So spent a bit of time analyzing the PAR values/spread from a couple different light fixtures at Bayside (Thanks Colby for letting me in there!) and there were some neat results.
All lights are mounted ~24" off the water surface.
AI Sols (4 fixtures) Sorry I didn't take a lot of data points for this tank.
T5's (3 x 6 bulb fixtures mounted along the short axis - fixture on the right with a couple month old bulbs, other 2 fixtures almost a year old)
Data gap in the middle from centre overflow
Hybrid (4 x 2 bulbs one LED strip fixtures mounted longitudinally)
My observations:
Smaller frag tank
620 PAR at water surface
PAR levels at coral level concentrated under lights with poor diffusion anywhere other than under the lights.
360G
You can see where the centre overflow is on the 1” and 4” PAR graphs
Not much of a drop in PAR between fixtures, meaning good light diffusion from the T5’s (and reflectors)
You can see a little higher PAR values from the centre and right fixtures
light was predominately aligned along the length of the fixtures
270G
The light was surprisingly linear along the length of the tank, with the highest PAR values actually concentrated between the two fixtures, not directly underneath them
Concentrate corals with higher PAR requirements along the central third of the tank
Just thought it was interesting
Scott