PAR & Reef Tank Lighting Schedules: What's the ideal program for LED aquarium lighting? | Reef FAQs

How do you choose the right intensity for your reef tank LEDs? Here's what to consider and how to choose correctly for your saltwater tank!
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On BRStv Reef FAQs we're all about quick and straight to the point answers for questions that reefers ask all the time, in an effort to help make your reefing life a bit more fun and easy!
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[@alfst5546]

Great video as always guys, I love the way you show graphics on the screen which helps understand more clearly about ramping up and ramping down lighting, I had to reduce my main viewing times due to algae growth, but now it’s clear, I can slowly extend the time again. Thanks for all the info guys, it really does help ! I still think you should open a branch here in the uk 👍

[@yoldyblogs766]

I have a NICREW Saltwater Aquarium Light, Marine LED Fish Tank Light for Coral Reef Tanks, 2-Channel Timer Included, 30 to 36-Inch, 32-Watt On a 55 gallon breeder and im really struggling with the intensity any help?

[@simonthompson22-ex33]

Hi Ryan , thanks , how many Kessil A360x ‘s would you have on a mixed reef Red Sea reefer xxl750 , great video as alway , you Guys are fantastic 👍👍🇬🇧

[@timm5358]

I feel the videos you guys made in the past about LED are much more visual and enganging. I would suggest to make a video about a popular spectrum.. and replicate it with many fixtures the best you can, show the par results, so most people have a solid foundation to work with. I would love to see a video like that and think many many reefers will appreciate it.

[@twofish7939]

There's one ecotech did for the radions under the Coralab experiment

[@twofish7939]

I think it should be mentioned to newer reefers... 200-300 par for sps tanks assumes you have stable parameters and some form of detectable energy sources for the corals, be it nitrates/phosphates or dosing aminos to some degree. no point in having this par if you have no nutrients or high alk or a mix of both. A general pattern for how sps behave under some conditions are*: -low nutrient / high alk 10-12 / high light (bleached if not dosing aminos) -low nutrient / low alk 7-8 / high light (pastel sps) -low nutrient / low alk / low light (brown sps) -high nutrient / low alk / low light (brown sps) -high nutrient / low alk / high light (beautiful sps color) -high nutrient / high alk / high light (beautiiful sps) *note: there has to be stable parameters, stable light schedule, stable flow pattern, stable nutrient source if any, stable maintenance schedule. Results may very from tank to tank. Finding what works for you is important as chasing numbers leads to disaster most of the time.

[@marcelrodriguez2067]

And what is considered high alk? 9?

[@emeryz10]

I think you should do it again but with Thomas. He will explain the par and pur way better.

[@besty2012]

Hi BRS I currently have 90 X 60 x 60 mixed reef and have run it on 2 x reefled 50s for 12months but I don't believe my bottom corals are getting enough par, I realise the 50s are recommended to 50cm but was hoping zoas and mushrooms would be OK on the sand bed but they don't look the best not bad just not great. My question is should I spend £130 on a seneye or use that money to add a 3rd reefled 50, will a 3rd increase the par lower in my tank or am I wasting my time and should I save for 2 x 90s or something else. Thanks for your time

[@BRStv]

Adding a third light will certainly increase the tank's overall par. My suggestion would be to use a par meter before making your next move. For this purpose, the Seneye works great. The thing is, you can make all of the changes in the world, add more lights, take lights away, etc, but at the end of the day, you're going to be guessing. Using the par meter will give you hard numbers to work off of to make a better decision.

[@besty2012]

@@BRStv thanks for your reply and advise I will do what you suggest

[@cowabungareefer7094]

Can you guys do a video on how to clean macro algae like cheato on any pests before putting to use in a refugium?

[@CambrenSievert]

0:45 that’s gotta be the best looking nano I’ve ever seen

[@finitevoid3157]

Can you test viparspectra 165w par test?

[@CoralReefKeepers]

Plug and play would be nice but I think having more preset options from the manufacturer would be better.

[@freemansaquatics5326]

The pur video made me say tomato tomato lol ;) great video fellas yall take care :)

[@philipthebong]

2:45 is that a monti encasing an Acro? If so that's wild!!

[@BRStv]

I think it's just the angle of the camera shot :)

[@mjminino]

I wish I could have a ramp up on my a360x's

[@mjminino]

@@bpseal apwx does it for earlier models. I knew nothing of the controller. I ordered the Controller X, we'll see how that works

[@Batman-ND]

First