Chipping in for a PAR meter
 

Anyone in metro Vancouver interested in chipping in to share an Apogee PAR meter? The price is a little bit steep for one person, but shared between several people it would be quite reasonable. TomR and I were discussing this today and concluded that if the PAR meter could save you from tossing out your bulbs prematurely, it could quickly pay for itself.

I know there was recently a big group buy, but that has past unfortunately. I think we'd only need a small handful of people to make this worth our while. Here's the PAR meter:
http://www.apogee-inst.com/quantummeter_options.htm

And here it is in action:
http://www.melevsreef.com/par_readings.html

Anyone interested?

I will go in on this.

which model you looking at?

I am in. I believe that we toss out perfectly good bulbs. I believe that some bulbs from the same Mfg can out perform each other. My thoughts are to take readings at different levels witin my tank approx a month after installation (burn in) and then after 12 months and then monthly until a decision is made to change out.

Tom R

I believe it would be the QMSS-E ($US249).

I'm in. I also think this should be something that can be supported in part by our local Reef Network. I'll make the appropriate inquiries with the organizers.

I can probably chip in as well, although I'll have to take it out of my Boxing Day fund.

Response has been good. We may already have enough people to make this purchase viable. Here's a good review of the Apogee by Dana Riddle:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/7/review

It appears to compare quite well to an $1,100 unit!

I'll go in .......even though I don't have a tank. Would be handy to have around when I did get one.

Also we could rent it out for $5 a session to check out non-owner tanks to further reduce costs. Just a thought.

Cheers,
Vic

Anybody else? I'm looking in your direction Mr. McKenzie ;)

Im in...but I would like to see it be a club purchase so we would have some kind of reasonable control.

Scott

I like the idea of using a par meter to help me determine the replacement of my MH bulbs. I am interested in participating in the purchase of a par meter. I do not believe that the Reef Network has the money to buy a par meter. I think that we have a little over $100 in out kitty. We have used our funds to supply pop and chips to the last 4 events (last 2 frag auctions, my tank open house and the swap meet. I think that if a group wanted to purchase the par meter then the Reef Network might volunteer to administer its use (free to those who participate in the purchase and a charge to those who did not). We looks like we would need approx 10 at $30 each to buy it.

Tom R

HAHA, I'd be interested in being a part of the purchase if the price is right. And yes Tom is correct. the reef Network has very little money. Administration of a group purchase is key and I personally have my plate full with helping here and at 3Reef, organizing Reef network events and oh ya my job. Not to mention I live in the boonies for most.

But yes I'd chip in

J

So far we have eight people:

fkshiu
TomR
Chin_Lee
Marlin65
Veng68
Seahorse_Fanatic
skylord
Jason_McK

That's around $40/person as it stands. I guess I'll do the organizing and would actually pay for the thing to begin with since I started this. I agree that it should be available to anyone who paid for it and that it can be rented out for a small fee to others. Having the Reef Network administer its use (and safe storage) is a good idea too.

I'll leave this open for another few days and then do a survey for solid commitments (a.k.a. $).

UPDATE:

I've been attempting to obtain the old group buy price (US$140, I believe) from Apogee and am awaiting a response from them.

Stay tuned.

OK, the latest news from Apogee is that they have discontinued the QMSS-E and are replacing it with a new model (MQ200):

http://www.reefcast.com/apogee/MQ200_pdf.jpg

As you can see it looks pretty cool and can store data points over time. As you can also see the list price is US$349, but they said that we can have one for US$249 if we order before the end of the year.

I've sent everyone who has expressed an interest a PM. Anyone else want to have all their lighting questions and arguments settled?

Update: the PAR meter was shipped . . . BUT to the wrong address! They sent it to Missouri somehow instead of Washington State. Trying to work it out now.

Further update: it's stuck in Portland because of "Adverse Weather Conditions". I hope I can look back on this is laugh one day.

be prepared for a $50 brokerage charge when it does get their like i got

It's being sent to Pt. Roberts so I'm doing my own brokering service.

wish i were smart...oh well

why didn't you guys just order from Apogee. Sorry I didn't see this in time to save you some money.

you could have got this http://www.apogee-inst.com/quantumsensor_specsheets.htm

all you need is a digital multimeter, which I am sure several people have. I have been using the older version of this one for 7 years now.

Steve

That's what I did.

After a nice circuit around the entire continental US courtesy UPS, the PAR meter has finally arrived at Point Bob. Will be heading down there tomorrow to pick up.

I'll be posting pix of it in action soon!

So it's here now and it's making the rounds to the various people who will be paying for it. Anthony has it at present and I understand that he's seeing Chin and TomR on Friday. I'll be pretty busy in the coming weeks so I'm not sure when we can get the meter around to everyone. I'm hoping we can all post our results to the same thread to create an informal database of sorts:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=47893

As far as the $ is concerned, Anthony has agreed to be my muscle and chief shin kicker :)

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who agreed to chip in at the Reef Network frag auction in February! Hopefully, we can now settle those disputes that crop up every so often about which type of lighting or which bulb is "better" and other lighting quandries.

So did you guys end up making it possible to rent it for an hour or so? I would gladly have chipped in the $30 but missed this thread.

I am very interested to see how the 1.5 year old 400 watt 14K bulbs I am using are holding up. I am changing bulbs this week I think and it would just be nice for future reference to know what 1.5 year old bulbs are putting out. I am also pretty sure with my ballast/bulb combo, these 400's are more like 250's. Would be good to know.

Please let me know if there is a way to rent it. Or I am in the Cambie and Broadway area if anyone near by is going to have it, maybe you can come by and quickly check things out...And of course I will pay you!

Thanks!

Hi Franklin

Anthony left the light meter with me the other day. I have taken a number if readings of my lights to be used as a base for future readings. One interesting think that came to lite while testing my lights was, I have recently (Sept) replaced all 3 of my 175W XM SE 10000K. Two of which registered approx the same light levels at each level of the test. The 3 light was off by approx 125 points at each level.

Who is next on the list to use the light meter. I sent my contribution towards the cost with Anthony the other day. Once again thank you for spearheading the acquisition of the light meter.

Tom R

I'm not really sure who's next. Geographically speaking I guess Chin would be the closest to you.

Is anyone who put in for this thing itchin' for some readings?

I will give it to Chin.

Tom R

I just want to get use of it some time late March/early April. That's scheduled bulb change time and it would want to take some before/after readings.

I am interested in chipping in with you guys