Recommend a lighting chart or calculator?

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captmicha

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Dec 6, 2006
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Is there a chart or calculator to help figure out what lighting and how much for your size tank/distance from the corals? With ACCURATE information?

To be honest, I don't really understand it all too well and it would be VERY helpful. I don't think the chart for freshwater is still high enough for coral? And it doesn't address LEDs and some other types of intense light.
 

TL1000RSquid

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Apr 6, 2011
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No LED chart im aware of due to the tons of various LED's used, 3 watt Cree's would vary from 3w bridgelux's, etc.

Haven't even seen a T5 charts before, they can vary too due to reflectors and bulb types.

Best bet is looking on forums for someone else who's done PAR readings on the fixtures your interested in.

What size tank are you looking at and what type of corals do you want to keep?
 

captmicha

Le tired.
Dec 6, 2006
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Lol. I don't know yet. I'm thinking about setting one up this summer and am trying to research and get it figured out before hand. Maybe I'll just have to tell people what corals I'm looking at and what size tank I have and let them decide what lights for me and take a consensus. It's too complicated. Having a PAR meter would be nice. I might make one.
 

platytudes

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Nov 4, 2006
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Not that I'm aware of, no. Whatever information the manufacturer provides is probably the best educated guess you're going to get.

Big Al's and other places like That Fish Place offer excellent customer service online. You can try the forums too, but these are people who specialize in a wide variety of products...everyone on the forum is going to go by their experiences and biases.

Figure out the budget you can spend on the fixture. Take that info, and the size tank, the dimensions, and the kinds of corals you want and I'm sure a rep for any of the online retailers can help you choose between just a few fixtures, maybe even different kinds like LED vs T5.
 
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