Need some help with Apogee MQ-200 Quantum meter for LED's

[slief]

I will be making a switch from my pair of 400 watt metal halides to LED's in the next week or 2. In advance of that, I decided to purchase an Apogee MQ-200.

My plan would be to measure par levels at various depths and postitions in the tank with the halides and then set the LED's brightness to similar or lower PAR levels to begin my lighting acclimation.

Can somebody give me some instructions on using this thing. I have the manual but in calibration, it doesn't mention LED's. Just Sun, flourescent and halide lighting for correction factor. I would assume I would treat LED's like halides but I am not certain.

From what I can tell, I should choose "electric" for calibration and "sample" for mode. Then use the correction factor for Halides to get close to the actual par number or should I forget the correction factor?

Any advice would be welcome as I have never used on of these things before.

The manual as it reads is not very informative. Especially as it relates to aquarium lighting. Its likely that I am complicating things in my head but some guidance would be appreciated.

[Acrotrdco]

Press the on/off button, and aim the sensor towards the source of light.

The only thing you need to pay attention to, is that it's pre-calibrated to measure PAR from two sources: Sunlight or Electric (Artifical) - since we're measuring MH/LED, you should use the Electric Calibration mode.

Unless you want to log the data, otherwise you don't need to use the LOG function at all, I simply wrote down the readings when I measured the PAR in my tank, as you can see here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1965294

MQ-200 user manual FYI:
http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/manuals/MQ-100_200_300manual.pdf

[schriss]

Does this mean I set it to Electric for LEDs and do not have to calibrate?

[slief]

Thanks guys. Thats what I thought. I appreciate the confirmation.
Schriss, yes that is correct. Set it for Electric. The calibration is just percentages that things could be off as far as I can tell. No calibration required.

[campos]

I am looking at buying one of these and was wondering how well they do when measuring par for LEDS?

[shifty51008]

Dont you have to add 20% when measuring leds?

[MSHUR]

I wouldn't switch , especially if you have SPS dominated tank
Talking from personal experience and many others

[alton]

I take care of the "Borrow the PAR meter" in my local club. Most who have purchased LEDs in the last year after borrowing the meter had to turn there LED's down because the PAR readings were too high. Some though who bought some bad fixtures off of Ebay or kits realized they where going to have to replace them. The notion of starting at 20% and raising it each week is crazy. Just like Nitrates and calcium you need to know where your light levels are at and stop guessing