Lighting Par value

[fishman]

I borrowed jasons par meter and measured my frag tank right around 80 par I dropped the lights 6 inches and reading 100 will that make a difference in color over time ?

what value do u need for sps acros red planet, torts, purple monster, wild stuff to color good? any ideas?

[lvsuckerfish]

lighting will help but if your tank is not stable and low in nutrients you can have all the good light (so to say) you want and still will not help with colors....... IMO lighting is important but not a priority for me as i rather have stable levels and good flow then lighting will come in to play! I have my tank under 400 watts m/h and before then 250s and never checked the Par. it is something I thinks is UN-necessary to check as long as the corals are receiving good light from a solid source.

[Troylee]

What Lind of light is it Marcus???? I had 1800+ par with my xm10ks and 300 in the sand at24" deep..
My 20ks had like 900 at the surface an 180 at 24" deep.... Your numbers seem very low for a 12" deep tank.

[fishman]

Frag tank has a mix of 10k and 420 t5 bulb now dropped down to 3 inches over water.

Main tank is with 14k 250s reads 450 surface 7 inches 250 then down from there under bulb is the strongest 19 Inch reflector around the edges drops alot around 150

I cant belive the par u got Lee. Im gona have Mike check his par on his tank he is kicking out alot of growth. Im thinking about going 10ks maybe those xm 10ks.

[Troylee]

I got a pair with one month use on them...50$ for both lmk...;)
no bulb can compare to a xm10k they are par beasts!!!! I overdrive them thou on magnetic ballast..

[fishman]

Sounds good ill take them curious about the look I ll call later today thanks

[Troylee]

Bright as the sun!!! It lit my whole house up lol...

[lvsuckerfish]

10k's with vho's I like this set up great with colors also take jermys tank for example

[Troylee]

thats what i ran..... but then i switched back to 20k for looks....

[lvsuckerfish]

my set up ushio 12k's I think and vhos if my ballast ever gets here man I hate the mail sometimes.