Should I rent a PAR meter for first tank setup

[puddleglum]

Hi all,

I am setting up my first reef tank.

I am thinking I could "rent" a PAR meter from BRS, or see if anyone local to me has one I could borrow. I could get readings at the bottom of the tank at various points of the tank, as well as at 4", 8", and 12" up from the bottom, and at a few setting of brightness on the Kessil. I do CAD for a living so I can make a few drawings with these values so I have idea of what I am working with at the various locations of the tank, at various depths, and have some idea how adjusting the brightness of the Kessil will affect things.

I am certain, of course, that I don't need to do this, and I probably can find decent settings that will work by a little trial and error and probably only irritate a few corals, so long as I pay attention to their tells. This is my first tank, though, and I was thinking that, if I have PAR values, it might give me a good idea of starting settings on the lighting, and have a good idea of where corals will likely do well. I also could report much more useful information on lighting here on the forum when I am asking questions.

How valuable do those of you who have PAR readings find them?

Any grumpy salty old dogs who want to badmouth all the kids nowadays with their darn-fangled whiz bang dohickeys that should just spend their time and money on salt and water changes? I am equally interested in reasonings why it would or wouldn't be a good use of my time and money.

Thank you,
-pg

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I would rent the par meter. That way you set it up right from the beginning. It removes the guess work setting you up for a better chance of success.

 

[Formulator]

Yes absolutely! Check your local LFS first as they usually do rent them out and then you don’t have to float $500 with BRS for several weeks to account for back/forth shipping.

I refer back to my PAR map almost every time I add a new coral to the tank. It makes placement much more intuitive and you never have to worry about that variable if you have any issues with coral health. You can cross light off the list and move on to other potential causes.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I personally think it is a waste of time and money. The actual numbers are pretty meaningless. It can help with fixture height in context to light balance and hot spots, but most fixtures do just fine 6” to 10” above the water, higher if you have a larger tank footprint with smaller lights.

This hobby is obsessed with an instrument that is misunderstood and misused by the vast majority of people who think it is helping them in some fashion or another.

 

[RWReefer]

I found benefit in it with a new tank and newbie just to get a general idea of light strength throughout the tank. It came in clutch when I identified that the bottom front of my tank was throwing PAR values that were almost the same as the top of my aquascape. Had to get the narrow lense for the radions to fix the issue, but saved me a lot of potential future frustration with low tank corals in what I would have assumed was a low PAR environment that was actually much higher.

@14 foot reef might be able to help you out.

 

[Formulator]

I personally think it is a waste of time and money. The actual numbers are pretty meaningless. It can help with fixture height in context to light balance and hot spots, but most fixtures do just fine 6” to 10” above the water, higher if you have a larger tank footprint with smaller lights.

This hobby is obsessed with an instrument that is misunderstood and misused by the vast majority of people who think it is helping them in some fashion or another.

That’s a hot take. Can you expand upon why you think it is misunderstood or misused? I can’t imagine not having my PAR map in my tank which has a range of about 100 to 800 PAR depending on depth, position (directly under a bulb vs to the edge) and shading of various ledges caves. There is no way to guess in a range that big and expect to have success with a well stocked mixed reef.

 

[805Reefing]

Hi all,

I am setting up my first reef tank.

I am thinking I could "rent" a PAR meter from BRS, or see if anyone local to me has one I could borrow. I could get readings at the bottom of the tank at various points of the tank, as well as at 4", 8", and 12" up from the bottom, and at a few setting of brightness on the Kessil. I do CAD for a living so I can make a few drawings with these values so I have idea of what I am working with at the various locations of the tank, at various depths, and have some idea how adjusting the brightness of the Kessil will affect things.

I am certain, of course, that I don't need to do this, and I probably can find decent settings that will work by a little trial and error and probably only irritate a few corals, so long as I pay attention to their tells. This is my first tank, though, and I was thinking that, if I have PAR values, it might give me a good idea of starting settings on the lighting, and have a good idea of where corals will likely do well. I also could report much more useful information on lighting here on the forum when I am asking questions.

How valuable do those of you who have PAR readings find them?

Any grumpy salty old dogs who want to badmouth all the kids nowadays with their darn-fangled whiz bang dohickeys that should just spend their time and money on salt and water changes? I am equally interested in reasonings why it would or wouldn't be a good use of my time and money.

Thank you,
-pg

Following.. I'm on the same boat. For anyone that has rented one, what would be a fair rental rate for a PAR meter?