camilenoel
Community Member
Does it make sense that the farthest corner of my aqua scape closest to the sand bed is reading the highest par?
So I broke down and rented a par meter to get my readouts for the new 14g cube I just set up. I have not added corals yet because I want to let the tank mature a bit first but I would love to get the light dialed in so that I don’t have to mess with it once they are in because I know consistency is key! On it i have a Smatfarm 60W G3 mounted 9in above the surface with my sand bed sitting about 14ish inches below the surface.
I have the settings as follows:
A: 40% (MIX reef recommendation by manufacturer)
B: 100%
C:100%
My light is slightly off center to the right side of the tank to accommodate the FluvalSmart Aquaclear 50 but gets a nice spread so I didnt mess with it too much.
I just went in and took some measurements around my tank and for some reason the lowest point on my rockwork all the way in the corner is having the highest reading at 230 while the highest point almost dead center under the light is barely 200. Anyone know why that could be? My plan was to do mostly LPS and softies but I wanted to try some SPS at the high points as well but its looking like the par is going to be too high for my LPS but not high enough for SPS!
I will attach the photo of 100% intensity par map from Smatfarm, my tank with par readings and a rendering of my coral placement plan! Advice is greatly appreciated!
My coral dreams/plan.
- Zoa garden on the left cascading rock
- Gorgonian
- SPS (probably Montipora digitata) on the top
- Hammer(s) branching off the arch
- Long polyp toadstool leather on the arch
- Daisy polyps on an island in the sandbed
- Ricordea on the sandbed
EVENTUALLY
- Tubastrea front and center sandbed (Yes I know they are a pain in the butt, I actually wrote my senior thesis for my BS in Marine Bio on them so I would like to have them at some point)
So I broke down and rented a par meter to get my readouts for the new 14g cube I just set up. I have not added corals yet because I want to let the tank mature a bit first but I would love to get the light dialed in so that I don’t have to mess with it once they are in because I know consistency is key! On it i have a Smatfarm 60W G3 mounted 9in above the surface with my sand bed sitting about 14ish inches below the surface.
I have the settings as follows:
A: 40% (MIX reef recommendation by manufacturer)
B: 100%
C:100%
My light is slightly off center to the right side of the tank to accommodate the FluvalSmart Aquaclear 50 but gets a nice spread so I didnt mess with it too much.
I just went in and took some measurements around my tank and for some reason the lowest point on my rockwork all the way in the corner is having the highest reading at 230 while the highest point almost dead center under the light is barely 200. Anyone know why that could be? My plan was to do mostly LPS and softies but I wanted to try some SPS at the high points as well but its looking like the par is going to be too high for my LPS but not high enough for SPS!
I will attach the photo of 100% intensity par map from Smatfarm, my tank with par readings and a rendering of my coral placement plan! Advice is greatly appreciated!
My coral dreams/plan.
- Zoa garden on the left cascading rock
- Gorgonian
- SPS (probably Montipora digitata) on the top
- Hammer(s) branching off the arch
- Long polyp toadstool leather on the arch
- Daisy polyps on an island in the sandbed
- Ricordea on the sandbed
EVENTUALLY
- Tubastrea front and center sandbed (Yes I know they are a pain in the butt, I actually wrote my senior thesis for my BS in Marine Bio on them so I would like to have them at some point)
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