MQ200 Meter nothing wrong cuz imma idiot

I just got a BNIB Apogee MQ200.

Just playing with it a bit gave me some very perplexing readings. I don't have some one to take pics so you'll just have to trust the numbers in the pic.

An example of the sensor placement in relation to the number is:
566 is directly under a Cree 3W RB with 60* optic 900ma.
103 is directly on the sand bed.

I'm holding the sensor as flat as possible on the electric light setting. These numbers seem extremely low for the amount of light I put in that tank.

Am I not reading this meter correctly?
Is there some formula that I'm missing?

Something that needs to be done with a new sensor that the manual doesn't mention.

I've seen Mike Menari hold a meter 17" below a 24 LED fixture w/ 60* optics and get well over 500.
What the hec is going on here with mine?

 

What does it say out in the noon day sun?

 

Don't know. I took it out of the box at 630 pm

 

I'm not quire sure why it's perplexing? I may have missed something? Those LEDs look very widely spaced. You get PAR from overlap of the LED coverage, not exactly the number of LEDs. So, if you have 5 LEDS tightly spaced, you could get more PAR (but less coverage) than 30 LEDs widely spaced etc... Really, those numbers seem about what I'd expect for 28 LEDs on a 75g . You could test it on another, known light source though.

 

Yeah I understand the spacing but don't you think that the sps in the 50 range would grow? They do.

There's a tri color on the back side of the rock in 60 or so and it grows as well and has the same color/PE as it's twin frag on the top of the rock in the 200's.

Even the nem is in less than 100 and it's in the same place I put it when it attached 2 weeks ago now.

The seriatopora 1" above the sand grows just as fast as those on top of the rock on the right. Has the same color as too.

Hell I've burned some coral by putting it straight on top of the rocks on the left.

None of it makes sense because it doesn't jive w/ what I've learned about lighting.

 

Nems and some SPS don't necessarily need tons of light, esspecially if there is food available. Most BTAs I've kept, usually settle into 100-200 PAR areas for example. Color can be more a function of nutrients, if you have very low nutrients for example, a coral won't necessarily brown out as there is no nutrients for the zoox. I do have some very colorful SPS under shaded ledges with less than 100 PAR. It depends on the SPS. I would think a tri-color would prefer more, but I can't say I've tried keeping one under that low level of light. That said, 200 PAR isn't really enough to drive decondary pigments. so, if zoox is limited by something else, such as lack of nutrients, I would expect them to look similar. Bleaching has to do with changes in environment, not necessarily "burring" as most seem to think these days. So, it's possible.

I'd probably try to confirm with a different meter though.

 

The problem is I should have spent the $335 dollars on something else. I was happy with everything until I stuck that meter probe in the water.

 

Mike did you set it for imperial or metric measurements?

 

Nothing wrong with this meter.

Took it to the shop and put it under the 250W halides after they warmed up.

743 PAR 8" below a 13 month old USHIO 10K.


Guess the question is now do I go ahead and add another 24 LED's to my 75 and get rid of the 150W halides? Or do I get rid of the LED's and the halides and put 250W'rs over it?

 

Checked it with the clearsky calculator. Apogee guarantees accuracy with in +/-4% of the model in all climates and locations around the world.

Screen shot of the calculations. This meter is within -3.3%