How do i know if my lights are to close to my tank?

[Reefcube29]

I was looking around at pics and noticed everyone had thier lights set at different levels. How exactly do u determine how far to set your lights above your tank?????

 

[toromp]

par values

 

[Reefcube29]

how do you know what your par values are?

 

[toromp]

Par meter. Your local fish club should have one

 

[Mr. Plant]

Depends on what you are trying to grow, and what type of lights you are using........

 

[purple30]

It depend on light system you got, and you will know if the light is close to the tank when it start to heat up your water.

 

[wickedfish]

If you have bleaching you know your answer. If the corals look good leave it alone.

 

[Reefcube29]

there is no bleaching. im just worried they might be to close though,. n i have a cadlights 4x24 watt hot5 light with 2 1watt blue leds for night. i have my first bulb as attinic, the 2nd is 10k, 3rd is purple reef, n fourth is red reef.. all comments are greatly appreciated and help me out alot,.. also i wanna say thanks for evryone on this site being so helpfull...

 

[pgr11]

More then likely that you are fine as long as everything looks good and happy. Like we spoke before better bulbs will do wonders. If it was me I would do ati bulbs b+,b+,p+,b+ this is a nice look should be nice growth or trade out one b+ for the new coral+ bulb

 

[El Dude]

Everyone else pretty much answered but I'm gonna jump on this one too. T5s can be close to the water since they put out relatively low heat. At the opposite end of the spectrum...halides have to be high off the water because they put out a LOT of heat. If they get splashed by tank water they CAN even crack.

Ex: My cousin has a 100g tall. He thought he would be cool and throw two 400w halides over it. I argued it was too much and he could get away with two 250w or even 150w bulbs...anyway he mounted those suckers about 4 inches from the water(contrary to my advice). They heated up his center brace so much that when he brushed his elbow against it, it burned him and he left a layer of skin on it. Later that same day we were redoing his plumbing and he splashed the center brace...BAM! Cracked the center brace from one corner to the other.




Oh yeah...IEMAS has a PAR meter for member use only. Pay your dues and call johnwin84...he'll set you up!

 

[lowbudget]

um also depend on how wide your tank is the higher the more spread. Esteban spread your cheeks and lift yo sacs

 

[El Dude]

um also depend on how wide your tank is the higher the more spread. Esteban spread your cheeks and lift yo sacs

WTF...? HAHAHAHHAVROCNALndo;";"92.bi d-fhzjw 8. Lol

 

[gumbii]

OMFGHAHAHAkl;sjf;slkdjf;ksljf;sljf;ksaldfjksal;djfkads;fjk

 

[wickedfish]

um also depend on how wide your tank is the higher the more spread. Esteban spread your cheeks and lift yo sacs

You already gave me your yellow buns. Watch what you say Lil man, ya me la jalaste demaciado!

 

[El Dude]

Hahaha! I gotta get out your way to throw back some beers and talk reef with you!

 

[gumbii]

You already gave me your yellow buns. Watch what you say Lil man, ya me la jalaste demaciado!

i know that's a huge sign of dissapoint, but that pectinia still gives me a rager...

 

[grapplerhayes]

Noticed my Kessil A150w was too close to the tank when my chalice started bleaching. Raised it up to about 12" above water and hes slowly coming back.

 

[Reefcube29]

thanks for all the help guys