Is white channel worth it?
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fish_collector
Valuable Member
Fwiw, in my experience PAR values mean little tank to tank. There are too many variables and too many spectrum differences for a generic PAR value to be of any assistance.
An example: I used viparspectra lights over my SPS frag tank and although they grew corals ok it always seemed something was missing with the light. I measured PAR with my Apogee meter to get an idea of where it was at before I swapped the lights. After I installed the reefis over the frag tank I adjusted the wattage so the PAR values were relatively the same, which was about 250 at the frag rack itself. The PAR had been adjusted so all was good with my new lights right? WRONG! Within a few days most of my acroporas were bleached and not well at all. I had to reduce the wattage of the reefis down so that the PAR was perhaps a hundred or less to let the corals try and recover. I left the PAR this way for over a month and just recently began ramping the wattage back up, it now has a PAR value of just under 200 and the corals are still angry. I've lost 6-8 of my corals so far because of the light swap. What's left will recover but may not be fully recovered and colored up until probably the summer.
So what changed, the PAR was the same? It was the spectrum that changed, the PAR was the same but it was being driven with different intensities of spectrum. That's why a general PAR value means literally nothing, it's what makes up that particular PAR value that matters.
In my opinion, a PAR meter can be used with a particular light on a particular tank, but using it to adjust a light based on a PAR reading from another tank or light is not going to work, there are just too many variables at play for it to have any useful meaning.
An example: I used viparspectra lights over my SPS frag tank and although they grew corals ok it always seemed something was missing with the light. I measured PAR with my Apogee meter to get an idea of where it was at before I swapped the lights. After I installed the reefis over the frag tank I adjusted the wattage so the PAR values were relatively the same, which was about 250 at the frag rack itself. The PAR had been adjusted so all was good with my new lights right? WRONG! Within a few days most of my acroporas were bleached and not well at all. I had to reduce the wattage of the reefis down so that the PAR was perhaps a hundred or less to let the corals try and recover. I left the PAR this way for over a month and just recently began ramping the wattage back up, it now has a PAR value of just under 200 and the corals are still angry. I've lost 6-8 of my corals so far because of the light swap. What's left will recover but may not be fully recovered and colored up until probably the summer.
So what changed, the PAR was the same? It was the spectrum that changed, the PAR was the same but it was being driven with different intensities of spectrum. That's why a general PAR value means literally nothing, it's what makes up that particular PAR value that matters.
In my opinion, a PAR meter can be used with a particular light on a particular tank, but using it to adjust a light based on a PAR reading from another tank or light is not going to work, there are just too many variables at play for it to have any useful meaning.
mcarroll
10K Club member
Highly recommended for folks to read Dana Riddle's articles on coloring up acros and how much we over light them.
looks like Orphic sponsored some here on Reef2Reef. How convenient!
www.reef2reef.com
there's at least two or three parts maybe more so be sure to read them all. seems like they were consecutively posted in that thread.
FWIW, clams do not seem to have an upper limit to the amount of light they tolerate. Corals on the other hand, even "SPS," (which is a marketing term so it means nothing as far as light or flow or anything else) have definite "low" upper limits for their light tolerances.
looks like Orphic sponsored some here on Reef2Reef. How convenient!
Lighting the Reef Aquarium By Dana Riddle
We invite you all to talk about LIGHT. Come share your knowledge, your thoughts and experience with us! original source link : https://orphek.com/lighting-the-reef-aquarium/ By Dana Riddle There are many aspects involved in successfully husbandry of a reef aquarium, not the least of which is...
www.reef2reef.com
there's at least two or three parts maybe more so be sure to read them all. seems like they were consecutively posted in that thread.
FWIW, clams do not seem to have an upper limit to the amount of light they tolerate. Corals on the other hand, even "SPS," (which is a marketing term so it means nothing as far as light or flow or anything else) have definite "low" upper limits for their light tolerances.
In my opinion, the white channels make absolute sense in any aquarium with corals; in fact, just yesterday, a gentleman who has some beautiful tanks told me to run all channels at 100%. I have two Reef Flare Pro M lights on a Waterbox Infinia Frag 125.4 (roughly 80 gallons). The corals getting burned, I believe, is due to changing the light too quickly. I have all UV/blue/violet channels at 100%, and reds, greens, and whites at 25%. Now, he's told me to increase the percentages by 5% per week, no more than that, and reach 12 hours of light, 10 of which at 100% for everything, plus one hour of sunrise and one hour of sunset. This means it will take me 14 weeks to reach the total change without stressing the corals. I've started the process. But indeed, many years ago, when I used metal halide lamps, I had 800W of light on a similar aquarium, and the corals were doing great. Moreover, if algae grows because of the light, something is wrong; increasing the light doesn't mean you'll have algae in the aquarium. If anything, the problem is hidden and comes to light when you power up the lighting. This is my opinion.
Lavey29
10K Club member
Have you par mapped your tank or are you just blindly increasing par.
SeaDweller
2500 Club Member
shh!!! stop telling people our secret, man!
mcarroll
10K Club member
It's certainly takes some experience to interpret PAR values....as you found they aren't as cut and dried as folks like to think.
PAR meters are made for sunlight....that's the rub. Hypothetically one could be calibrated to reef lighting, but there's no standard to calibrate to....not even close. (If I was reef king for a day, I'd make Radion 20,000K 150w DE halide bulbs on tar ballasts the reef light standard...no hesitation.)
FYI, lux meters work just like PAR meters, they just have a slightly different calibration. (It's all I've ever used, FWIW.) There are conversion factors for taking lux to PAR (and vis versa.... ÷ vs x) – if you're measuring sunlight 50 is the factor. 100,000 lux ÷ 50 = 2000 PAR The bluer the light, the higher the conversino factor goes....60 for reeflights and 70 for *really blue* reef lights. Works out about right in practice. Apogee and other PAR meter mfgr's usually provide conversion factors for their meters. (Apogee now – since '21 apparently? –even lets you upload your spectrum for a kind of custom calibration if you're in it to win it.)
I wonder if this would hav ehelped you a little?
How to Correct for Spectral Errors of Popular Light Sources (Apogee PAR Meter LED Corrections)
I don't think measuring PAR is all that necessary; when you have years of experience behind you, your eye is somewhat trained. Corals react differently to light, and in nature the same type of coral grows at 1, 5, 10, or 20 meters underwater. And the PAR levels are very different at each of those depths.
Yea kid of interesting.. Zoo clades present can change with depth.
Charts shows "presence"but not anything about growth ect..
SeaDweller
2500 Club Member
I was referencing white/daylight spectrum, not PAR. My comment was to troy's comment.
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