Whats the average PAR for a 25" depth tank?
- Thread starter Reef264
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karsseboom
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There is way to many variables in that question to answer. For instance I have a 250w radium driven on an m80 ballast with a lumen bright reflector and I have 500 par on my sand bed at 20 inches down. Now of you had the same bulb in a different reflector driven bu and eballast you wouldn't see numbers like that.
Reef264
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Well, I'll try my best to give every detail I can then.It is a Hamilton Fixture, M80 Ballast, double ended bulb, I know this is a stab in the dark for y'all to guess this.I was just curious to see if anyone had my Lighting and Tank depth to get a general Idea of where I sit.I don't know Why I'm concerned about my PAR, my Forks and Plates are happy.I guess I just want to know.
If your fixture is 8 " above the water line you will get appx. 525 at the water surface and appx. 100-120 at the bottom... if sand bed is appx 1".
These can be your guide and as mentioned before other factors will influence this What I have here is the PAR we get with our Apogee MQ 200 under a 250watt New Phoenix 14K.
karsseboom
New member
Mh are par monsters you just have to have the right setup here is an old pic. Tell me how many LEDs punch down like this.
I thought so as well but they weren't. I used optimized reflectors and different ballasts on the 250 watt HQIs but never got near the 800 PAR range AWL of a 400 watt XM 20k or Radium that I was looking for.
Yes you will easily get that kind of PAR with some LEDs. But you will be challenged by spread of light and spectrum of an LED. I loved the power of an LED but when branches on one side of my Acros grew 20 times faster than other side and the shapes of my colonies changed, it made for fast trimming to retain shape.
Under LEDs I also noticed the Acros with a single dominant colour, like Green Slimmer, was just as nice as before but the there was something missing with the Acros or Milles that had the other beautiful green/purple/blue/orange/gold/sunset tones.
In the end, I went with an ATI 8 x 54 watt T5 fixture. My PAR is 800, 219 on the bottom, the spread of light is excellent and all the colours in my coral came back.
karsseboom
New member
I thought so as well but they weren't. I used optimized reflectors and different ballasts on the 250 watt HQIs but never got near the 800 PAR range AWL of a 400 watt XM 20k or Radium that I was looking for.
Yes you will easily get that kind of PAR with some LEDs. But you will be challenged by spread of light and spectrum of an LED. I loved the power of an LED but when branches on one side of my Acros grew 20 times faster than others the shapes of my colonies it made for fast trimming to retain shape.
Under LEDs I also noticed the Acros with a single dominant colour, like Green Slimmer, was just as nice as before but the there was something missing with the Acros or Milles that had the other beautiful green/purple/blue/orange/gold/sunset tones.
In the end, I went with an ATI 8 x 54 watt T5 fixture. My PAR is 800, 219 on the bottom, the spread of light is excellent and all the colours in my coral came back.
Those are par readings are just 250s.
Yes.
I know the standard of a 400 watt/20k is appx. 800-900 PAR under each properly reflected fixture but I wanted to avoid the heat and the extra energy cost so I tried 250 HQIs but could never get there.
The 8 bulb T5 is working out very well. I am able to achieve much higher PAR compared to my 250 HQIs and better light spread than my LEDs.
Reef264
Where's The Reef?
Well, I have always read it depends on a lot of things for how much PAR a MH produces, like The Ballast, the Reflector, the Bulb, the Height, old bulbs/new bulbs.I have 2 250w's over my tank, The other Is a DIY, It has a Coralvue Ballast, A Spider Reflector, and a Pheonix 14k single ended bulb.its probably 12" over the surface if the water, I keep my Lower light SPS under that one.
My Reef Club has a PAR Meter, so I may put my name on the list to test my tank with it.
My Reef Club has a PAR Meter, so I may put my name on the list to test my tank with it.
Mh are par monsters you just have to have the right setup here is an old pic. Tell me how many LEDs punch down like this.
My DIY setup has the same readings. Those levels aren't hard to achieve with LED's. Its the other issues that cauase problems.
