Ideal PAR Measurements for Coral Types

WeedyDragon

WeedyDragon

New member
Morning Everyone!
So I got a hold of a par meter and will be testing out my LEDs this week. Yay for no more guessing! :biggrin1:

Ive been searching online to see if theres some kind of chart with recommended par numbers per coral type. As of right now, my tank is SPS dominant. I'd like to have the option to add LPS and softies towards the bottom of the tank. Im guessing 200 (sandbed) to 600 (top of tank) would be a good start?

What par reading is everyone having the most success with:
for SPS?
for LPS?
for Softies?
 
lps and softies do better in sub 140 PAR readings all the way down to no PAR for some of the rarer corals. Most SPS have a mid 300-500 PAR requirement. Anything higher is not necessary but would need acclimating to that higher light.
 
Here's an article about lighting and PAR. The ideal PAR values it recommends are much higher than what most people would consider. As an example, most reefers feel 250+ is good for acro's where this article says the best range is 600 - 1000.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/1/lines/view

Quite frankly, my acro's are in the 500 - 1000 PAR range and I have had a hard time keeping some of them from frying. In fact, I've been acclimating them to these levels for almost 3 months and I still see mild bleaching on some of them after I increased the cycle by an hour. I finally moved up to 7 hours a day and that seems to be the breaking point because some of them went pale and have not colored back up yet. I have noticed insane growth at these levels, though :)

Another thing I've noticed at these levels is that some of my acro's acclimated and look incredible with colors I've never seen before, while others remain pale. I've been moving some of them lower and lower and plan to give it a few more months. If they still don't color up then I'm going to downgrade my lighting. After all, what good is insane growth if they don't all look good.

I'm wondering if anyone else is running at these levels and what their experience has been?
 
It also depends on what type of lighting you use. alot of PAR research is done using hallides. I see alot of T5 tanks, which measures less PAR and have thriving SPS. LED's are also a different animal. some peopel say you only need half the PAR with LED's to grow SPS, compared to hallide, or you fry them. Something to do with PUR (photosynthetically usable radiation) vs PAR.
 
I was just reading about PUR. Here's an excerpt from the attached article, which btw, is a very comprehensive article about all aspects of lighting.

PUR (Photosynthetically Usable Radiation) also known as "Useful Light Energy" is what concerns us as aquarium keepers even considerably more than PAR in providing correct lighting, yet provides a lot of confusion, especially when considering LED Lights (many sellers will hype high PAR values while ignoring PUR due to less than desirable results).
PUR is that fraction of PAR that is absorbed by zooxanthellae photopigments thereby stimulating photosynthesis. As noted above, PUR are those wavelengths falling between 400-550nm and 620-740nm.

article...http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html
 
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