Par question AP700

Cherish.merenda · Mar 24, 2017

Hey all,
So today I did a par reading on our tank. I think our numbers are okay from what I've read on here, but I think we can be doing better. I Would like to hear your opinions or any changes that we might do to improve in lighting. Whether it be lowering the light structure or raising or lowering intensity.
Thus far Shrooms in the tank are doing well color wise and growth wise. LPS have great colors but not great growth. SPS are browning out with no growth. (Not too worried about the SPS though because it's not my gig and probably won't buy anymore lol). I used a dumb phone app to try to mark the par readings in my tank. And also added a screen shot of my light schedule from the kessil app. I'm still trying to understand these lights and app so bare with me. Just switched from 3 kessils A360WE. Any help or recommendations is greatly appreciated!

210 gal
2x Kessil AP700s hanging from canopy
Mixed reef mostly softies and LPS. There are a few SPS frags

Test was done 70% blues only which is currently our highest point in the day.

*update I did add a little more whites to them but I am not sure on the % of whites added because the app does not say.

GoVols · Mar 24, 2017

How long did you run the a360's and were you having good growth with them?

luke33 · Mar 24, 2017

How do you use your phone to get par readings?

Cherish.merenda · Mar 24, 2017

I'd say a year. I got good growth on my softies and LPS actually. Even what little SPS I had at the time were taking off. They were encrusting, they just never branched out with the A360s for some reason. Never measured the par on them though.

Cherish.merenda · Mar 24, 2017

luke33 said:
How do you use your phone to get par readings?

Oh no I used a par meter rented from a LFS. When I said I used my phone app it was just to mark up the pictures I took.

luke33 · Mar 24, 2017

Got it. For lps you look just fine, sps....not so much! But you sound like you aren't interested in sps so I wouldn't worry about super high intensity. That being said it's not going to hurt turning them up a bit to get a little more intensity for the bottom.

GoVols · Mar 25, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
I'd say a year. I got good growth on my softies and LPS actually. Even what little SPS I had at the time were taking off. They were encrusting, they just never branched out with the A360s for some reason. Never measured the par on them though.

They never branched out because of the spread from the a360's.
Those Ap700's are top of the line and could take time to acclimate your corals to them.
Your par #'s seem low to me but you my have to increase your intensity slowly so your carols can adjust.
Have you tried to crank them up to see if your corals can take more intensity or did you have the intensity up and your corals did not respond well?
Also, I'd run them like the a360's with no red or green.

Cherish.merenda · Mar 25, 2017

GoVols said:
They never branched out because of the spread from the a360's.
Those Ap700's are top of the line and could take time to acclimate your corals to them.
Your par #'s seen low to me but your my have to increase your intensity slowly so your carols can adjust.
Have you tried to crank them up to see if your corals can take more intensity or did you have the intensity up and your corals did not respond well?
Also, I'd run them like the a360's with no red or green.

Noob question but what do you mean by the spread on the light?

And Yeah I'm slowly raising intensity it just don't want to do too much too quick. I barely got to 70% today from starting at 30. I'll also take out the 5% red I put on. So far corals are responding well to the higher light with a little white. I might leave it for a little bit to see what happens. I feel like they could take more but I don't want to push the envelope ya know [emoji16]

GoVols · Mar 25, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
Noob question but what do you mean by the spread on the light?

And Yeah I'm slowly raising intensity it just don't want to do too much too quick. I barely got to 70% today from starting at 30. I'll also take out the 5% red I put on. So far corals are responding well to the higher light with a little white. I might leave it for a little bit to see what happens. I feel like they could take more but I don't want to push the envelope ya know [emoji16]

I'm talking about led spread across your reef. That's a really long tank. If your led spread (coverage) is too tight with not enough par you sps will not branch out because it's not getting the light spread that it needs, to branch out. But you have to have other things to consider too for successful SPS growth. A mixed reef with SPS is kinda like walking a tight rope regarding phos. nitrates and organics. You can lock in your #'s for SPS growth but it can through off your lps.

It's hard for me to imagine you had the correct spread and par on your very large reef with three a360's for SPS.
But that's JMO.

Cherish.merenda · Mar 25, 2017

Yeah that's why I stay away from SPS lol. Thanks for the input, much appreciated!

billwill · Mar 25, 2017

What phone app allows you to add text like that?

GoVols · Mar 25, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
Yeah that's why I stay away from SPS lol. Thanks for the input, much appreciated!

Well, Those AP700's have the right spread and power for SPS in your large reef. But I hate it for your if you tried to change your water parameters for SPS and it throws off your beautiful LPS. It can be done but you need to learn a lot about water chemistry to pull it off.

Cherish.merenda · Mar 25, 2017

billwill said:
What phone app allows you to add text like that?

There's actually a lot of them. This ones called "let's draw"

Frop · Mar 25, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
Hey all,
So today I did a par reading on our tank. I think our numbers are okay from what I've read on here, but I think we can be doing better. I Would like to hear your opinions or any changes that we might do to improve in lighting. Whether it be lowering the light structure or raising or lowering intensity.
Thus far Shrooms in the tank are doing well color wise and growth wise. LPS have great colors but not great growth. SPS are browning out with no growth. (Not too worried about the SPS though because it's not my gig and probably won't buy anymore lol). I used a dumb phone app to try to mark the par readings in my tank. And also added a screen shot of my light schedule from the kessil app. I'm still trying to understand these lights and app so bare with me. Just switched from 3 kessils A360WE. Any help or recommendations is greatly appreciated!

210 gal
2x Kessil AP700s hanging from canopy
Mixed reef mostly softies and LPS. There are a few SPS frags

Test was done 70% blues only which is currently our highest point in the day.

*update I did add a little more whites to them but I am not sure on the % of whites added because the app does not say.

I like numbers

GoVols · Mar 25, 2017

Frop said:
I like numbers

I like his app that is showing us his #'s.

Just googled it and it's a cool app.

GoVols · Mar 25, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
Oh no I used a par meter rented from a LFS. When I said I used my phone app it was just to mark up the pictures I took.

How much was the rent price for the meter?

Cherish.merenda · Mar 25, 2017

GoVols said:
I like his app that is showing us his #'s.

Just googled it and it's a cool app.

It's actually a her not his lol. And it was free for a local reefing club to borrow.

GoVols · Mar 25, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
It's actually a her not his

I apologize

Thanks for the info.

bif24701 · Mar 25, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
Hey all,
So today I did a par reading on our tank. I think our numbers are okay from what I've read on here, but I think we can be doing better. I Would like to hear your opinions or any changes that we might do to improve in lighting. Whether it be lowering the light structure or raising or lowering intensity.
Thus far Shrooms in the tank are doing well color wise and growth wise. LPS have great colors but not great growth. SPS are browning out with no growth. (Not too worried about the SPS though because it's not my gig and probably won't buy anymore lol). I used a dumb phone app to try to mark the par readings in my tank. And also added a screen shot of my light schedule from the kessil app. I'm still trying to understand these lights and app so bare with me. Just switched from 3 kessils A360WE. Any help or recommendations is greatly appreciated!

210 gal
2x Kessil AP700s hanging from canopy
Mixed reef mostly softies and LPS. There are a few SPS frags

Test was done 70% blues only which is currently our highest point in the day.

*update I did add a little more whites to them but I am not sure on the % of whites added because the app does not say.

Is this tank 72"? With two AP700s you don't need to be any more than 9" off the waterunless you need to cover more than 36" with each light. Also looks like you have them much too close together, spread them apart. What meter are you using?

Cherish.merenda · Mar 25, 2017

Yeah it's a 72". The two fixtures are 5 inches apart which makes the pucks 12" apart. How far apart would you recommend spacing them? The meter is a Bio-tek marine.

Also has anyone ever had the lights randomly turn on and off? I've noticed them randomly turn on at night at like 1am. Then turn back off. Even today I noticed one side go dim then go back to normal. I wasn't even in the app so I'm not sure how that happened.