Par Results are in: [Archive]

justahobby

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 07:31 PM

This was a great opportunity to learn more about my tank and see for myself how well this bulb is performing after (almost) one year of use.
I tried to make the numbers as big as possible to take away from the unorganized aquascaping :angel:

Quick stats:
Ballast: Icecap 250W
Bulb: Phoenix 14K (10 months old.)
Fixture: Odyssea
" Height: 4" above the water
Tank: 58 gallon
" Height: 21" (around 1.5" substrate).

http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af324/BioFish09/ParMeasurements.jpg

I intended to compare the results with an odyssea ballast, but it has a loose wire. Hopefully, I can fix it before I turn the meter over to Corruption.

Mr Cob

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 10:09 PM

This is pretty awesome Justin. Tell us more...what did you use?

jesserettele

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 10:31 PM

That is great. Objective feedback. Where did you find a water proof PAR meter? How much?

justahobby

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 10:53 PM

I used the apogee mq-200 quantum meter that Dipan was gracious enough to loan me. I It took me a couple tries to realize how sensitive the sensor is. If I had the sensor pointed just a quarter inch the wrong way (away from the bulb) I would get unreliable readings.

I was fairly pleased with my results considering the age of my bulb - based on others' Par results from various forums. I did see around a 50 point increase in my readings once I cleaned the cooked salt from my glass shield using vinegar water. My original intentions were to suspend my lights and toy with different heights/ measurements. Unfortunately my ballast cord wasn't long enough to allow. That's probably my biggest complaint on Icecap ballasts - too short of a cord!

Looking at the numbers you can see how the bulb gives off a pyramid shaped spread. Just above the water gave off a reading of 2400! I should mention that the 175 (left side) reading should have been placed down and to the left a little.

My initial reason for wanting to see the results and install a suspension kit was as follows: Everything I try and place in the vicinity of the german blue (centered just below the 550) ends up burning within a few days. That's after acclimating them to the higher placement over the course of a week. I got some nice acros from ScorpiNo who uses 3 X 250W over a 75 gallon. Same dimensions as mine, just a foot longer. Those corals reside in the 300 range in my tank :( Randomly, my trumpet coral, chalice, and xenia tolerate the light better than any acro or millipora.

It will be exciting to see how other MAASTards have their coral placed in relation to their par/ kelvin/ watts/ depth ratings.

saabtech

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 11:24 PM

this is great/
we should start a log thread concerning everyones par reading with various information concerning lamps/coral/readings etc.

i think your readings are quite impressive even at the substrate level.

Mr Cob

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 11:40 PM

So...what's the desired par reading for the different corals? Any guide to reference?

Gseclipse02

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 11:43 PM

can we get a pic of the best par rating for a mh fixture/t5/leds??

justahobby

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 11:46 PM

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/1/lines/view

These results state the requirements as being double what it takes to burn mine. And from what I've seen, you would be hard pressed to get the ratings listed below with 20K's as many MAASTards have. I have a lot of reading to do lol.

Coral PAR (µmol·m²·sec) Coral PAR (µmol·m²·sec)
Stylophora 700-1000
Briareum 200-700
Pocillopora 600-900
Pachyclavularia 200-700
Acropora 600-1000
Alcyonium 200-800
Montipora 400-800
Sarcophyton 200-800
Fungia 600-900
Nephthea 200-900
Euphyllia 200-700
Dendronephtya Not Recommended
Blastomussa 200-600
Tubastraea Not Recommended

CoryDude

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 11:49 PM

This is good to know Justin! I have a pair of phoenix 14K's that ar about the same age as yours. Nice to know they still put out after almost a year of use!

Mr Cob

Sun, 24th Jan 2010, 11:51 PM

Making me consider 14k or 12k.... arghhhh! I love my 20ks!!!!

Thanks for all the info Justin. I definitely want to do this as well. Kind of afraid to though with 20k bulbs at 6months and a 29" deep tank. Ouch.

justahobby

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 12:03 AM

I'm glad it is proving to be a useful tool. I am hoping to see a lot higher Par used on some SPS. That way I have something to trouble shoot off of.

JT, Rob: Hang in there. Results from other members are coming. Have you seen the thread that Dipan has made for requests? I will be passing the meter to Corruption on Tuesday, his will be LED's!

corruption

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 12:38 AM

LED's on my biocube, and the new IceCap Reef Illuminations 2x250w DE/2x54w T5 hood :)

-Justin

txg8gxp

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 12:52 AM

Nice write up. Now for the led's...wonder what it's going to be

Double-O-Zilch

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 05:21 AM

Me too Steve. Hoping they are all they're supposed to be before I drop the coin for them on both the BCs.

Mr Cob

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 10:06 AM

corruption

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 10:10 AM

MAAST Library -> Equipment :)

-Justin

Mr Cob

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 10:33 AM

MAAST Library -> Equipment :)

-Justin

Got it. Thanks. I looked everywhere but there.

jesserettele

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 02:48 PM

Stephen, I think you should just in line for the waiting list too. This is great objective info, thanks to all for sharing.

justahobby

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 06:22 PM

Inspired by Mr. Cob, I tested an Odyssea 10K bulb. Same ballast, etc. This bulb has at least 6 mo. use maybe closer to 8 or 10. Check these stats out!!

http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af324/BioFish09/Parmeter-odyssea.jpg

I edited the same picture. This is NOT an image using the Odyssea 10K bulb, only the stats reflect the bulb used. The odyssea made the tank and coral look as yellow as cheddar cheese!

Mr Cob

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 06:32 PM

Quick stats:
Ballast: Icecap 250W
Bulb: Phoenix 14K (10 months old.)
Fixture: Odyssea

http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af324/BioFish09/ParMeasurements.jpg

Bumping image so we can compare side by side.

Mr Cob

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 06:35 PM

So pretty much the same if they are both about 10 months old. Or am I missing something? So in theory, a cheap bulb can perform with the same intensity?

txg8gxp

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 06:37 PM

Nice, what a difference between bulbs. Good info.

Europhyllia

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 06:39 PM

Seems like a huge difference to me
Phoenix 14k at the gorg 550 and Oyssea 10k 800

txg8gxp

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 06:42 PM

Looks like 10k is the way to go, as long as you can add in some blue some how.

Mr Cob

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 07:31 PM

Seems like a huge difference to me
Phoenix 14k at the gorg 550 and Oyssea 10k 800well I was taking into count that one is 10k and one is 14k. of course 10k will be more intense. i'm just glad a cheap bulb is keeping up.

Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk

justahobby

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 09:19 PM

Looks like the cheap bulb is holding its own, at less than half the cost. I think the Odyssea probably resembles a 67K after looking at ScorpiNo's 10K bulbs. I checked aquatraders.com and they are only offering a 15K bulb now. It would be nice to see how that bulb tested.

corruption

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 09:32 PM

We'll have some results as far as that is concerned by the end of the week -- albeit on the 150w bulb... my brother is running an odyssea hood, with the 15k odyssea bulb right now -- and we intended to test his out too while I've got the PAR meter.. This should yield some interesting results :)

For the record -- the Odyssea 15k bulb is not a bad color at all -- not much in the way of the actinic fluoresce from corals, though... and Odyssea's actinic's are quite frankly, awful :)

-Justin

justahobby

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 09:49 PM

That's great news Justin!

Good ole' 460's. I recently bought a 420nm UVL for $25 (aquacave) and been thrilled with the change away from their 460.

We'll have some results as far as that is concerned by the end of the week -- albeit on the 150w bulb... my brother is running an odyssea hood, with the 15k odyssea bulb right now -- and we intended to test his out too while I've got the PAR meter.. This should yield some interesting results :)

For the record -- the Odyssea 15k bulb is not a bad color at all -- not much in the way of the actinic fluoresce from corals, though... and Odyssea's actinic's are quite frankly, awful :)

-Justin

ErikH

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 10:24 PM

::cracks knuckles::

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x315/erikharrison/Fish/FTS-PAR.jpg

BAM!

corruption

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 10:25 PM

The problem on Jordan's hood is it uses a 13" fluoro for the actinic supplement.... and we can't find replacement bulbs other than Odyssea for the life of us. We're thinking some Cree supplementation is due, but we haven't started a build yet..

If anyone knows of a source for T5 form factor 13" Actinics, let us know :D

-Justin

txg8gxp

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 10:42 PM

It would be cool to see par reading with the aro and icecap ballasts at the same height to see the difference in ballasts.

justahobby

Mon, 25th Jan 2010, 11:10 PM

Nicely done Erik! That is some intense lighting. Could you put in there roughly how old the bulbs are? What software did you use to plug in the numbers?

ErikH

Tue, 26th Jan 2010, 02:15 AM

I used a free software called gimp 2.0

The middle bulb is 3 months and the outers are about a year.

justahobby

Tue, 26th Jan 2010, 10:31 AM

Looks like the intense lighting is hard on your corline.

corruption

Tue, 26th Jan 2010, 10:38 AM

Ahh -- good old Gimp... its free Photoshop, originally for Linux :) Always my weapon of choice!

Intense light tends to be rough on coralline -- I'd expect 3x250 on a 75 to be the case... I can't seem to slow it down in my 75 with 2x250 :)

-Justin

justahobby

Tue, 26th Jan 2010, 10:46 AM

I was seeing the dead spots on his overflow but just remembered he moved last weekend. It seems coraline is the first to go during my tank moves. Especially overlfow boxes that are out of the water.

I'll check out Gimp. I was using paint and became astonished when I found that it hasn't changed since windows '95

corruption

Wed, 27th Jan 2010, 05:07 AM

And the BioCube 8/LED results are in!

http://binarybuccaneers.org/tank/PAR-biocube.jpg

I think the values on the sand could be increased with some reflectors -- but I don't think its necessary, I have zoas that won't stop growing there :D

There was a lot of fluctuation in readings -- for example, the top of the tank peaked as high as 1150, but seemed to hover in the 975 region most consistently. Angling is kind of difficult with the sensor on the Apogee with LED's, just because they're so highly concentrated from a small spotlight..

The IceCap Reef Illuminations hood and Jordan's 150w Odyssea still to come!

-Justin

txg8gxp

Wed, 27th Jan 2010, 05:48 AM

Nice, thats what I'm talking about. That is what I was hoping for, with lenses and the light being lifted alittle I think all those number could go up by atleast 100. Awesome numbers,...hahaha I'm all happy...

dipan

Wed, 27th Jan 2010, 08:30 AM

What are the details on the LED lit Biocube 8?

corruption

Wed, 27th Jan 2010, 08:52 AM

12x3w Cree XR-E emitters -- 6 cool white, 6 royal blue... both are powered by separate 1000mAh BuckPucks, with individual fine tuning and on/off per circuit -- both can be dimmed as required. I epoxied the emitters onto an aluminum heat sink, then fitted the sucker into the existing hood of my BioCube... tx8gxp did essentially the same mod, but on a BC14..

Also, theres no emitter reflectors used here -- I'm pretty sure the depth punch would be increased if I was using them, as well as if I was running my lights at a higher concentration (they're probably around 55-60% total power right now)

-Justin

dipan

Thu, 28th Jan 2010, 12:30 PM

Thanks. The results are a little unexpected for me mecause I was expecting less PAR drop from top to bottom. Evil66 (LED guru on nano-reef forums) mentions how LEDs have much less PAR drop in regards to depth compared with metal halide, but I don't see that here. There is significant PAR drop even on such a small tank. Maybe it's the lack of optics or because there are only a dozen LEDs. I'll be looking forward to some more LED results (my own included) ...

txg8gxp

Thu, 28th Jan 2010, 02:19 PM

Running led's with out lenses hurts big time. Most of our light is bouncing around inside the hood, not directed into the water. But with lenses on such a small tank would kill almost everything I would think. It would have to be a sps only tank.

aggman

Thu, 28th Jan 2010, 02:26 PM

txg8gxp

Sat, 6th Feb 2010, 09:34 PM

Well, I was able to do a quick PAR test tonight. This is LED on a BioCube 14, 12 cree xr-e's on a 8.5"x5" heatsink. Considering there is no lenses and cloudy water from cleaning, I'm pretty happy with the results. With the rock work, I could only get readings near the front glass on the bottom measurements. Top readings are from water surface.

Gseclipse02

Sat, 6th Feb 2010, 09:47 PM

very interesting ... i cant wait to do this

Gseclipse02

Sat, 6th Feb 2010, 09:56 PM

If anyone knows of a source for T5 form factor 13" Actinics, let us know :D

-Justin

call awanapets they have some 13 inch t5 bulbs not sure what tho make sure you ask for frank

saabtech

Mon, 8th Feb 2010, 07:07 PM

ok results are in. this may be interesting.
first off what is installed.

one 96w CF Actinic
18 LEDs, all Cree xr-e (12 royal blue and 6 white)
six 40 degree lenses on the outer most LED's
six 80 degree lenses on the next to outer most lenses and
six without lenses in the middle of the tank.
two double end 10k 150w MH (all coralife)

the readings above the water are interesting (4 inches under the lamp)

HM - 3000 par maxed the meter?
CF - 500 par
LED - 1800 par with 40 degree lenses on royal blue
LED - 2100 par with 40 degree lenses on white
LED - 1300 par with 80 degree lenses on royal blue
LED - 1500 par with 80 degree lenses on white
LED - 1000 par with no lens white
LED - 900 par with no lens royal blue

i also took readings with the top water still and agitated those readings are also interesting. it seems as if you would get larger readings with the water still but i found the opposite (of course the sample rate of the meter may affect the perceived readings) readings seemed to be 10-20% less with water still (refraction of light increased intensity from time to time?)

the differance in par from the CF to the LED conversion is large.
under water readings of the CF (8 inchs from lamp) were about 60 par
under water readings of the LEDs (8 inches) with 40 degree lenses 500-600 par
under water reading of the LEDs (8 inches) with 80 degree lenses 400-500 par
under water reading of the LEDs (8 inches) with no lenses 200-300 par

all of these readings in the pic are on the rock or shelf or cave ect. i hope its easy to read the location of the reading. the CF is in the rear of the tank and the LEDs are in the frt of the tank.

txg8gxp

Mon, 8th Feb 2010, 07:16 PM

Cool, its nice to see the difference in lenses. Your rock work is coming along nicely aswell...

saabtech

Mon, 8th Feb 2010, 08:31 PM

notice the upper rear measurements are "250." That # is from the CF and MH lamps.
notice the upper right/front measurement "680" on top of that SPS. that is from the MH and LEDs with 40 degree lens spotlighting that SPS.

kkiel02

Mon, 8th Feb 2010, 10:01 PM

Very nice we need someone to buy the led fixture that chaiching is using and see what the results are. I love leds as they are rather efficient but am waiting for them to become more readily available and cheaper.

hobogato

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 07:19 PM

well, as i expected, par numbers are pretty low since the sun never gets close to being above the solar tubes. all of these readings were taken at the when the sun was at its apex today with the t5 lights on (2X54watt blue + 2X54watt 12K). outside, par of the sun was 1650. inside, at the ceiling where the tube ends it was just over 200. in the tank it ranged from 60 to just under 200. it will be interesting to do this again during the brightest part of the summer.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/cuttle%20lagoon/DSC06202.jpg

Europhyllia

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 07:35 PM

I know a lot of your stuff is NPS but I also know a lot of it isn't and still doing well.
Can't find it right now but a while back I read something about how the focus on PAR really isn't all that helpful because it measures just light intensity but doesn't give an indication of how much of that light is usable (forget what the criteria was for usable light)

hobogato

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 07:56 PM

PUR - photosynthetically usable radiation

txg8gxp

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 07:59 PM

Wow, even on a cloudy day I would have guessed higher on par reading. I guess it isn't that big of a deal, because everything looks happy.

dipan

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:01 PM

And while Ace may not have the brightest tank PAR wise, clearly he is taking care of other parameters that are probably as or more important ... like water quality, appropriate feeding, etc.

Look forward to some sunny day measurements Ace ... sweet tank BTW

Europhyllia

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:02 PM

PUR - photosynthetically usable radiation
yes that's it. wonder if that is measurable...

hobogato

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:09 PM

it is karin, but i think the meters are MUCH more expensive

ErikH

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:11 PM

PPFD is the other major thing IIRC.

hobogato

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:12 PM

i think PAR is a measurement of PPFD

edit - wikipedia agrees :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetically_active_radiation

dipan

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:17 PM

Yeah, the PAR meter give us photon flux in a certain range of wavelengths and the unit of that measurement is PPFD. The PUR has to consider the actual photopigments involved (chlorophyll a, c2, peridinin for our uses mostly) and would therefore be more specific. PAR is more general, but still useful as it is easy to measure and compare.

hobogato

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:18 PM

as i understand it, PUR at its highest will equal PAR. usually it is lower than PAR for the same light source.

ErikH

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:20 PM

"at it's highest" , lol probably only attainable in a zeovit setup!

hobogato

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:25 PM

also, what i have heard many times is - the higher the light, the lower the nutrients have to be, otherwise you end up with lots of brown corals. apparently the xoozanthellae will overpopulate if you have high light with high nutrients and since they are green and brown it shows in coral coloration. my tank is far from low nutrient, so that may make up for the lower light. it will be interesting to see what happens in the summer.

hobogato

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:28 PM

a good read if you are interested:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/sbj4/aquarium/articles/Photosynthesis.htm

ErikH

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:31 PM

Ace, I was thinking this about my purple valida. In everyone elses tank it is lighter colored, but it mine it is DEEP PURPLE. I always equated it to the excessive xoozanthellae within the coral itself. I often wonder if people have trouble with my SPS frags because they are used to so much light.

hobogato

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:35 PM

maybe, but you also are skimmerless right? you have similar water conditions to me, just a lot more light (in the winter anyway). that is part of the reason zoevit tanks end up with pastel colors if they arent carefull - they take the nutrients too low. some people run zeo without this issue, clint (fishypets) is a great example of a non pastel zeo tank - at least i think he is still running zeo.

corydrysdale

Sat, 13th Feb 2010, 08:51 PM

Although im only running MH at 150 watts I too had issue with browning of my sps's . After reading a good article about this, I thought Id summed up properly that its the excess zoanthella that cause the browning? Jason at ADesigns, suggested I switch to phyto that contained a higher element of carotenoids to increase the green color of my sps. Seemed to have worked well and now I have only small areas of browning. Although in one of the last posts on here, seems lots of you guys really dont add much to your tank and rely on fish poop!? My tank has slowly transformed from a high nutrient tank to a low level and as such i lost my xenia and a few other softies. Definately a fine line between too little and too much nutrients.

ErikH

Sun, 14th Feb 2010, 01:41 AM

Big_Pun

Sun, 14th Feb 2010, 03:54 AM

I've been skimming 2 months, and some of the sps is starting to loose color so I started skimming dry, I have 10 fish so I guess the coral like all the extra nutrients, see what happens next couple months

Europhyllia

Sun, 14th Feb 2010, 08:23 AM

very interesting ideas regarding light and nutrients -almost should split off into it's own thread so we don't lose the info.

jlh81

Mon, 22nd Feb 2010, 11:17 PM

Yes the excess causes the browning, which is why I thought my purple was being driven so dark. Low nutrient systems essentially starve the coral of the zoox which since it is less, the colors pop more.

The Purple valida that i got from you Lost alot of the purple and now you can see just a slight tint of it. But whats wierd is the tips are now starting to turn a neon green. Don't get me wrong the thing is really growing from when i picked it up from your old place right before you moved. Its more then trippled is size and has encrused all the super glue and made a wide base on the frag plug i used.

But what do i have to do to make it that deep purple again.

all my tank levels are good. and i use coral freenze every 2-3 days
and i run a a skimmer that i have to empty the cup every 2-3 days.

Joe

jlh81

Mon, 22nd Feb 2010, 11:26 PM

I would like to check my tank with the par thing. Maybe someone can come over and we can check it and drink some beers.

dipan

Sat, 27th Mar 2010, 08:40 PM

Bump. I think some folks have measured their tanks but not posted results ...

justahobby

Sat, 27th Mar 2010, 09:25 PM

Let's keep this going guys

rocketeer

Sun, 28th Mar 2010, 12:48 AM

Good thread.

hobogato

Tue, 14th Dec 2010, 11:01 AM

this thread should be a little easier to find now...

jrsatx20

Tue, 14th Dec 2010, 12:43 PM

The Purple valida that i got from you Lost alot of the purple and now you can see just a slight tint of it. But whats wierd is the tips are now starting to turn a neon green. Don't get me wrong the thing is really growing from when i picked it up from your old place right before you moved. Its more then trippled is size and has encrused all the super glue and made a wide base on the frag plug i used.

But what do i have to do to make it that deep purple again.

all my tank levels are good. and i use coral freenze every 2-3 days
and i run a a skimmer that i have to empty the cup every 2-3 days.

Joe

my purple valida turned completly neon green really bright. its encrusting on rock and growing.

Sun, 15th May 2011, 10:16 PM

180 gallon mixed reef
60" t5 bulbs using icecap 660. The bulbs are overdriven to 100w each and are cooled with a fan.

front
Actinic
Aquablue
blue +
fiji purple
Blue+
Aquablue

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_s_m-tlLoaPI/TdCRypeQyvI/AAAAAAAABs0/MzCY5TIv3-E/s800/IMG_0048.JPG
larger image link
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_V8Pguw6CzCg9fWhNkgofA?feat=directlink

Solana aquarium with 3 Evil's par38 bulbs. 20k with 60 degree lenses. This picture shows a different par38 bulb in the middle.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_s_m-tlLoaPI/TdCROjXOjGI/AAAAAAAABsw/cQSwxs9dpPU/s800/IMG_0047.JPG

125g fowlr. 4 54w t5 bulbs.
accustart ballast
front
actinic
blue plus
aquablue
blue plus
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_s_m-tlLoaPI/TdCQjjLYlWI/AAAAAAAABss/_q7rhlBsfoA/s800/IMG_0045.JPG

dipan

Tue, 17th May 2011, 05:59 PM

Thanks Jacob. Always surprising to me how much PAR per watt that you get with LED ...

justahobby

Tue, 17th May 2011, 06:21 PM

Thanks Jacob. Always surprising to me how much PAR per watt that you get with LED ...

Those are some insane numbers on the Par38 bulbs. Thanks for posting Jacob.

hobogato

Tue, 17th May 2011, 06:31 PM

great looking tanks too!

SirReal63

Sun, 22nd May 2011, 01:11 PM

I am almost finished with the Par Meter...thought I would post up the results...I played with the exposure of the pic to get the text to stand out a little, the back sections were too dark so the front is a little overexposed.

The equipment, a single 150 watt HQI Reefcube (M81). I tested two different bulbs, the first number is a 20K Radium and the second number is a 10K XDE, both in a LumenArc III Mini, if there is only one number, it is the Radium as I did not test all areas with the 10K. 40x40x17" Pentagon, rock arranged in a 24-30" cove. Most corals reside around the perimeter of the cove. Most of the corals are 18-20" in height from the bulb.

Par at the glass shield was 1200 for the Radium and 2200 for the 10K
Par at the water surface, 9" from the bulb, Radium at 780 and the 10K at 1900.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v362/sirreal63/110%20DSA%20Pentagon/150Par.jpg

It is interesting that I am bleaching new additions and have been since I set up the tank. I am starting new additions out on the perimeter and moving them closer weekly.

I may test the 250 watt Phoenix with an ARO electronic ballast, but I may not, I don't plan on using the light, I don't think I will be needing more Par than the Radium is giving me. I am very happy and a little surprised by the results, I was expecting much lower numbers and was going to add a 4-24 wall LET Retro with Blue Plus bulbs, I don't think I will need to do that. :D

Sat, 23rd Jul 2011, 01:18 AM

This is a 125 fowlr tank. I replaced the 54w t5 bulbs with a rapidled.com retrofit kit. I used aluminum c-channel from lowes as a heat sink. I have two strips about 6' each. One has 12 cool white xp-g r5 leds with 80 degree lenses. The other has 12 royal blue xp-e leds with 80 degree lenses. The lights are about 8 inches from the glass lids. The glass covers the entire tank in order to keep the eels inside. There is a 1 inch gap between the glass and the top of the water. The par readings are not that great but considering how high the lights are, the wide lenses, and a dirty glass cover I think they are reasonable. I have some gsp on top of one rock and on the sand bed. Both seem to be doing fine. I think if I switched to 60 degree lenses and dropped the lights down 5 inches I would get double the par.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5g5IrIr7x3I/Th9ZuYHuoiI/AAAAAAAAByI/eohEypWdcqU/s800/IMG_20110714_160314.jpg

These reading are from a rapidled.com par38 bulb. The bulb is 17w with 7 leds and 80 degree lenses. They are 3 Royal blue, 1 blue, 2 cool white, and 1 warm white. I wanted to compare this bulb to my evil's par38 with has 3 royal blue and 2 cool white. I only saw a slight difference in the colors. I used an orange ricordea for comparision. The big difference was in the par. Because the evil par38 has more watts and 60 degree lenses it had higher readings in my other post. I prefer the par and the colors from my 5 led bulb. I think the rapidled bulb would be better for a smaller nano tank. The picture shows all the bulbs on, but I tested the bulb with the other two off.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m0IJuX52M14/Th9TwbNmyTI/AAAAAAAABxs/GvFKDAtlmwI/s800/IMG_0046.JPG

kkiel02

Sat, 23rd Jul 2011, 11:35 AM

I was expecting higher numbers for those par38 bulbs as I was looking to add one to the frag tank. I like that you compared the two though as I was debating between these.

Sat, 23rd Jul 2011, 12:46 PM

I was expecting higher numbers for those par38 bulbs as I was looking to add one to the frag tank. I like that you compared the two though as I was debating between these.

Well, the evil par38 have great par for the money. Plus, mine are 8" from the water surface. I think just by switching to 40 degree lenses you can get a 50% boost or lower the bulbs. Next time I would like to take measurements from different heights. I also wanted add them to my 180g with 3 t5s on at the same time. I think I could get a good mix of color from the t5's and shadow effect from the par bulbs.