Conversion for foot-candles to PAR

[fullmonti]

All the info I have found about light requirements for different orchids is in foot-candles & I'm not familiar with that. I come from an aquarium background & am more familiar with PAR reading. Is there a conversion formula, or could some one give me an idea what PAR would be for 2500-3500 & 500-1000 foot-candles?

I'm building a large paludarium that will have orchids & trying to work out my lighting for it.

Thanks
Jim

[naoki]

Full sun is about 10000fc, and PPFD (PAR) is about 2000 micromoles/m^2/s. So if you multiply the fc by 0.2, you'll get PPFD: 1000fc -> 200 micromoles/m^2/s.

If you are talking about different spectrum, there are some approximate conversion factors for a couple light sources here

[brn_thmbs]

Ooh, a paludarium!
I did a quick search, below are some links, but I'm really just here to say you MUST post pics of your process & le fin grand. I've been looking into this myself recently, having just scored a 40 gal tank from Craigslist, several big bags of live sphagnum & some new nepenthes, pinguicula & drosera on the way that would do great alongside several of my smaller orchids in said tank.
:sly:

http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/fou...ightresppf.htm
http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/con...-foot-candles/
http://www.parsource.com/content/lig...nversion-table

[fullmonti]

Great! Thanks

Sorry, I tried to post a photo & got a message "post denied"
something about the number of URLs & banned words. Do I did to have more posts to post photos?

[brn_thmbs]

Probably, min is 5 posts.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Naoki, thanks for the link! I was about to post that it depends on the wavelength/light source, but that link addresses the question very well (as well as any internet resource can).

For Android phones, there is an App called 'Unit Converter' that addresses two types of light unit conversions units of Illuminance and Luminance. I don't know if the same app is on iPhone or other platforms.

[fullmonti]

I had found similar links too. For some one like me with No science background they are about like trying to make since of some legal documents. I was just looking for a good rule of thumb & the multiply the FC by .2 is close enough for me.

Thanks again for the help & I'll post some pix of my setup when I have enough posts here. It really is a nice one & hoping I have done enough research to do a good job of keeping orchids in it when done.

Jim

[rtc917]

Of course all of these calculations are going to be dependent upon how far the light sourcce is from the plant canopy vertically and what kind of coverage horizontally the source provides.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by fullmonti

Great! Thanks

Sorry, I tried to post a photo & got a message "post denied"
something about the number of URLs & banned words. Do I did to have more posts to post photos?

You have plenty of posts to be allowed to upload photos... not sure how you tried to post, but what I do is Go Advanced from the Quick Reply dialog box. Then scroll down to Manage Attachments. You'll get another window. Browse to the file that you want to upload, and select it. When you are done selecting, click Upload, then save your post and photos should be there.

[Ray]

Responding to a 6-year-old post?