What PAR meters do you guys rely on? Is this something every serious reefer should buy?

Rollins

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Beginners like myself with these powerful leds definitely can benefit from knowing PAR. I burned a few corals for sure, even acros. Some pics of my homemade Apogee stick, works great once I got the angle correct. Maybe not as precise as some, but the general PAR numbers keeps me out of trouble. 1/2” pvc, small piece of acrylic, a little whittling and some glue.

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jlee

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I rented one from Bulk Reef Supply for about $50 when I was setting my tank up. I got my rock setup like I wanted it and measured the par values of about 20 points in my tank for each 10% increase in my lighting intensity. I still have those values and rely on them for coral placement
 

Freenow54

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I've been using what I call the Poorman's PAR meter......a LUX meter. For me it was hard justifying spending 3-400 dollars on a piece of equipment that I'd use for ten minutes and then not touch again until I got new lights. Yes, I'm cheap. However, @saltyfilmfolks wrote a number of posts on how to use a LUX meter and convert those numbers to PAR....especially for LED lights. I consider saltyfilmfolks an expert on lighting and unfortunately he hasn't been on the site in some time. Anyway, a LUX meter only cost around $15 (and I just looked and the one I purchased is now $18), and I could afford that! I used this in setting up my new lights I got about four years ago and worked like a champ. Bottom line, we measure everything else in our tank, and lighting should be one of those things we measure as well. If I remember my LUX numbers correctly, for LED's you want a LUX around 25K, and for very high light corals, maxing out at 40K. If interested I'm sure you can search on saltyfilmfolks for the number of posts he made about using a LUX meter. HERE is but one example from Salty.

And, if anybody is interested, THIS IS THE LUX METER I HAVE.

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I never thought of that. Of course Lux perfect. Great resolve going to get one right away. Perfect timing as I am starting a new tank have 2 now
Agreed, if I plan to have zoanthids and mushrooms in my tank and I physically see frags growing on the bottom what need do I have for numbers?
I know I am talking about the same thing. Much too expensive for initial start up. However looking for a resolve, and found one in another post Lux meter. Wish I had one on my first tank when I was totally ignorant. Lost a lot of coral. not going to happen on my new tank with new, and different lights.
 

Freenow54

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Plus there’s the whole PAR vs PUR debate. Does PAR really matter as much as PUR? Depends on who you ask. You can flood your tank with plenty of PAR with varying nm of light spectrum (say, from all whites for example) but it doesn’t mean the coral are getting what they need in terms of correct spect
 

Freenow54

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Here are the preset light graphs from the manufacturer of My Aquanest M8 lights. So what do you do when you mix coral? Just put them in the spectrum by depth?
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Freenow54

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I was curious if there was a relationship between PAR and temperature. Got to a quantum Physics post lol.
However this site was hugely interesting, as it talks specifically about Aquariums. I have not finished it yet . The interesting part is that it suggested using two different light sources one meeting PAR necessity, the other PUR. Needed for coral growth. The manufacturers will love me.
Here is the site https://orphek.com/understanding-kelvin-lux-lumens-par-and pur
 

Freenow54

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Was looking for a Lux meter on the internet, and there is an article from here I found. He used one made by Milwaukee for me $137 Canadian $ 100 US. I ordered one. now looking for the article as they were talking about a correction factor
 

chicago

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Following. For those that went to the laptop based units. How did that work out? Any comments on changes in par when we reduce or increase just the blues. ??
 

HB AL

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I've never used one, have no idea what par readings are in my tank. Although I started this one 5.5 years ago as a fowlr I started adding corals after a few months and it's gone pretty well not knowing par. If I got serious about just corals I would probably test the various par values but i like my fish better.
20210513_154816.jpg
 

chicago

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Wow.... a clown trigger and more in a reef tank... love it...... not to mention the other three..... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This should be a thread of its own... Hungry triggers in a reef tank....
 

Freenow54

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I've never used one, have no idea what par readings are in my tank. Although I started this one 5.5 years ago as a fowlr I started adding corals after a few months and it's gone pretty well not knowing par. If I got serious about just corals I would probably test the various par values but i like my fish better.
20210513_154816.jpg
I had Dana Riddle send me a link to a video, where he was the guest speaker. It is on you tube. It seems to be put up by Bulk Reef Supply. It was all about PAR, flow, and alkalinity, and how they all work together. I got plain lucky as well with my one tank. Obvious you did as well by your comments. It is a fascinating video about half hour long
 

HB AL

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I had Dana Riddle send me a link to a video, where he was the guest speaker. It is on you tube. It seems to be put up by Bulk Reef Supply. It was all about PAR, flow, and alkalinity, and how they all work together. I got plain lucky as well with my one tank. Obvious you did as well by your comments. It is a fascinating video about half hour long
Ya I get par is important but after 36 years of having saltwater tanks it's not luck for me. More like trial and error, just wish the internet existed back then as it would have made it so much easier :)
 

Freenow54

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Ya I get par is important but after 36 years of having saltwater tanks it's not luck for me. More like trial and error, just wish the internet existed back then as it would have made it so much easier :)
When I got my first saltwater tank it was through my son. I had no idea about Par, and or the importance of lighting, or the triangle theory. It was trial and much error. Got pretty expensive. Trying to avoid that on my new startup
 

thatmanMIKEson

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Plus there’s the whole PAR vs PUR debate. Does PAR really matter as much as PUR? Depends on who you ask. You can flood your tank with plenty of PAR with varying nm of light spectrum (say, from all whites for example) but it doesn’t mean the coral are getting what they need in terms of correct spectrum.
Boom
 

rusgum

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apogee 510. This is what I sometimes need when changing fixtures. I have changed the fixtures several times. Also with the direction of Kessils I can adjust the places that are needed. With a diode source, my PAR in the upper layers is 450/500, in the middle about 350, in the bottom about 250. By my actions, I can keep Akanas and Acroporas on the same level.
 
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arking_mark

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So I'm changing my answer. I was recently able to get my hands on a Apogee sq520 and found my Seneye to be 100 PAR off!
 

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