SPS and LED intensity
 

Curious to hear what people are running their LED fixtures output at to achieve the bright colors out of SPS's. My tank is 5 months old and has about a dozen mini colonies. I have a Photon 32V2 fixture that's been running at 30% for 5 months and have recently been increased to 50%. It's too soon to tell but I am sure with the increase the growth and color should improve. What output is everyone running for SPS?

The Photon 32V2 full spectrum is equivalent to 2 x 250W Metal halide and is hanging 10" above water.
Photo period:
6am - 11am - blues @15%
11am - 5pm - all colors @ 50%
5pm - 9pm - blues @ 15%

I have 2 of the 4' controllable ever grow lights and both channels peak at 55% for 3 hours and ramp up to that and down to just 5% blues for moons lights
Colours are the best they have ever been.
In the next few months in going to either increase the length of time or the intensity. Not sure which will work better in my case so I'll do some reading and go from there

PAR meter
 

I think it's best if you get a PAR meter,,, there are so many variables that anyone making any suggestions would be not applicable to your setup...

I want to stay away from the technically aspect on this topic as I am sure with a PAR meter the discussion can go on forever. Just want to get an idea of what a nice SPS tank is running for intensity and duration.
Besides, I wouldn't understanding the reading even if I had a meter. My success from the past has always been achieved by gauging the color and growth and keeping things as simple as possible.

Here is a comparison to the success we had keeping corals in comparison to Halides and T5's in our facility;
http://ecotechmarine.com/news/ecotec...ches-coral-lab

pars, Ks, oh my !
 

yeah but intensity is a really important factor..
you may nail down the duration and/or color of LEDS,, but if they're running at 10% of what they should be they're not going to do sh*t..

seneye's monitor has a really cool PAR meter built, and it's affordable

Out of curiosity how far above the water do you hang your lights?

I didn't measure them but somewhere in the 8" range