PAR Readings?

[FishyReef]

Has anyone here used a light meter before to get readings on the PAR in your tank at various points? I just picked up the meter that my local club has and will be taking my own readings shortly. I'm kind of wondering what numbers I should be getting - what's good for certain corals, etc. - my lights are AI Sols and I'd like to know how to better adjust them based on PAR readings for certain corals (i.e., if my par readings are too low near the top of my tank, then I'll increase the intensity of my lights until my par levels are better). Anyhow, if anyone has experience with this or knows what PAR levels work best for various corals, please chime in!

 

[Bifferwine]

I think Cathic has done it.

 

[fastrd400]

I've run a par meter on all my tanks. I had 200+ at the bottom of the tank using Radions.

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

when i got mine done from a mod on a local forum running 4 VHO i had 30 on the bottom and about 60 at my highest rock point.

 

[FishyReef]

So I finally used the meter on my tank and honestly think the meter needs to be calibrated. It was giving me readings of 15-25 in places where I have had LPS corals thriving for months. With a percentage of 35/40/40, sandbed generally read around 30-40 in its brightest spots and around 150 at the highest and brighest point where I can place corals. When I bumped intensity up to 60/70/70 readings were 60-80 at the brightest point on the sand, and 280 at the highest rock point. Still seems low for AI Sols (2 super blue units mounted 8 inches off the water). At the water surface it was 320 and 500 for the two intensitites I measured. I didn't bother to measure at 100% intensity because (1) people have generally found that the Sols melt corals at that intensity and have found the 60/70/70 combo to be the "sweet spot"; and (2) why bother if the meter isn't reading accurately. What do you guys think?

 

[Northstar24]

If I remember right, par readings will be lower for the sol blues than what they actually are because par meters have a hard time picking up blue light, which is most of the spectrum on the sol blues