PAR readings seem off

[Rick's Reefing Adventures]

Hello!
I kept messing around with my AI Prime settings cause every schedule I tried didn’t seem “right”.
I rented a PAR meter from a fish store and when testing it seemed impossible to get good results. If you look at the picture below, I got these readings:
The SPS on top gets +-270-300
The small hammer gets +-110-120
The zoas on the bottom get +-0-60.

If I’d do anything to make sure the zoas get enough light, the SPS would burn. Even making its bright enough for the hammer would put 400-450 on the SPS.

When testing, all blues were on 80% with with uv and violet also really high. I have 3 different schedules installed, and I want to choose the one that looks the best and then adjust brightness so all PAR readings check out.

I have the PAR meter rented for a week, so I got enough time to mess around, but I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong.

 

[exnisstech]

Did you try testing with the flow off? I know flow is normally on but I have a hard time getting readings that don't jump all over the place when the flow is on.
270-300 on top and 60 on bottom doesn't seem too out if line for a small light like the prime but I'm far from an expert.
The pic looks like there are shadows on the bottom also but maybe it just looks that way.

 

[Rick's Reefing Adventures]

Did you try testing with the flow off? I know flow is normally on but I have a hard time getting readings that don't jump all over the place when the flow is on.
270-300 on top and 60 on bottom doesn't seem too out if line for a small light like the prime but I'm far from an expert.
The pic looks like there are shadows on the bottom also but maybe it just looks that way.

I’m going to retest tomorrow with flow off. The reason it was jumping all over the place was indeed cause of the flow.

The prime isn’t the biggest light, but it’s a 15 gal tank so the light should be able to handle this right?

Cause if I can give the sps 300, but the zoas only 60, then I can only use 1 part of the tank? Or the top or the bottom with maximum brightness.

There is indeed a shadow. The light is right in the middle and the scape is sort of arch. The sand under it has a shadow.

 

[Matt L]

I don't see anything wrong with those par values other than 0. I aim for 150-200 par for sps, 100-150 for lps, and 50-100 for soft coral. You can always move the coral as well.

 

[bushdoc]

^^^This
Also it seem to me that your test might be accurate.
BTW, many SPS can be grown in PAR over 500 if acclaimed.

 

[Rick's Reefing Adventures]

Hello hello!
So I chose the schedule I like the most and messed around with the brightness.
I tested with flow on and flow off.
These are the readings I get at the highest point. So between 12 and 4-ish.

200-250 for the SPS. The tips of the Montipora/Stylophora get around 250-300, but the base/bottom part gets around 200.
150-200 for the hammer. This one was difficult. I want that whole part of the rock filled with hammers. But if I go up the rock slightly I get 200-250. Is this too bright or is this fine?
75-100 for the zoanthids. I tested from the sand, so the zoas get slightly more, but when the whole rock is covered, the bottom part gets at least 75-100. I can tell they used to get not enough light as they were really expanding the polyps upwards to the light. I hope that is fixed now, but time will tell.

What do you guys think of this? Is this enough or would you change anything?