my tank. Some people even put their phone in ziplocks bags and check underwater. I just held it at the surface.

 

[Reef Devils]

You typically want blue and UV channels wide open. Much lower for red and green and even lower for whites. The white light does nothing for coral it is mainly for viewing pleasure.

Try the Photone app on your phone, It gives a fairly accurate par number which I confirmed with a par meter on my tank. Some people even put their phone in ziplocks bags and check underwater. I just held it at the surface.

Ok I will download that I test it out. So does corals like different par levels?

 

[Uncle99]

Oh so it doesn’t matter on the light. Does the intensity of the light matter? Like 60% blue and 20 percent white?

Intensity matters much. Spectrum same.
But your lights have both correct, it’s a matter of not over lighting the tank which is easy to do, and no much forgiving.
You can measure intensity with PAR values from a PAR meter.

Most reef lighting has the correct spectrum but each have there own thinking….can’t say that matters much.

Corals use the blues most effectively.

Without measuring PAR, start lower, say 50% blue, add others a tiny bit to get the coral corlour you want and leave it at this point for months.

 

[Lavey29]

Ok I will download that I test it out. So does corals like different par levels?

Yes light par is critical to coral success. SPS high light, LPS med light and softs low light in general terms for coral. Different reactions corals show cam tell you about the light par. I suggest you research this topic before adding corals to your tank.