Coralife showcases Aqualight LED with interactive 3D PAR map

Posted on January 12th, 2012 by 12

The Coralife Aqualight LED is using some well thought out marketing to showcase the company’s new LED light. Besides incorporating a sleek and straightforward approach to giving you all the details on the light Coralife has taken the time to sell on you its LED technology with the use of an interactive 3D PAR map. Using an aquarium with 30 in. tall by 48 in. long by 24 in. wide they mapped out the PAR readings of the Aqualight and plotted them on the map. To make it even more interesting.

The interactive map allows you to select common species of SPS, LPS and soft corals along with clams to see where they would be best suited for placement in the tank. Just click on any area of the tank and it will show you which corals would fit best or you can click on the type of coral and then mouse over the species to show you where they would work the best under the light. Granted, these are just recommendations and you’ll have to experiment in your system but this gets you in the ballpark. The PAR map data taken from Aqualight LED at 100% intensity, 14,000K color setting. Changing the color setting and intensity of the Aqualight LED will alter PAR values. You may wish to use a PAR meter to take readings for your preferred settings.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XMBVIE5PJXMAMZJSENESFNWBKA Joe

    Cool idea, but I don’t find that interactive map accurate at all. I know many species of corals that will grow outside of the PAR ranges they state (mostly on the lower PAR side).

    From what I am reading they are saying montipora, Seriatopora, and pocillopora will not grow in anything under 400 PAR. I have grown all of those for years and sometimes in PAR levels under 100. They are are like weeds to me (pocillipora more so since babies just pop up all over the tank) and I have had babies sprout in the back bottom corner of my tank where it would be lucky to get 50 PAR and they still grow. The Seriatopora I have found to actually like lower lighting levels vs high light (they bleach out/RTN easily under high light from my experience) and I have always put birdsnest corals in the 100-200 PAR range area and they always seem happy. Montipora I have found to have a very large range of acceptable levels, ranging from 100 PAR all the way up to 2000 PAR (I have seen a sunset monti bigger than a dinner plate growing under 2000 PAR under SolaTubes).

    Nice effort on the chart, something like that would help out a lot of people if the data were more accurate.

  • Clive Bentley

    I agree. The PAR ranges are off a lot, and it’s exagerated if you try to use a PAR meter without adding any kind of correction factor for the low blue response of the Apogee units that everyone uses.

  • Anonymous

    It doesn’t say anywhere on the chart that the corals won’t grow in anything under 400 PAR just where they will do best. 

    If corals will grow from 100 PAR to 2000 PAR then what good would any chart do if it can grow anywhere in the tank?  It would be a recommendation chart with only one color on it.

    Clive-  Don’t you mean underrepresented not exagerrated by the low response of an Apogee meter?

  • http://twitter.com/AwItsLinnikins Linny

    Why are people obsessed with PAR?  PAR = for growing land plants.  We should be focused on PUR.

  • Clive Bentley

    Perhaps. Maybe I didn’t word it correctly, but what I was trying to get at was that the situation with their high PAR recommendations is only made worse if a user were to take readings with a common Apogee meter and not make any compensation for the low blue response.

  • Clive Bentley

    PAR accommodates land and marine photosynthesis. The problem lies in that there is no differentiation between the two. PUR is a great idea, but its species specific, and a PUR metric hasn’t been defined. Plus, unless you have access to a spectrometer, and know how to use it and get tangible results, the average hobbyist will never be able to get meaningful numbers.

  • Anonymous

    PAR is good, as long as you understand how to read it and take into account the spectrum your reading. If you have no clue on what spectrum your testing your PAR for, then it is a pretty useless measurement. It takes time to learn and get a feel for how to use a PAR meter correctly. It isn’t as simple as putting the sensor in the water and reading the # on the screen and calling it a day, there is a lot more involved to it than that. PAR is not just for growing land plants. PAR = Photosynthetic Active Radiation. A PAR meter is helpful for anything that is photosynthetic as long as you know how to use it properly. 

    I have only seen a hand full of specific corals tested for PUR. PUR is simply a more refined measurement of PAR, PUR tells you the Usable vs the Active (overall) radiation of the light source by the coral. First problem with PUR is it is only good on that 1 specific coral tested and only in that exact location it was grown.

    We have to take into account that corals are very adaptable, especially when it comes to lighting. In nature, and even when swapped between different tanks, corals live in conditions where PAR values at the coral will vary greatly depending on time of day and nature or the tank they are in. It isn’t really a 1 number type of answer when asking what PAR or PUR levels are correct for a certain coral. Two of the same coral grown out under different lighting conditions will have different PAR and PUR requirements. A coral can do great under 1000 PAR in one tank and 200 PAR in another, but if you fragged each one and put the frags in the other tanks they would most likely die due to the dramatic change in lighting, but if both frags are slowly acclimated to the display tank lighting they could survive.

  • Anonymous

    For corals like the Monti that is described above, on the chart what you would do is when you click on any part of the tank/lighting intensity the montipora coral on the right should stay highlighted, showing it is capable of growing under almost all conditions, not grey out once you click an area that is under 400 PAR. Maybe make the highlighted color of the coral name 2 different colors, yellow for “not so ideal lighting condition but will grow” and green for “ideal lighting conditions”. Not all corals have such a large acceptable range, so most corals would grey out on the side when you click a PAR area that is outside acceptable levels. I also think that the levels/corals shown, while a good idea and start, could use work and refinement to make it more accurate.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RH2FD2YB5KYXIJFALY4J2BCL3E Steve

    So what do you guys think of this Fixture? It is also 2,500 Bucks (Waaaaaaay more than I thought that it was going to be.

  • Anonymous

    I can’t see any reason to recommend this light when there are quite a few alternatives that are cheaper and better. One thing I see missing and I think should be on all higher end LED lights from now on is built in Wireless so you can connect it to a router and have the controller have a built in web page to control/configure it. If my cheap $80 printer can do this why can’t a $2500 LED light?

  • Anonymous

    Keep in mind it has 4 boards and includes all the mounting hardware.  So it’s basically like having 3 Radions all ready to go but without all the fancy control software.  Which although a neat gadget feature to have really isn’t necessary.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mathieu-Gagné/659241296 Mathieu Gagné

    2500$ is too much if you consider that you can get 3 Radion which are going to give more power while also giving you access to the top of you tank.