Par 38 LED spotlights

[ulua56]

After 15 years of MH and VHO, I bid a fond good-bye. Love these Par38 20K.
At least my Zoa's do.

[JTL]

I am looking forward to the results.

[Anemonebuff]

If I were to use these on my 125(6' long) would 2 per 2' square(total of 6)(3x12K and 3x20K) with 80 degree optics be adequate for a mixed reef that is thriving under 175 watt halides?

[agsansoo]

80 deg. optics would only be good for softies. Mine is 8" off the water in 5" deep tank. I'll be lucky to do 200 par that close.

[JTL]

FWIW I have 6 on basically 2x4 tank and it is not enough with 40 degree optics. I added 2 additional. I think you will need at least that many with 60 degree optics, and 12 if you use 40 degree. Of course the height will also make a difference. If Beeker posts some Par numbers this week-end that will help.

[JTL]

Beeker, where are those par numbers?

[JTL]

Here a couple of more tank pics with just the 6 lights. When I get home next week-end I will add two more. In the one pic you can see how the tank cover alters or reflects the light. I have some new material coming that is clear and this is more of a milky color.

[beeker]

par number pics will be up tomorrow

but for a teaser here is my finding

1 inch under the surface in the center of the PAR38 bulb i was getting a PAR of 1500 with 12k 40 optics, at the bottom PAR was a consistant 200 in the center, towards the outer basically 8 inches off center it was between 50 and 80 PAR, on the inside it averaged between 100-180 i'm impressed with the results

just for profanity removed and giggles i tested the PAR in my sump and it was between 40-50, lol

and just as a comparison

my BC29g with 2 24w T5's and a 150w pheonix 14k, i was getting an average PAR of 500 1 inch under the surface and around 50 PAR at the bottom, the T5's by themelves only resulted in around 35-45 PAR at the bottom of the tank

[agsansoo]

Can't wait beeker ! If your numbers look good ... I switching to PAR38 for my DT. All I know is, I need a par meter !

[GrampaDon]

Originally Posted by beeker

par number pics will be up tomorrow

but for a teaser here is my finding

1 inch under the surface in the center of the PAR38 bulb i was getting a PAR of 1500 with 12k 40 optics, at the bottom PAR was a consistant 200 in the center, towards the outer basically 8 inches off center it was between 50 and 80 PAR, on the inside it averaged between 100-180 i'm impressed with the results

just for profanity removed and giggles i tested the PAR in my sump and it was between 40-50, lol

and just as a comparison

my BC29g with 2 24w T5's and a 150w pheonix 14k, i was getting an average PAR of 500 1 inch under the surface and around 50 PAR at the bottom, the T5's by themelves only resulted in around 35-45 PAR at the bottom of the tank

Thanks for the par numbers. Along with the comparisons to the T5/MH

[reefdude135]

That is a ton of par! And how far above the water are the bulbs??

[beeker]

the bulbs are 6 inches off the water, total 33 inches from the bottom of the tank

Pics as promised, the first set are the numbers from my BC29g (150w MH and 2 24w T5's)

BOTTOM RIGHT OF MY BC29G PAR OF 99


MIDDLE OF MY BC29G PAR OF 214


TOP PORTION OF MY BC29G PAR 242


PAR OF 244



BACK PORTION OF MY BC29G PAR OF 163


TOP OF MY 200G DD RIGHT UNDER THE PAR38 BULB 1 INCH UNDER WATER PAR OF 1700



A LITTLE ABOVE THE 3 INCH MARK PAR OF 1328


had to lighten up some of the pics to get a better shot of the LCD screen and numbers, this is right next to my blue tenius, PAR of 320



Blue tenius again PAR of 331


tenius again PAR of 322

[beeker]

PAR OF 189


INFRONT OF THE SQUAMOSA




NEXT TO MY GREEN ACRO


PAR OF 226 NEXT TO THE GREEN ACRO AGAIN


PAR OF 66 OUTER RIM OF THE BULBS COVERAGE




PAR OF 398 LEFT OF MY RED PLANET ACRO

[beeker]

TOP OF THE 200G DD AGAIN


PAR PICS OF MY SUMP, LOL

[beeker]

There are the numbers friends, and boy aren't they impressive :]] lol

[agsansoo]

Looks good. I just don't know the par = at (x) inches (i.e. how deep is the red planet ?)

[beeker]

I get a PAR of (midrange numbers) 100 at the bottom and a PAR of 1500 at the top, PAR roughly drops about 30-75 PAR per inch of depth, so 5 inches down in the tank the PAR is around 1000, 10 inches down it's around 600, so at about 17 inches from the bottom of the tank i'm getting around 500-600 PAR 10 inches off the bottom the PAR is around 300-400, 5 inches off the bottom PAR is between 200-300, though you have to take into account the outer rim of the bulb gives you a PAR around 100-200 5-10 inches off the bottom

the red planet is around 13-15 inches off the bottom of the tank, it's getting 398 PAR off the the side, on the top of the red planet i was getting a PAR around 450

i had to hold the meter and take the pics myself so it wasn't easy, i wrote on tape all the numbers i was getting throughout the tank i'll work on getting that pic tonight

[beeker]

EXCUSE MY ROUGH IMAGE AND NUMBERS, LOL

[agsansoo]

Thanks, that's much better. LOL You might want to move your sps's up higher in the tank ...but slowly !

[Psionicdragon]

Hey beeker,

what was your tank dimension? how far are your par 38 from each other?

[beeker]

Tank dimensions are 48*36*27tall

bulbs on the right are around 4-6 inches from each other, this results in a PAR of 80-100 between the bulbs where they meet

honestly after seeing that most of my Sps was in the 180-250 PAR range in my BC 29g, 300+ PAR in the 200g is a ton more than my old setup was, but thats a good thing, i've got good PAR numbers over every piece of LR that i'll be mounting Sps too, and the placement of sps will go accordingly

i planned this from the start though with planning to keep my sps, off the bottom from 8 inches up to the top of the tank, and the PAR numbers i got show that i could even keep some sps in the 3-5 inch range of the tank, though chalices and other lower light lps will be going in those spots

I'm very pleased with the results, it's pretty much 3 times the amount of light my 150w MH was giving me in terms of PAR and even in the lowest lit spots of the tank i was still getting around 30-60 PAR which is enough for hammer's and frogspawn and lower light demanding corals

[JTL]

Beeker, thanks for posting the numbers. I am about 3" closer to the bottom so my guess is that I am about 200 Par. I am confused about the Par reading off center. How much do the par readings decrease at about 6" from dead center at the bottom. The light at that dept should be about a 12" diameter with 40 degree optics. Also for those of you who are contemplating a mix of 12k and 20k, it is my understanding from Evil that the Par ratings are the same. Beeker, is that your understanding? Another deceiving thing is the brightness. The camera shows a lot brighter tank than it is, mine is much darker than my pics. It is amazing that the Par can be so high and yet the look is a deep, shadow laden reef.

[beeker]

PAR ratings for both bulbs should be the same, the blue leds may not read the same on the PAR meter though, they'd probably read a little lower than the whites

from what i've seen a typicall PAR on the outer rim is 30-40, this is in the dimmest part of the outer rim, typically it's around 50-80 PAR and even moving or directing the bulb just a half inch can change the PAR by 30 or 50

so if your getting a PAR of 150 where your sps is, you just move the bulb half an inch angled towards it and you can easily get 200 PAR, this will change the out rim from 100 PAR to around 70, it's been interesting to see the numbers and how they work

I'll be taking more pics of my setup tongiht and i'll single out 1 bulb by itself and take some readings and post up the numbers on the inside and outside rim of the bulb's light

[zygote2k]

Beeker- thanks for the info. I cut and pasted some of the info to WAMAS.
The 9 bulb system is nearly finished. Lots of pics to follow.

[spleen93]

thanks for the PAR readings, beeker! awesome!