When you go to use the PM, I really think this is a two person job. Someone needs to be holding the PM & sensor & calling out the numbers, while the second person is documenting the numbers at various depths of the tank. When I placed the sensor in the water, my Par number was jumping all over the place, I am guessing this was caused by the ripples going across the surface of the tank water. My thinking here is you will need to turn off all of your power heads and your return pump when you go to use the PM to get good numbers, and to keep the numbers from the PM from bouncing around. Now this isn't a must have, you "can" hold the sensor in the water with just your hand at various depths in the water and get good Par numbers, this is a pain to do though. The sensor has to be held in such a way as to keep the sensor pointed straight up. When you are holding the sensor under the water & are trying to read the number to call out to the second person helping you, the sensor in your hand can be easily be turned so that it isn't being pointed straight up. Its not a matter of just lowering the sensor in the water & taking a reading, it has to be held a certian way. Its easy to get your Par number when you are reading close to the top of the tank, now reach down 25 inches to the bottom of the tank, it gets a lot harder real quick. The best way I think to do this is to this is to make a handle for the Par Meter that you can attach the sensor to, and if you make it long enough, it will allow us to keep our hands out of the tank thru the whole process of getting these numbers. That being said ,,,,,, Wes is going to make us a handle for just this purpose.
Now here is the kicker, what do you do with these numbers when you get them ,,,,, good luck trying to figure that out
Opinions on what Par numbers you want to hit for certain types of corals, are a dime a dozen I did find this link, its the best I could find at showing Par numbers in certain types of tanks. I think what the author of the article did was to find various successful types of tanks kept by reefers, and read what Par numbers they were hitting in their tanks. You can looks at the pics to see just what corals were kept in each of the tanks. There is nothing scientific with this approach, it is what is working for this tank owner. I just post the link to give you some idea as to what numbers you want to shoot for in your tank. In my SPS tank, I have various types of SPS corals, some like a lot of light others can and want less light or indirect light, it all comes down to, you have to learn what each corals want by doing your research before you place a coral in your tank. I would suggest that each of you that are going to want to use this PM save this link in your putors just for a reference. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/8/aafeature
So,,,, the big question,,,, when will the Par Meter be ready to start making the rounds
I would prefer that we wait until Wes has made the sensor holder. You kinda have to take my word on this, after I used the PM yesterday for the short amount of time that I did, we really need to wait on this holder to make our lives easier when it comes to using this thing. I have seen the Par Meter that Gerwin uses, he has/had a holder for the sensor on his Par Meter. This is kinda a must have