Experiment 004

Solar RGB versus Solar RGB II

A like-for-like comparison of both fixtures on the same aquarium.

Planned

Question

Does the Solar RGB II materially improve usable PAR distribution and edge coverage over the original fixture on a 90P?

Background

The original fixture is limited by coverage rather than peak output, and raising it to widen the footprint costs more at the ends than it gives back. The second-generation fixture is stated to be around 1.5 times brighter, and that surplus is described by retailers as what allows a higher mount. Whether it nets out better at the edges of a 90 cm tank is a measurable question that no published figure currently answers.

Hypothesis

Stated openly so it can be wrong: the extra output will be enough to hang the fixture higher and still leave the outer positions better off than they are now. The competing possibility is that the loss from height eats the gain and the edges land roughly where they already are.

Recorded before measuring, so it can be shown to have been wrong.

Equipment

Method

Not run yet. The method is set out under Measurements below.

Measurements

  • Planned: PPFD at the same twenty positions for both fixtures
  • Planned: center-to-edge distribution
  • Planned: substrate and canopy readings
  • Planned: DLI derived from PPFD and photoperiod
  • Planned: readings at matched and at optimal mounting heights

Observations

No observations yet. This experiment has not produced data.

Future work

  • Obtain a Solar RGB II to test.
  • Photograph the same scape under both fixtures at matched camera settings.

Related documentation

Results describe this specific aquarium under the conditions recorded above. They are observations, not universal recommendations.