# Aqueon Modular LED and Coralife LED Lunar fixtures -- PAR info



## Geek2Nurse (Jun 10, 2014)

Received the following charts and comments from a helpful Aqueon employee in response to my query about the Aqueon Modular LED fixtures, and thought it might be helpful to others:












> Another alternative is the Coralife LED Lunar fixture. With the factory load out you can reach those desired PAR values (Measurements in the graphs below were at 12"). Plus you can upgrade by adding additional Trilamps to increase the PAR and change color spectrum. I use a variety of 10K, Trichromatic, and Colormax lamps. The Trichromatic has the highest PAR of the three but has a very violet hue to it which can be masked by adding 10K's.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

I am not at all familiar with the Coralife fixture, but we tested the Aqueon fixtures with our club PAR meter at a local shop. We tested the 3 tube modular fixture over an actual dealer's tank, filled and sparsely planted. At a water depth of 12", the highest PAR we measured was 12 to 18 umols. The fixtures were new, with only a few weeks in service. We concluded that these fixtures have little or no value for planted tanks.

We didn't test the fixture though air directly under the LEDs, but I can believe that the numbers reported in the table are correct in that condition. This is a common problem with PAR data from manufacturers, with some claiming that PAR is the same for a tank filled with air and a tank filled with water. Not!


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## Geek2Nurse (Jun 10, 2014)

I've got the Aqueons (with 3 tubes, 2 daylight and 1 colormax) on several of my low-tech planted tanks ranging from 20g highs to 55g longs, and the plants have thrived in them, so I really expected the values to be higher.  

Granted, they're not super difficult plants, mostly various swords and stem plants plus anubias, java and staghorn ferns, that sort of thing...but still, with all the flowering and reproducing they've done, they're obviously quite happy!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

That's interesting about your experience with the Aqueon fixtures. We tested them about a year and a half ago. I wonder if the design has changed or improved in that time.


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## abrooks12376 (Jul 22, 2014)

I junked that fuxture,.it performed horribly on a planted tank. Works great on my friends gecko tank though! Actually a great light for that purpose..


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

I think you will find this for most commercial LED fixtures. Yes you get a lot of visible light and lumns per watt but the PAR values are low in total. The fresh water market includes a lot a people using plastic plants and these people do not want a fixture that wll coat there plastic plants with algae. So the manufacturers concentrate on the spectrum that will give max Lumn per Watt with regard to PAR. Then when you go to the high end LED fixtures usually not made by the top 3 companies in they are reaching to the high end Reef Community trying to grow very difficult high light demanding corals. The problem here is the best spectrum's for Corals are not the best spectrum's for planted tanks. 

From the charts though you can see the capability of LED's on an economical stand point. Looking at the 36" tank 15 Watts of LED's = 41 PAR or 2.7 PAR per watt, then with the T-8 bulb 24 Watts on Florescent power = 39 PAR or 1.6 PAR per Watt. That is a 68% increase in PAR per Watt. If they picked a LED spectrum based on PAR numbers they could easily reach a 100% efficiency increase with a LED fixture. 

From an economical standpoint of the consumer LED';s will cause two financial benifits.
1. roughly 40% savings on the electric bill based on the same PAR.
2. the savings of not having to replace the tubes every 6 to 12 months.

Will the fixture last 5 years? I do not see why not I have some DIY LED fixtures that have run 8 years flawlessly.


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## Geek2Nurse (Jun 10, 2014)

How does glass affect PAR ratings? And do most people cover their planted tanks? I don't, because A) I'm lazy and don't like having to open a lid to feed, and B) I've always thought the glass would block a lot of the UV light from the plants, especially since it gets water-spotted so quickly. Now I'm wondering if the lack of glass might be why I've had more success with the low-PAR lights on my planted tanks.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

Glass, polycarbonate, acrylic and basically anything between the light source and the plant will cause a filtering effect. Glass can be the worst of the three common covers however all glass is not the same as with the plastics. When I order polycarbonate I order a specific type that has a a special minimum filtering ability of light waves longer than 400nm. However when I'm using acrylics sheets for other purposes (like picture framing) I make sure I get the type that blocks all light shorter than 400nm. 

The advantage of glass covers over the various plastics is that a majority of the plastics will Warp when used as a tank cover. This can be minimized by adding brace pieces to stiffen the material as well as using thicker material. I would not use anything thinner than 1/4 polycarbonate for a tank cover. And when a Pice goes over 12" I will add supports to minimize any warping.


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