PAR

[Deniss]

I recently got my PAR meter from Seneye, i did a few measurements and too be honest ...i thought i was providing alot more PAR then what the real PAR is. My zoa's at the bottom are getting around 60 par, and my rasta frag which is the higest in the tank 120 par.

60 par looks really low, but i'm scared to rise intensity of my lighting. The zoa's at the bottom are not stretching. How can you make sure getting enough light? And should i up my PAR?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Do the zoas look great and grow?

 

[Deniss]

They grow yes, some got new heads. There polyp is really close to the base. They are slowly recovering from a serious green hair algae outbreak that i have beaten a week ago.
Some polyps looked like they had been shaken and the colors were mixed, but they have been recovering nicely. Any idea's what this means?
I wonder if a zoa always stretches with not enough light, and just not gets smaller overtime with a melting at the end?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If they look good, they are good my friend.
Don the let numbers fool you.

 

[Deniss]

Thank you mate. I will let the lights like this then. They are recovering verry nice even though the hair algae was brutal... was literally growing on there "body".
Luckily that battle is done now. Some frags had there colors "mixed up", but luckily they are slowly showing there normal pathern again overtime.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Your welcome. I hope the algae gets resolved

 

[Deniss]

Thanks, algae free since last week
Now i have to dose nitrate and phosphate because they are both 0.
Even though my chaeto reactor is at minimum light intensity (don't want to take it off because it does a great job stabilizing my ph at night).

 

[joshporksandwich]

numbers mean nothing if everything looks good.

 

[Deniss]

numbers mean nothing if everything looks good.

Thanks Josh, will keep my lighting like it is. I was afraid zoa's could starve out with not enough light (without showing any sign, other than melting away).

 

[thaitopher]

If they look good, they are good my friend.
Don the let numbers fool you.

Yep. My ZOA's only have 50 PAR and I have gone from 5 heads to 80 heads in about 4 months