Borrow/Rent Par Meter
- Thread starter Reefomeez
- Start date
Bump! C'mon fellas (or ladies)...I know at least a few of you have them. I'll leave a deposit even if you're worried about your meter. Or I'll buy beers and dinner if you want to bring it over and get the readings for me. I know you spent some cash on it and maybe I can help offset that cost by providing a fair fee for it's use. Not trying to screw or inconvenience anyone...I'll work around your schedule/needs.
I'm transitioning from T5 to LED and want to start at matching par and slowly ramp up the LED so that I can kill as little as possible. Without some help I'll be flying blind and either provide too little or too much at the start.
I'm transitioning from T5 to LED and want to start at matching par and slowly ramp up the LED so that I can kill as little as possible. Without some help I'll be flying blind and either provide too little or too much at the start.
I think it was Cody based on the presentation by someone who's name I can't remember at on of last year's SCMAS meetings. I was at the meeting too and agree that they aren't apples to apples but I gotta start somewhere. It has more to do with how the meter reads par rather than a true difference in the par itself, I think. Like I said, I just want to do it as safely as possible. Push comes to shove or I lose patience and I'll be taking your 2 cents to the bank!
Thanks James! I'll likely hit you up since you're close to me. I'll send you a PM in a week or so.
BTW- the tricolor valida I got from you is starting to color up. By the time I was done dipping in ReVive, I thought it was dead because it was so white. I figured I would leave it in the tank for a few days in case and after a few days I started seeing polyps. In the last week I've seen the polyps start to turn yellow/green and the body is starting to slowly color up. Thanks again for the frag!
I'm already chomping at the bit to setup the light but if I can't borrow one by then I'll definitely get a hold of you. It was nice to meet you at SCRK this past meeting. I'm impressed by your ability to have a family and attend 3 club meetings a month...you're like my idol, lol.
Thanks James! I'll likely hit you up since you're close to me. I'll send you a PM in a week or so.
BTW- the tricolor valida I got from you is starting to color up. By the time I was done dipping in ReVive, I thought it was dead because it was so white. I figured I would leave it in the tank for a few days in case and after a few days I started seeing polyps. In the last week I've seen the polyps start to turn yellow/green and the body is starting to slowly color up. Thanks again for the frag!
I'm already chomping at the bit to setup the light but if I can't borrow one by then I'll definitely get a hold of you. It was nice to meet you at SCRK this past meeting. I'm impressed by your ability to have a family and attend 3 club meetings a month...you're like my idol, lol.
Yea i think PAR on the blues register different. I thought i understood PAR until i switched to LEDs about a year ago and nothing made sense. I started too low and corals seemed to brown out but the PAR was more than I had with halides. Then i raised it too fast and burned some corals. either way it took some time for corals to adjust but the numbers didnt make sense to me.
Yep that blue really doesn't register at all. I would get all white on at 80 par then add the blue which is triple the amount of chips and get 84-96 par. Main thing is finding where the hot spots are so you can rescape.
Optics make beams of light really hard for some coral to not melt. That why I have no optics and even with a thick acrylic cover I get good coverage.
Start high. And hope someone lets you borrow meter.
Optics make beams of light really hard for some coral to not melt. That why I have no optics and even with a thick acrylic cover I get good coverage.
Start high. And hope someone lets you borrow meter.
The thing is you can have a ton of PAR in the say 515 nm range. It will register on your meter. The thing is that spectrum is not really used by corals for the most part. So that PAR is not useable for photosynthesis right? So what's important is PUR(photosyntheticly USEABLE radiation)
Nano meters of light like 420 or 460 is much more USEABLE by the zooxanthele and are absorbed. The down side is that cheap meters like an apogee or even a licor can under value some of the blue spectrum by 8-11 percent. It's really meant to be used as a very very rough guide.
Nano meters of light like 420 or 460 is much more USEABLE by the zooxanthele and are absorbed. The down side is that cheap meters like an apogee or even a licor can under value some of the blue spectrum by 8-11 percent. It's really meant to be used as a very very rough guide.
Do you recommend one meter brand over another? Beggars can't be choosers but maybe I can find the one that'll give me the best shot.
And then maybe find out where the matching par is and then decrease by 10% as a starting point? I'd imagine too low is better long term than too much.
I suppose either way I should prepare for death. You'd think I'd be used to it by now...lol.
And then maybe find out where the matching par is and then decrease by 10% as a starting point? I'd imagine too low is better long term than too much.
I suppose either way I should prepare for death. You'd think I'd be used to it by now...lol.
What type of chips are in the fixture? Is it cree? What brand? What wattage? How many total? What milliamps are they run at? What percentage are they at? Is it set? Can you lower and higher intensity with a program? All these things play factors.
"photon is a photon." Units of energy is more important than intensity for short periods of time.
"photon is a photon." Units of energy is more important than intensity for short periods of time.
I just switched from (MH15+ 2 T5s to LEDs) x fixtures to one Radion, started at 50% max for 6 hours. Everything was good. I'm at 65% after 3 weeks and going to hold there as everything seems happy. I had a few zoas down on the sand that didn't do well, but everything else is happy. (a few hundred other zoas, Frogspawns, Torches, shrooms, candy, leathers).
Let's not forget that the Apogee meter also reads low for any blue light source which also has the vast majority of it's output in the blue range. This includes 20K MH and T5 blue & violet bulbs. For the vast majority of us the difference is not anything to be concerned with because dang near all of us in SoCal are heavy on the blue spectrum.
I do have to disagree with the LiCor statement though. Although the Licor is not perfect, it is widely considered the gold standard for PAR measurments and it's deficiencies are down below 415nm which is not the vast output of our choices for reef lighting.
I do have to disagree with the LiCor statement though. Although the Licor is not perfect, it is widely considered the gold standard for PAR measurments and it's deficiencies are down below 415nm which is not the vast output of our choices for reef lighting.
Gee, where did you that from? 
Glad you're using it and not selling it
Glad you're using it and not selling it
The thought of selling it crossed my mind but I would NEVER buy something like this for myself which is exactly why I want to keep it. Not to mention it makes my tank look baller, even if it is a 10K look. And since the two channels are adjustable I can get whatever look I want so long as I keep the white channel down.
