Hi all,
I found a very good deal for an ati sunpower 6x39 dimmable so I decided to switch from my Viparspectra + kessil combo to t5/ t5 hybrid. At the moment in my 32g (15" high) I have mainly LPS and softies buf I am slowly adding more sps (if they survive). I have never measured par properly, but by using a luxmeter to compare intensity between the kessil and the Viparspectra I can make some estimates on the PAR under both fixtures:
Under the vipar I have 200 PAR at the surface, 150 at 12" (from light) and around 50 at 18" (sand). I have a very high rockscape here so tons of space for sps.
Under the kessil about twice of that, but the highest the rockscape goes is 12" from light, that's why I keep PAR higher here.
Now, what should be my approach for the transition in your opinion?
I measured lux under the ATI and it's totally crazy. I have 3 times the intensity from now, so if I don't want to bleach my corals my alternatives would be:
- run the 6 bulbs all dimmed to match light intensity from the kessil in the highest PAR point.
- run 2 bulbs, then turn them off and turn on other 4 bulbs at 100% (so I run 4 bulbs max)
- disconnect one ballast so I can use 2 + 2 instead of 2+4. Not sure if this can damage the other ballasts for some reason.
I also will probably need to move some hammers lower that were previously lit by the vipar, I guess 200ish par is too much for them (?).
You can see from the pic why I have different intensities on the 2 leds
I found a very good deal for an ati sunpower 6x39 dimmable so I decided to switch from my Viparspectra + kessil combo to t5/ t5 hybrid. At the moment in my 32g (15" high) I have mainly LPS and softies buf I am slowly adding more sps (if they survive). I have never measured par properly, but by using a luxmeter to compare intensity between the kessil and the Viparspectra I can make some estimates on the PAR under both fixtures:
Under the vipar I have 200 PAR at the surface, 150 at 12" (from light) and around 50 at 18" (sand). I have a very high rockscape here so tons of space for sps.
Under the kessil about twice of that, but the highest the rockscape goes is 12" from light, that's why I keep PAR higher here.
Now, what should be my approach for the transition in your opinion?
I measured lux under the ATI and it's totally crazy. I have 3 times the intensity from now, so if I don't want to bleach my corals my alternatives would be:
- run the 6 bulbs all dimmed to match light intensity from the kessil in the highest PAR point.
- run 2 bulbs, then turn them off and turn on other 4 bulbs at 100% (so I run 4 bulbs max)
- disconnect one ballast so I can use 2 + 2 instead of 2+4. Not sure if this can damage the other ballasts for some reason.
I also will probably need to move some hammers lower that were previously lit by the vipar, I guess 200ish par is too much for them (?).
You can see from the pic why I have different intensities on the 2 leds