I have no idea how to scape with real live rock besides...a pile? I have some purple "real reef rock" in my basement that I can fill in with if necessary...
Thanks so much for reading!
He encouraged me to give it time and said that most of the big encrusting species don't make it anyway.
Going to post soon! Just added some thread fin cardinals, mushrooms, first macros, a rock full of zoas, and some macro frags.
I'm actually on a waiting list to rent a PAR meter at my local reef store. Should have it this week. Happy to test PAR numbers at different intensities.
Crash course,
PAR: Photosynthetically active radiation (the whole gamut, the previous simple definition was the visible light spectrum, now we know it’s broader, from UV to IR) but PAR meters measure between 400 and 700 nm
PUR: Photosynthetically useable radiation (depends on the animal, generally only a little bit lower than the PAR measurement in hobby use cases). For example, a light source may emit 300 PAR, but it may be emitting very little PUR for one species, but a lot of PUR for another. (because PUR typically doesn’t differ very much between reef organisms, PAR/PUR are typically used interchangeably)
Kelvin temp: an SI unit, it’s complicated (it’s more of measurement of energy radiation), but for hobby purposes, it’s basically the way the color of the light looks to our eyes. In the visible light portion of kelvin temperature, PAR won’t change all that much, but PUR can. It might be easiest to think of it as the ‘weighting’ of the relative wavelength energy (for example, in 6500k, you’ll have more energy in green/red wavelengths, at 20k, more in blue/violet)
Spectrum: for hobby purposes, the wavelength(s) and the relative energy of each of those wavelengths (As you can see, it ties in with PAR/PUR). Spectrum is plotted a graph with the energy on the Y axis and the wavelength on the X axis. Visible light is a narrow spectrum band between 400 and 700nm.
Also note that our eyes are not as responsive to blue light, therefore a higher kelvin temp appears dimmer, even when emitting an identical amount of energy.
Disclaimer: it’s been a long time, for advanced lighting info, refer to Dana Riddle
I saw in the video he has the whites dialed down to only 25%, so the fixture is likely able to produce nearly double the PAR he’s showing. I also didn’t realize his tank was 24” deep (I should have finished the video before commenting!)
I’ve been keeping clams for 20 years, IME clams do best under a ‘warmer’ color temperature like you’re running. This tank is also shallow, so I think achieving 350+ PAR won’t be a problem. Just know that in a small system, clams drop ca/alk levels quickly, so I always do 24 hour dosing schedules on smaller systems with clams (especially larger clams). Clams are very easy to care for as long as you give them a lot of light and stable ca/alk. Where most people go wrong is not giving them enough light, because most hobbyists don’t have a use for 350-1000 PAR. I consider 350 the bare minimum, 400-500+ is ideal for maxima/croceas.
Btw, I recently ordered a UNS 90L (75S was 75cm, such an awkward length to find a light for) and the same light, as well as some VolxJapan LED’s and Giesemann T5’s. We’ll see what I end up sticking with for it!
