USB Smart Quantum SQ-420X PAR Sensor – Apogee

PAR (photosynthetic active radiation) is the easiest way to measure the available light for corals consume and use for photosynthesis. With LED lights giving more and more control to the consumer the best thing is a PAR meter that is affordable and simple to use. With PAR readings you can monitor light degradation, clarity of water, and intensity of the lighting schedule. Most LED lights out on the market today have more power than what your corals can take and will quickly bleach out from too much light. By having a PAR meter to monitor the light intensity you will have tangible numbers to go off of, instead of just guessing.

The SQ-420X USB Powered Quantum PAR Sensor is a valuable piece of equipment that can connect right to your windows or mac based PC that will read and record PAR data. PAR meters used to be a few hundred dollars for a simple, entry-level PAR sensor and now the SQ-420X has revolutionized the industry, allowing you to use your own computer instead of having to purchase a dedicated module or extra piece of equipment just to read what the sensor is seeing.

We personally like inputting all of our readings into a spreadsheet to make a chart of light output, as well as overlay the readings on a photo as well. Having a picture with your tanks PAR levels is very handy to have when placing new corals in your tank.

• Resolution – 0.1 µmol m-2 s-1
• Calibration Factor – custom for each sensor and stored in the firmware
• Measurement Repeatability – less than 1 %
• Response Time – software updates every second
• Field of View – 180°
• Spectral Range – 410 nm to 655 nm (wavelengths where the response is greater than 50% of the maximum; see Spectral Response Graph in Images)
• Dimensions – 2.4 cm diameter and 2.8 cm height
• USB Cable – 4.6 m (15 ft)
• Current Draw (when Logging) – 5.1 mA
• Warranty – 4 years

Software Downloads:

Apogee Connect for Windows

Apogee Connect for Mac OS