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Sell your fixture and get a ATI. I'm running 10 inch above water, 600-700 right below water, and 500 -350 at SPS level, 180-250 at bottom tank.
I'm using 8 bulb ATI 48"
I am not familiar with this fixture but depending on t5's some have great output of par that the meters can't read. It's not uncommon for actinic may be showing half as much par as it has for example. The par meter may be suspect as I am sure it is hobby grade. Some par meters are better than others. Which one did you use?
That was my original experience when I tested par with my old sunpower. Was getting about 200 par at the top of my rocks with all 8 bulbs firing.
I was really surprised with the numbers. I know from experience T5's can grow wonderfully. This is my first experience with 24" lamps though, so I wasn't sure if that was the problem.
It seems that par meter drops off in the 400-450nm range. Which ofc the actinic and blue plus bulbs have plenty of. I would also expect t5's to read lower then led's
The par meter is certainly reading lower than actual, can't say if it is something to be concerned about. Age of bulbs will matter as well as how good the fixture is at cooling the bulbs and ofc the distance of your fixture above the water, the clarity of your water and so on.
I do have my T5's the same length as my tanks so can't comment on the drop off. I have a 24 inch 4 bulb ATI but it is over a 24 inch long frag tank. It certainly works well though!
Again, no idea with your fixture but there is decades of tanks/evidence that t5 grows acropora.
I was really surprised with the numbers. I know from experience T5's can grow wonderfully. This is my first experience with 24" lamps though, so I wasn't sure if that was the problem.
I have an 36" 8 bulb ATI over my lowboy 50 gallon 48"x24"x10". I seriously find best results with only 2 bulbs running! Its most likely just the shallowness of my aquarium but t5's are stronger than you think. Now if you want to go all sps you might consider more par but I don't think the numbers are terrible. Especially with the above statement on accuracy of the par meter.
It is what it is.So I borrowed a PAR meter from a friend and took some measurements in my tank. I tried to create one of those fancy pictures with all the numbers but it didn't come out as nice as most that I see. My tank is 36" x 21" x 20" and I'm using a 6x24" Pacific Sun Althea T5 fixture. Bulb combo is
3x blue plus
1x aquablue special
1x true actinic
1x GE 6500k
These reading were with all bulbs on. Honestly, I am pretty disappointed with the readings. I knew they would dive hard on the ends with the 24" fixture over the 36" tank but even directly under the fixture they are low. I thought they would be twice this under the lamps.
This is an old picture, many corals have been added since but it was the best straight on picture I could easily find. The birdsnest has grown quite a bit but other acro's, while colorful are not growing much at all. Guess it's time to rethink lighting?
It is what it is.
Get a fixture that fits the tank better.
LED Lamp - Althea T5 - Pacific Sun EU
LED Lamp - Althea T5. Ultra efficient cooling via the inbuilt 120mm low speed fans keep the ballasts and tubes working at optimal performance.pacific-sun.eu
Ones small thing...it may actually be cooling your tubes too much (and make sure the tubes are in on the right side, writing under the fans I believe)
Too bad, looks like a fun fixture
ah ya.. good catch. With ATI the label of the bulb needs to be under the reflector side that has a hole so air travels correctly. There are certainly a lot of little details that went into some of these fixtures to make sure they are running tip top that we don't know about (unless we read the manual?). I considered other fixtures but just went with ATI since I trust they know whats up.
Ya I didn’t know either when I first got my fixtures and one was set up right and the other completely wrong for like 6 months!I had no idea! I just checked, half my bulbs are oriented correctly. I'll fix the other 3 after lights out tonight and retest tomorrow.
@JCM, what are your latest updates? Happy with Pac Sun?I had no idea! I just checked, half my bulbs are oriented correctly. I'll fix the other 3 after lights out tonight and retest tomorrow.