Lights or seneye reef?

[willz02]

ok sooooo..... i bought a seneye reef about a week ago and have to say the PAR readings are definitively random. or am i doing something wrong? i 120W led lights on a 40H tank

3w royal blue x20

3w neutral white x20

(adding UV soon)

and this are the bridelux not Cree

 

and i get readings of no more than 160par with the lights almost all the way up and at the top of my thank.

and im pretty sure i have bleached away corals

i dont know if im getting wrong readings or if my lights really put out this much par

but has anyone had this issue with the seneye reef? or does it do some other type of abreviation?

like 6,6 is 600 par?

with this i have no idea now how high i should put my leds.

[evilc66]

I wouldn't trust that thing for PAR readings. Only way to know for sure though is to get your hands on a real PAR meter to verify. Check your local clubs to see if they have one to rent, or find a local reefer with one.

 

Really though, you don't need a PAR meter to set your lights correctly. Your corals will tell you everything you need to know. Obviously, if corals are bleaching, then you have the intensity too high. You should have started with the fixture mounted high or turned down so you would be on the bottom end of the range you think you would need for the corals, then let the corals acclimate. If they start to stretch for light, then they need more intensity and you can adjust the height or the driver output to accomodate. Small changes over longer periods of time (talking a week per adjustment) is key here.