10-10-2020, 11:49 AM
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#11 (permalink)
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Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Brentwood, CA, USA
Posts: 7,415
iTrader Positive Rating: 100% | Re: Aqueon LED Bars on 125g Yes, several years ago I was trying to convert "high light", " low light", etc. to PAR numbers, measured at the substrate level. But, as time marches on, my memory isn't what it used to be, and I don't recall the numbers very well now. My interest is now only with relatively low light tanks, so all I do is try for 30 PAR units minimum, but not above 50 PAR. I know even 20 PAR can grow some plants, but I think 30 is much better.
Light intensity is never simple. For example, a lot of light reflects off the glass to air interface back through the glass and into the water, but only if both sides of the glass is very clean, which isn't normal for me. If I measure with a PAR meter in the water, at the substrate, there is a big difference between very clean tank and normal tank. So, which condition should be at 30 PAR???
And, just to add to the complexity, for years Apogee did not recognize that their PAR meters were giving incorrect readings in water, because of the water to PAR meter sensor interface was not allowing 100% of the light to get to the sensor. I spent over a year trying to make a DIY PAR meter from a Lux meter, but gave up because I saw the effect of that loss of light and assumed it was a problem unique to me, one I wasn't able to avoid. I was shocked to find out that Apogee was finally acknowledging that their meters also had that problem |
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