Johnseye
Reef Addict
I have two Radion 3 Pros with wide angle lenses over my 120, mounted about 6 inches up under the canopy. Coming from an 8 bulb SunPower I started them out at about 40% to be safe and have been increasing them in 5% increments over the past 5 months or so. I was concerned about spread and shadowing so I bought a LET Miro T5 kit and have 2 48" T5 bulbs on either side of the Radions, mounted under the canopy. Last month I got to about 75% on the Radions and started to notice some of my SPS fading a little. Some had no problem with that intensity. I decided to pull it back a little. It's now at 60%.
I wanted to take the experimentation out of the process and after watching the BRS videos on lighting I decided to buy a Seneye meter. I wanted to know PAR primarily but also thought it nice to see Kelvin, PUR and LUX. I don't really care about the other variables it gives on water parameters since my Apex gives me that info.
What I found was that the Radions, directly under the pucks out of the water are about 1500 PAR. At 6 in. under the water, where most of my SPS is at, the PAR is about 380 and drops down to 200 at about 12 in. under the water. The bottom where my hammer, frogspawn and other LPS is at is between 50-100. My tank is 48" x 24" x 24". The Radion spread is fairly concentrated directly under the pucks. The center bracing blocks a lot of light in the middle.
I was pleased that I was getting 200 PAR at 12" and that was off to the side slightly. What I was surprised and disappointed about was the T5s. Above the water, directly under the T5 the PAR was about 250. Slightly under the water, directly under the T5 it was barely 100 and it dropped off sharply until light from the Radions started to blend in.
I bought a Giesemann Spectra fixture for a new 265g aquarium I'm building and am looking forward to comparing that fixture. That probably won't be until March.
I wanted to take the experimentation out of the process and after watching the BRS videos on lighting I decided to buy a Seneye meter. I wanted to know PAR primarily but also thought it nice to see Kelvin, PUR and LUX. I don't really care about the other variables it gives on water parameters since my Apex gives me that info.
What I found was that the Radions, directly under the pucks out of the water are about 1500 PAR. At 6 in. under the water, where most of my SPS is at, the PAR is about 380 and drops down to 200 at about 12 in. under the water. The bottom where my hammer, frogspawn and other LPS is at is between 50-100. My tank is 48" x 24" x 24". The Radion spread is fairly concentrated directly under the pucks. The center bracing blocks a lot of light in the middle.
I was pleased that I was getting 200 PAR at 12" and that was off to the side slightly. What I was surprised and disappointed about was the T5s. Above the water, directly under the T5 the PAR was about 250. Slightly under the water, directly under the T5 it was barely 100 and it dropped off sharply until light from the Radions started to blend in.
I bought a Giesemann Spectra fixture for a new 265g aquarium I'm building and am looking forward to comparing that fixture. That probably won't be until March.
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