Fluval Evo 13.5 PAR readings with AI Prime HD

[paulsz]

Hi all,

I have a fluval evo 13.5 with an AI Prime HD. I rented a PAR meter and wanted to share some of my results for those are wondering what an AI Prime HD would give. Mind you, your setting may be different, but i'll share mine and you should be able to get a rough idea. 

 

The light is mounted 12" above the water surface. I noticed today it's actually not dead center. Refer to the sketch for an idea of where the light is located in regards to the tank. 

 

Some readings were not taken because of interference from rock/equipment. I will upload pics in the next couple of days showing the rock work and some par readings at different points on the rock as well. But for now, here's readings every 3" in all directions (i.e. 0", 3", 6", 9", 12", 15", 18" for the length, 0", 3", 6", 9", 12" for the width). Note the width is actually 11.5 inches or so, not 12". But again, these are rough numbers. 

 

 

 

 

[paulsz]

Some additional data. Sorry for the long wait. And sorry for having so much missing data. Was hoping to get a pic of the rockwork and put the values on there as well, but i've been busy. Hope to do it soon. 

 

These two are at lower intensities. Last one is at high intensity. 

 

 

 

[mcarroll]

On 8/2/2020 at 11:06 PM, paulsz said:

I rented a PAR meter and wanted to share some of my results for those are wondering what an AI Prime HD would give.

Nice work!

 

FYI...

 

If you want to have access to measurements like this without the bother and expense of renting a PAR meter, buy yourself a lux meter.  $7-$20 (and up) online.....I use a model LX-1010B, just for reference.  Not fancy, but good enough to get the job done.

 

You can totally get the job done with lux measurements.  I do.  

 

Since you have PAR measurements, if you repeat some or all of those measurements while using your lux meter, you will then have an exact PAR:lux conversion ratio for your current light setup.

 

From then on you can take any measurement you want in the tank using the lux meter, and then if you need to share it in PAR units for some reason, you simply make the calculation to convert.

 

If I'm curious about a comparison with someone's PAR measurements, I use a rough conversion factor (for sunlight,, because it's an easy number to remember and use) to generate the number I need for the comparison.  Still good enough that it works, even though I've never had a PAR meter and don't have an exact conversion factor.  You'll be that much better off.

[paulsz]

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Nice work!

 

FYI...

Thanks ! 🙂 I was at the LFS and they rented them for $25 for the weekend so I just had to. But I plan to buy a luxmeter for future uses, as I may have to tone it down a bit on the lighting for a LPS ans softies tank. Not having much luck with some of the easier SPS I wanted... 

I'll let the tank mature for a year or so before trying SPS again 

 

[mcarroll]

Something you may or may not have thought of is eliminating the extra coloration LED's from your light program.  

 

It looks like you have a ton of extra emitters running, some of them running pretty hard too.

 

UV, "violet", green and red.  I'd turn those completely off and take it down to the "main guns" so to speak:  the blue and white channels only.  

 

Keep it simple until things have more of their own momentum.  (A change like that will ruin your current PAR measurements tho....will have to re-test.)

[Reefkid88]

4 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Something you may or may not have thought of is eliminating the extra coloration LED's from your light program.  

 

It looks like you have a ton of extra emitters running, some of them running pretty hard too.

 

UV, "violet", green and red.  I'd turn those completely off and take it down to the "main guns" so to speak:  the blue and white channels only.  

 

Keep it simple until things have more of their own momentum.  (A change like that will ruin your current PAR measurements tho....will have to re-test.)

 

 Why even consider that when violet/uv are a huge contributor to the spectrum needed,and those 2 spectrums contribute to a good amount of par as well. 

 

 Green and red I would agree with but the other 2 no... Leave those where they are. 

[paulsz]

Does UV/violet cause coral issues (i.e. corals to burn easier)? That's the issue i'm seeing with the monti frags i got. 

[Reefkid88]

It can,but more than likely its being caused by something else. But you can drop a few percentages though. Spectrums like that should be well acclimated too. UV/V is a strong spectrum.  

[paulsz]

my pH has been dropping overnight to about 7.7 (from 8.1 during mid day). That could be an issue. 

 

But i may lower the UV/V over a few weeks. Although the montis are in similar PAR to what they were at the LFS, they were running mostly blues...

[Reefkid88]

That could maybe be a problem as well to,but ph swings over night is common for most tanks. 

 

 I honestly don't feel like the uv/v are an issue,honestly. I have always ran HIGH violets/uv and royal blues. On literally EVERY TANK since I started using leds years ago. 

 

 All lfs run mainly blues,but that is also the spectrum corals use all their energy to absorb so its the spectrum mainly 95% of reefers run their lights. Maybe a mid day peak with whites,reds,greens for a shirt few hours then back to blues until the tank goes dark. 

 

 There are MILLIONs of thread,articles,videos on spectrum,schedules  and all that fun stuff. Ya just gotta search for it. 

[mcarroll]

6 hours ago, paulsz said:

my pH has been dropping overnight to about 7.7 (from 8.1 during mid day). That could be an issue. 

That's a normal day/night pH swing...not to worry as long as alk is stable.

 

6 hours ago, paulsz said:

But i may lower the UV/V over a few weeks. Although the montis are in similar PAR to what they were at the LFS, they were running mostly blues.

You hit the nail on the head with the second part.  

 

You should certainly proceed according to your own judgement, but consider that removing the UV all at once won't hurt anything.  Plus, if the UV is causing any damage, you want that to stop ASAP...yesterday wouldn't be soon enough.  😉

 

Your white light component should be at the minimum too, BTW.  Just enough for the tank to look good during the day.  Less is better.

 

FYI on UV

Like red and orange wavelengths, UV is rapidly filtered out of light by water.

 

Practically 100% of UV is filtered out by 25 meters depth.

 

Violet through Green (400-525nm) may penetrate to 100 meters.

 

Blue, centered on about 470nm, penetrates by far the most...up to 300 meters.

 

And check this out...

 

The light curve is similar either way, but the closer to shore you get, the more severe the filter effect is:

(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_vision)

 

(corals grow in a range of ecosystems from relatively coastal to the relatively open ocean, btw)

 

Unless you're specifically trying to emulate a (very) shallow environment, there's no real need for UV in the mix.  At best, it's an unnecessary variable in the mix at this point.

 

BTW, here's an underwater shot of a mussel bed at 100 meters.  Color look familiar?  😄

[reef jockey]

Awesome thread with very useful information.  I also have a Fluval Evo with the AI Prime 16HD and was wondering how to maximize my coral growth with the lighting.  I have only softies and LPS.

Thanks