Coralife showcases Aqualight LED with interactive 3D PAR map
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... 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... 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). 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. 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... 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. 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 know many species of corals that will grow outside of the PAR ranges they state (mostly on the lower PAR side). 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. 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”. 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. Two of the same coral grown out under different lighting conditions will have different PAR and PUR requirements. 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. PAR is good, as long as you understand how to read it and take into account the spectrum your reading. From what I am reading they are saying montipora, Seriatopora, and pocillopora will not grow in anything under 400 PAR.