Newbie question here ...
I'm following Tom's guidelines and doing my homework, but before choosing a method I want to follow it is clear I need to understand how much lighting I am really working with. There is a TON of data when dealing with fluorescent fixtures or metal halides, but I'm using LEDs which clearly seem to be different.
I purchased a 24" Current USA Satellite Plus PRO, which is supposed to be good for "high light level plants" (according to the manufacturer, anyway). Since I don't have a PAR meter, I am going by the manufacturer's specs, which claim the unit puts out 30 Watts and 2,000 Lumens, and has a PAR value of 100+ at 12" water depth.
I have a 40 gal tank that is quite deep (15" from surface to top of substrate) and the light is 7" from the surface.
While I'm still trying to nail down which method I will follow, I am currently using CO2 injection, and my drop checker shows a consistent 30 ppm. I've also cross-checked this based on my alkalinity (6 degrees) and pH (6.8).
Questions:
1) I see lots of recommendations on what PAR level I need to produce, but I am confused as to where to measure that. It makes sense that one would measure this at the substrate for low-lying foreground plants, but I also have things like Wisteria and Amazon Swords which grow quite tall - for these plants wouldn't it be more relevant to measure the PAR level at the depth where the foliage occurs?
2) Is there a simple guide that lists the required PAR levels for each species of plant? I see that this is listed for the few species that are in the "Plant Database" on this site, but only shows a few entries. Is there another resource I should look to?
3) how reliable are the manufacturer's stated performance figures for PAR levels? Can I use the data provided as-read, or is there another resource I can use that provides PAR levels based on independent testing? I found a few videos of this on YouTube, but not sure how reliable the sources are.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I'm following Tom's guidelines and doing my homework, but before choosing a method I want to follow it is clear I need to understand how much lighting I am really working with. There is a TON of data when dealing with fluorescent fixtures or metal halides, but I'm using LEDs which clearly seem to be different.
I purchased a 24" Current USA Satellite Plus PRO, which is supposed to be good for "high light level plants" (according to the manufacturer, anyway). Since I don't have a PAR meter, I am going by the manufacturer's specs, which claim the unit puts out 30 Watts and 2,000 Lumens, and has a PAR value of 100+ at 12" water depth.
I have a 40 gal tank that is quite deep (15" from surface to top of substrate) and the light is 7" from the surface.
While I'm still trying to nail down which method I will follow, I am currently using CO2 injection, and my drop checker shows a consistent 30 ppm. I've also cross-checked this based on my alkalinity (6 degrees) and pH (6.8).
Questions:
1) I see lots of recommendations on what PAR level I need to produce, but I am confused as to where to measure that. It makes sense that one would measure this at the substrate for low-lying foreground plants, but I also have things like Wisteria and Amazon Swords which grow quite tall - for these plants wouldn't it be more relevant to measure the PAR level at the depth where the foliage occurs?
2) Is there a simple guide that lists the required PAR levels for each species of plant? I see that this is listed for the few species that are in the "Plant Database" on this site, but only shows a few entries. Is there another resource I should look to?
3) how reliable are the manufacturer's stated performance figures for PAR levels? Can I use the data provided as-read, or is there another resource I can use that provides PAR levels based on independent testing? I found a few videos of this on YouTube, but not sure how reliable the sources are.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.