Reef tank Lighting

[Miniblade]

Hey R2R! I've got a 36.5" long x 24.5" wide x 25" deep reef tank, and I'm having some lighting-related issues. I've got 2 K7 V3 Pros as of current. So, most of the tank has REALLY good par. The section I have my SPS on has 280-380 PAR and my lights are only at 75%, however, the sandbed has abysmal par in most places. 25-80 at MOST.
So, I need supplemental lighting that will shine on the sandbed and help reduce shadowing. At first I was thinking of going with reefbrites, but they don't push PAR as deep as I need. I then thought about T5s but I don't want to deal with replacing bulbs plus my tank already gets a bit too warm for my liking. Orphek bars and Aliexpress bars both seem like they'd work great. Thing is, orpheks are out of my tax bracket, and for aliexpress bars i'd have to custom order them which takes too long. Anyone got any suggestions?

 

[Rocks reef]

How far below the surface are your SPS? Are you using a PAR meter?

Have a look at this thread, scroll down and look at the PAR readings from a couple tanks.

noopsyche k7 pro 3 par readings for default sps, lps, and sps/lps modes

hello I was wondering if anyone knew par readings for the default modes, or individual channels. i personally like the 20% white and 85% blues ratio that sps/lps mode gives, but not sure how to estimate its par, so i can adjust it. most previous posts about noopsyche k7 pro 3 have done par...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Miniblade]

Yes this is with a danoplus PAR meter that has been tested against a apogee with a correction factor applied.

 

[Miniblade]

 

[Rocks reef]

You may need to bump up your lights. Do you have a front view of your tank? In the thread I posted. People were getting way higher PAR using less intensity.

 

[Asm481]

What orientation do you have your lights. Running side to side or front to back. Looks to me your problem is shading more then light strength. They're powerful lights but come from one point. If you got them running front to back, I got no idea other then strip lights supplemental light bars.

 

[Miniblade]

This was taken just now. Id agree on the shading part.

 

[Miniblade]

The par readings in the post above were taken at 50% strength so Id imagine a 20% increase in par give or take at peak (75%) intensity

 

[Miniblade]

Par at front of tank

 

[exnisstech]

Maybe add a 3rd noopsyche? I ran six K7 III pros over this 72x24x24" tank. While I don't remember all the par readings i was getting 300 on the bottom left where I kept my clams.

EDIT: Mine were only 7" inches off the top tho.

 

[EricR]

Yes this is with a danoplus PAR meter that has been tested against a apogee with a correction factor applied.

Just out of curiosity, what did you find your Danoplus correction factor to be (compared to Apogee)?
*mine seems to be about 1.3x to match MQ-510 BUT my comparisons were same settings at different times,,, not side by side