Ai hydra program

[Alvin Alejandro]

I'm looking for any advice on what light schedule I should run my hydra 26 over my tank. I have a 40g shallow 24×24×16. How high should have the lights and what program have people used on an apex that works. I don't really understand how to run leds yet so this would really help me out.. thanks in advance

 

[Hentz]

Two questions;
1) Do you have corals in the tank?
2) If so, have these corals ever been ran under LED's?

 

[Alvin Alejandro]

No corals yet. I want to get this set up and understand a little about before getting any corals. I'll be ordering some corals online and the lfs I'll be buying some from run metal halides.

 

[Alvin Alejandro]

No corals yet. I want to get this set up and understand a little about before getting any corals. I'll be ordering some corals online and the lfs I'll be buying some from run metal halides.

 

[Hentz]

If you have no corals then it doesn't matter what you run. You can run 100% throughout the day if you'd like.

Now, LED's aren't plug and play. You need to find the sweet spot. Many people fry their corals by putting the intensity too high too quick. So find what you like best, color wise.

Could always start with a 20k during the morning, going to a 14-12k during the day, then back down to 20k in the evening with intensity peaking during the 14-12k settings.

Though once you get corals, make sure you put the lights through acclimation mode. This will ramp up the lights over a period of time that you set, allowing your corals to get used to the lights without blasting/shocking your corals and killing them.

 

[mcarroll]

1. You want to emulate a tropical day/night schedule
   • That means almost no variance from 12 hour days and nights.
   • That also means short sunrise and sunset periods
   • See below for some sample charts (0º is tropical; 37º is roughly the USA)
2. Mounting height
   • Will determine maximum spread of fixture
     • From the AI site, I think you'll want a 12" mounting height
   • Will determine maximum light intensity at the water surface
     • Again from their site, that should give you a peak PAR of around 500 (25,000 lux).
   • 12" from the water, with 80º lenses will cast light in a 20" diameter on the water surface - which should be pretty good, depending on your tastes and needs.
3. You want a [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] (or something) to measure your lights
   • Don't guess how bright your lights are with your eyes
   • Don't go by manufacturers' charts once you have the light in front of you.
   • Click the tags above! :) Lots of folks here have used lux meters for this basic function.
   • There are $free apps for your smartphone camera
   • An ordinary handheld lux meter (the LX-1010B is the most common) costs about $15 with free shipping from any commodity outlet like amazon, ebay, etc.
4. Intensity
   • Once you have your lights hung, it's time to dial in your final intensity
   • If you have corals with specific requirements, look them up (e.g.) on the Corals of the World website to see what lighting habitat they are from
   • 40,000-50,000 lux at the water surface is a good, general target for "most corals". (Around 800-1000 PAR.)
     • Exceptions might be if you're trying to re-create a shallow- or deep-water environment.
     • Very low and very high light levels can be a problem for some corals.
   • Anywhere down to around 20,000 lux (400 PAR) should be fine for a peak surface measurement for lots of corals
   • One of my two SPS tank reads a peak of about 15,000 lux.
   • More intensity is not necessarily better.

Here're those charts. I included Summer and Winter charts as well as Tropical and Temperate latitude (USA) charts for illustration:

 

[Alvin Alejandro]

If you have no corals then it doesn't matter what you run. You can run 100% throughout the day if you'd like.

Now, LED's aren't plug and play. You need to find the sweet spot. Many people fry their corals by putting the intensity too high too quick. So find what you like best, color wise.

Could always start with a 20k during the morning, going to a 14-12k during the day, then back down to 20k in the evening with intensity peaking during the 14-12k settings.

Though once you get corals, make sure you put the lights through acclimation mode. This will ramp up the lights over a period of time that you set, allowing your corals to get used to the lights without blasting/shocking your corals and killing them.

What's acclimation mode? I've never seen that on the apex fusion.

 

[Alvin Alejandro]

1. You want to emulate a tropical day/night schedule
   • That means almost no variance from 12 hour days and nights.
   • That also means short sunrise and sunset periods
   • See below for some sample charts (0º is tropical; 37º is roughly the USA)
2. Mounting height
   • Will determine maximum spread of fixture
     • From the AI site, I think you'll want a 12" mounting height
   • Will determine maximum light intensity at the water surface
     • Again from their site, that should give you a peak PAR of around 500 (25,000 lux).
   • 12" from the water, with 80º lenses will cast light in a 20" diameter on the water surface - which should be pretty good, depending on your tastes and needs.
3. You want a [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] (or something) to measure your lights
   • Don't guess how bright your lights are with your eyes
   • Don't go by manufacturers' charts once you have the light in front of you.
   • Click the tags above! :) Lots of folks here have used lux meters for this basic function.
   • There are $free apps for your smartphone camera
   • An ordinary handheld lux meter (the LX-1010B is the most common) costs about $15 with free shipping from any commodity outlet like amazon, ebay, etc.
4. Intensity
   • Once you have your lights hung, it's time to dial in your final intensity
   • If you have corals with specific requirements, look them up (e.g.) on the Corals of the World website to see what lighting habitat they are from
   • 40,000-50,000 lux at the water surface is a good, general target for "most corals". (Around 800-1000 PAR.)
     • Exceptions might be if you're trying to re-create a shallow- or deep-water environment.
     • Very low and very high light levels can be a problem for some corals.
   • Anywhere down to around 20,000 lux (400 PAR) should be fine for a peak surface measurement for lots of corals
   • One of my two SPS tank reads a peak of about 15,000 lux.
   • More intensity is not necessarily better.

Here're those charts. I included Summer and Winter charts as well as Tropical and Temperate latitude (USA) charts for illustration:

Thank you for all this information

 

[Alvin Alejandro]

1. You want to emulate a tropical day/night schedule
   • That means almost no variance from 12 hour days and nights.
   • That also means short sunrise and sunset periods
   • See below for some sample charts (0º is tropical; 37º is roughly the USA)
2. Mounting height
   • Will determine maximum spread of fixture
     • From the AI site, I think you'll want a 12" mounting height
   • Will determine maximum light intensity at the water surface
     • Again from their site, that should give you a peak PAR of around 500 (25,000 lux).
   • 12" from the water, with 80º lenses will cast light in a 20" diameter on the water surface - which should be pretty good, depending on your tastes and needs.
3. You want a [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] (or something) to measure your lights
   • Don't guess how bright your lights are with your eyes
   • Don't go by manufacturers' charts once you have the light in front of you.
   • Click the tags above! :) Lots of folks here have used lux meters for this basic function.
   • There are $free apps for your smartphone camera
   • An ordinary handheld lux meter (the LX-1010B is the most common) costs about $15 with free shipping from any commodity outlet like amazon, ebay, etc.
4. Intensity
   • Once you have your lights hung, it's time to dial in your final intensity
   • If you have corals with specific requirements, look them up (e.g.) on the Corals of the World website to see what lighting habitat they are from
   • 40,000-50,000 lux at the water surface is a good, general target for "most corals". (Around 800-1000 PAR.)
     • Exceptions might be if you're trying to re-create a shallow- or deep-water environment.
     • Very low and very high light levels can be a problem for some corals.
   • Anywhere down to around 20,000 lux (400 PAR) should be fine for a peak surface measurement for lots of corals
   • One of my two SPS tank reads a peak of about 15,000 lux.
   • More intensity is not necessarily better.

Here're those charts. I included Summer and Winter charts as well as Tropical and Temperate latitude (USA) charts for illustration:

Thank you for all this information

 

[damon.strange.5]

Thank you for posting this it's very helpful.
I have a question though, when using the myAI android app and under the tab easy setup how do I know or how do I set the intensity?