Par Readings Test 1 Robs tanks

[mojo~]

Well after a day of shopping at premium we came back and took some PAR readings. Thanks for driving Frank.

Here is Robs Frag tank. very suprising. Tanks has 3 175w Metal halides with Lumen Arc reflectors

and the 90 g with a 6 bulb tek t5 ho fixture. running ATI, Aquascience and a KZ fiji purple bulbs.

I was really in shock over the difference of the two tanks.

 

[SeasonedReefer]

Wow that is impressive. What do you think makes the difference? Distance of lighting from the tank? Age of the bulbs? Or do the T-5 just straight up have higher par then Halides?

 

[mojo~]

bulb height is a big deal but right under the halide was about 750 and right under the t5 was about 1000

 

[LOVETHISHOBBY]

Yes, it was very surprising to me. The MH bulbs are only 3 months old. The fixtures are pretty high off the frag tank though. I'll be lowering them soon. It just goes to show you why all my acro's and monti's browned out in that tank and colored quickly in the 90. The LPS and softies seem to do just fine though. Hopefully, Santa's bringing me a new T5 fixture for the frag tank.

Thanks Jessie for testing, I really appreciate it. And thanks again for driving today Frank, I had great time chewing the fat as they say.

 

[SeasonedReefer]

Maybe a dumb question but does bulb color influence par?

 

[LOVETHISHOBBY]

With the Reeflux 175 watt bulbs, the 20k's have more par than the 14k's.

 

[SeasonedReefer]

Ok cool so It does have some influence. On a side note the 90 looks great Rob! You weren't kidding when you said you have it fully stocked with corals lol.

 

[SeasonedReefer]

Hey Rob, when you compare growth rates between the 90 and the 100 do you notice things grow faster in one and not the other? May seem like a silly question and I know you haven't had the 90 that long but just wondering if you notice anything different?

 

[Fireworm]

It would be cool if you guys could post all of your Par readings on the club site if you have not done so yet. Also, can't wait for my turn with the par meter. Want to get my new bulb first though.

 

[mojo~]

I have some time today. $20 is what I have to charge.

I ll be posting daves results soon as well.

 

[JCR's Reef]

Wow! I would've really thought the middle MH would be a higher reading recieving the output of the other two MH's on each side. Mind boggling.
On a side note: MH's are usually higher off of the tank so they dont heat the water up. That's why you can run T5's lower to the tank, less heat. I have my MH's about 6" from the top of the tank with a bigger fan blowing across and things really colored up nicely vs. before when I had them 10"-16" from the top everything brown out like what happened to Rob's tank.

Whats the difference between the TEK and the ATI Jesse? Im curious now..lol..

 

[SeasonedReefer]

I think the Mh in The middle is less because it has to penetrate through euro bracing.

 

[mojo~]

ill get some par readings here in a bit taking some pictures of things to get rid of first. tank too full

 

[Fireworm]

I have some time today. $20 is what I have to charge.

I ll be posting daves results soon as well.

I might have to hit you up in the next few weekends and see what the schedule is. I am curious to see if there is a difference between the bulbs being overdriven with my IC660 vs a normal ballast. $20 is fine, just like buying another test kit.

 

[LOVETHISHOBBY]

I'm definetly seeing growth in the new tank. The acro's and monti's have really taken off. In the 100, the acro's and monti's did grow, but not super fast. I can definetly see a difference between the two when it comes to grow for the monti's and acro's. They are growing faster in the 90, plus they have color now.

The middle mh is on a different dual ballast. I tried switching plugs, but it appears the other ballast is bad. Not sure why, it worked a few weeks ago. If anyone has or sees a deal on a 175 watt ballast, let me know. I've been thinking about switching to T5's, but not sure if I can justify it when the LPS and softies seem to happy.