[mattinmd]

I doubt it would be too much light..

The 30" in this review is 21 PAR at 20" deep, pretty typical of a 55...

Yeah, the 48 will have a bit more going on.. but it isn't going to double...

Looking at a finnex fugeray as an example, the 30" is 30 par at 18" away, and the 48" is 48 PAR at 18" away. Going from 30" to 48" in this case raises par by 60%...
However, I think the Finnex 30" here is a bit of an anomoly, as the 36" fugeray is 47 PAR at the same distance. Going from 36 to 48 raises the PAR only 2%...

Regardless, even going with the higher number, raising that 21 PAR by 60% would raise you to 33.6 PAR. That's not likely problematic, particularly if you use excel or have floaters.

 

[Blackheart]

I don't use excel, but I do use API Liquid C02

 

[mattinmd]

Same thing for al practical purposes.

 

[Blackheart]

So shouldn't be an issue?

 

[mattinmd]

You should be fine... Usually with double-dose excel you can go up to 35 PAR without issue, sometimes higher if you have enough fast growing plant mass....


Realistically I expect you'll be closer to 25 PAR... which is plenty low, even without a liquid carbon supplement. As long as you're not running it on for too long of a day, you should be good. (I'd suggest starting in the 6-8 hour range, and work up/down in response to plant/algae growth)

 

[Blackheart]

I'm usually at work until 4 or 5 and the lights don't even come on normally until I get home. and even then I usually only keep them on for 6-8 hours.

My plan is growing low-tech plants though. So nothing that is insanely fast growing

 

[mattinmd]

There are some fast growing low-tech plants out there..

Hygro Corymbosa, Ludwigias, Pearl weed all pop to mind.. Now, these will all grow absurdly fast in high tech, but even in low tech they grow pretty quick.. I have to hack 6" off my H. Corymbosa Angustafolia every 3 weeks or so, and I'm low-tech.

Regardless, there's a big difference between a tank full of anubias (notoriously slow growing) and a tank with faster growing plants in it.

It's not well understood, but there's something about the quicker growing plants that tends to act as an algae suppressant.

 

[Blackheart]

Probably the closest fast growing plant I will be doing is Rotala. That plant usually grows like a weed for me even in low-tech. Besides that mostly Crypts, Java Ferns, Dwarf Sag, Water Wisteria, Amazon Swords, Banana plants, Moss balls etc.

I've just been eyeballing that thing for a while and wonder if it's the right way to go or not. I don't want algae issues though.

 

[vvDO]

Probably the closest fast growing plant I will be doing is Rotala. That plant usually grows like a weed for me even in low-tech. Besides that mostly Crypts, Java Ferns, Dwarf Sag, Water Wisteria, Amazon Swords, Banana plants, Moss balls etc.

I've just been eyeballing that thing for a while and wonder if it's the right way to go or not. I don't want algae issues though.

I think you'll be fine, if you have a glass top that will reduce your light even further down to the low mid 20s and you can always raise the light a couple of inches to give more coverage and less par.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mattinmd]

Probably the closest fast growing plant I will be doing is Rotala. That plant usually grows like a weed for me even in low-tech. Besides that mostly Crypts, Java Ferns, Dwarf Sag, Water Wisteria, Amazon Swords, Banana plants, Moss balls etc.

I've just been eyeballing that thing for a while and wonder if it's the right way to go or not. I don't want algae issues though.

Water Wisteria, aka Hygrophila difformis, definitely counts as one of the faster growing low-tech plants...

Amazon swords and Rotala can also count, but they don't always thrive in every tank... I have a hard time with Rotala in my main tank, for example..

 

[CowBoYReX]

The EA80 arrived yesterday and I couldn't resist the urge to pull all my 30" lights and get a few lineup shots. I also set it up and took some PAR readings.

The Razor makes the Stingray look tiny. The Razor has 54x0.5watt 6500K LEDs. Rated for 2700 Lumens. It's not as nice in fit and finish as the Stingray but you get what you pay for. The electrical cord was LONG! The Finnex ones are just barely manageable, and my older RAY2 is stupid short.

Here are the PAR Readings. I kinda have a thing for 30" fixtures. The setup was an empty Seaclear Acrylic tank, light sitting on provided feet (as it would sit on the rim of your tank) a ruler on the back to measure height, and a BioTech BT3000 PAR meter. Height measurements are accurate to 1/8" and all numbers are listed as they appeared on the screen, no additional conversions listed.

30" Beamswork Razor 6500K (EA80):
Center-----6" off center
1” - 250
4” - 84
6” - 71
8” - 54 ----- 31
14” - 31 ----- 24
16” - 27 ----- 24
18" - 24 ----- 22
20” - 21

30" Finnex Stingray:
Center------ 6” off center
2”166 ----- 10
6” 72 ----- 37
10” 42 ----- 31
12” 35 ----- 27
14” 27 ----- 25
16” 25 ----- 22
19” 18 ----- 17

30" Finnex Ray2: (24" LED)

1”700
2”430
4” 250
6”168
12”80
14”64
16”53
18”47
19”43

30" Finnex FugeRay Planted+: (not 24/7)

1”525
2”400
3”260
4”192
6”145
8”112
10”89
12”83
14”69
16”58
18”53
19”49

30" Finnex Fugeray:

1”468
2”246
3”206
4”178
6”116
8”85
10”76
12”62
14”50
16”43
18”37
19”34


The pictures show the rest pretty well.

That's a lot of fixtures on that 36G Bowfront. ;-)

Hey I know this is old, but was this actually 54 led @ 30"? The reason I ask is because I have a 30" 36 led and no par meter and I can't find a 54 so... I was hoping to go off your readings.

 

[grizzly_a]

I thought it was...I'd have to go home and count!