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maroun.c

Par for coral growth and coloration overated?

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by
maroun.c
, 11-14-2011 at 02:43 PM (2255 Views)
Ran some Par meter reading on a couple of friends tanks and realized their Par readings were way lower than what I see on most tanks running LEDs and MH with MH ballasts and reflectors made for aquarium use.
First tank (Youssef Tank) runs with 5 150 W MH in regular outdoors MH reflectors and ballasts and 3 lines of T5 for supplementation. Tank is 200x55x70 cm (80x22x28")
Par reading was 300 just under water surface and most corals on top getting around 200 on the top. Sps on mid and lower tank was getting 150 and 70-80
Still growth and coloration were good over the last few months.
Here are some pics of this tank around 6 months ago:



Some pics I shot couple of weeks back showing serious growth IMHO...










2nd tank is Pierres tank.
150x70x70cm (60x28x28") Lit by 3 250 W MH with independant large ballasts and small reflectors that go in holes just like spot lights.
Par readings were around 350 just below water surface and dropped to 250-300 on corals on top and then around 200 on corals in mid tank. the Mega montipora gets around 200 on the top layer and around 150 on mid layer.
Some shots from January:




And shots I took couple of weeks back.








Do you think light has to be modified increased on those tanks just because PAR values are low eventhough growth and coloration are good?

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Updated 11-15-2011 at 09:08 PM by maroun.c

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‎ Lighting

Comments

  1. chuck's Avatar
    nice looking aquarium
  2. jlemoine2's Avatar
    If you feel growth and coloration are good, you should not change anything. Why fix a problem that does not exist?

    I'd say those PAR values are pretty good and are likely a contributor to the growth. Coloration is debatable. If you want to play around with colors, perhaps you can try changing bulbs to something bluer without dropping PAR too much.

    At the end of the day, it's how you feel about your tank. If you like it... don't change it.
  3. adam's Avatar
    Growth looks good and stable I wouldn't change a thing. Are those 10K?
  4. maroun.c's Avatar
    Thanks for the replies.
    The tank on top is lit by a mix of 10-12K
    the bottom one is under 20Ks
  5. DJ in WV's Avatar
    Are there 2 different tanks in those shots looks like the same one two sets of the same photos?
  6. maroun.c's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by DJ in WV
    Are there 2 different tanks in those shots looks like the same one two sets of the same photos?
    Sorry messed up the photo links. Fixed it, Thanks.
  7. DJ in WV's Avatar
    hey I knew I read a article on this not long ago but couldnt remember where ( do alot of surfing) I found it after about a hour of looking and I think it directly relates to your question
    http://www.coralscience.org/main/art...igh-irradiance
    hope it helps
  8. maroun.c's Avatar
    Thanks for the taking the time to find the link. Very informative.
    Updated 11-15-2011 at 11:55 PM by maroun.c
  9. DJ in WV's Avatar
    NP,love the cap cant wait till my stuff starts to grow in I got a problem some where not sure what it is but im not getting near the growth I should. Some sps have 2x and some have not grown in 5 months. and colors come and go. I run a Berlin setup with a fug and just been doing water changes instead of dosing, I broke down and finally order a bunch of test kits and some two part additives and going to try running some carbon on the tank though I hate to because of lat line problems it can cause in tangs. Hopefully I can get some growth going it getting pretty depressing here
  10. chuck's Avatar
    Interesting article DJ makes you wonder what is the balance point between not enough and to much light
  11. DJ in WV's Avatar
    Soon as I get my tank ironed out Im going to start of culturing live food. I read another article that showed sps trapping baby brine shrimp, so since I have plenty of time Im going to give it a shot and would have to be better than pouring in bottled stuff. Im not sure why but I know every time I feed it my skimmer stops foaming and I would think the opposite would be the case.
  12. chuck's Avatar
    I have cultured food before but not anything you would want to feed your tank
  13. chuck's Avatar
    @ DJ The lighting article says "Combining the addition of extra plankton with extra light may yield significantly higher coral growth rates, by removing other limiting factors such as nitrogen availability." Am I reading this to say that the copepods that come from the refugium are feeding the coral and that if you can produce more of them along with the proper lighting your corals should grow better? How do you limit the nitrogen availability?