Ai Lighting on a 180 bowfront

[Daniel D Dawson]

I am in the process of a light swap. I currently have 4 chinese black boxes on our 180 mixed but hate them. They were wifi controlled but the app no longer works. All four lights have different colors and really dont look right. We decided it would be best to just buy some decent lights. We are thinking about picking up some AI 26HD's or possibly going the route of 52 HD's. Anyone have experience with these on a 180 bow or similar setup? I would like to do this with a little more thought this time.

 

[JDnKY]

I have 3 Hyrra 52’s over a 180. I like them a lot but have added 2 24” T5’s to one end over my Acro’s. I’ve decided to separate the lights from the Parent/child configuration and set them up in Apex so I can have basically 3 sections with different levels of light. Left will be bright for sps middle will be a little lower and the right will be lowest light for deeper water corals.

 

[Daniel D Dawson]

I have 3 Hyrra 52’s over a 180. I like them a lot but have added 2 24” T5’s to one end over my Acro’s. I’ve decided to separate the lights from the Parent/child configuration and set them up in Apex so I can have basically 3 sections with different levels of light. Left will be bright for sps middle will be a little lower and the right will be lowest light for deeper water corals.

Can I assume you are running the HD's? I was looking on the marketplace and have seen some 52's that were non HD but feel like I should hold off and find a deal on the HD models.

 

[JDnKY]

Can I assume you are running the HD's? I was looking on the marketplace and have seen some 52's that were non HD but feel like I should hold off and find a deal on the HD models.

Yes, they are the HD’s. AI uses MAP pricing so they only go on sale once or twice a year and everyone charges the same. I did find some on eBay a little cheaper so my LFS matched the price but it was only about $30 cheaper per light but $90 is $90.

 

[Gareth elliott]

There isnt a huge difference between them. The HD let you send unused power from one chanel to another. But the Non -HD havent been on the market since the HD replaced them. Assuming the lights have been used this whole time will have shorter lifespan.

The number of pucks you will need will be based on what light demands your corals have.

Roughly 1 puck needed per foot for sps
1 puck per 18-20 inches for lps or softies with minimal light fall off. You could probably get away with 24” but there will be some dynamic shadowing where the light overlaps between the pucks and the edges of the tank.

 

[Daniel D Dawson]

There isnt a huge difference between them. The HD let you send unused power from one chanel to another. But the Non -HD havent been on the market since the HD replaced them. Assuming the lights have been used this whole time will have shorter lifespan.

The number of pucks you will need will be based on what light demands your corals have.

Roughly 1 puck needed per foot for sps
1 puck per 18-20 inches for lps or softies with minimal light fall off. You could probably get away with 24” but there will be some dynamic shadowing where the light overlaps between the pucks and the edges of the tank.

Ok sounds reasonable enough. From what I am hearing, 3 26's should provide decent light in my tank for LPS and probably some sps.

 

[JDnKY]

IMHO I wouldn’t expect sps to do very well in a tank that size with only 6 pucks. I have 4 pucks and 2 - 24inch t5’s over two feet of my 180 and my sps are doing much better than with just the 4 pucks on 1 hydra 52 HD.

 

[Gareth elliott]

What are the dimensions of a 180 bow front never looked at one in detail tbh? I have 3 primes on 45b using a slightly modified brs ab+ schedule.

I get ~95 par on the sand bed front and back of the tank.
But this is narrower and shorter than the 180 i believe. Agreeing with @jdkny Some form of supplement might be needed, be it t5’s or even something reef brite led strips running parallel to the ai’s. Either could simply run on a timer. Run the ai’s on an internal ramping schedule and the supplement lights say on during its peak only, off during the ramp up and down.

Example ramps up from 8:30-11, down from 6:00-8:30. The supplement lights are only on 11:30-5:30.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

I have 4 AI hydra 26 HD on my standard 180, 72"x 24"x 24". I have a mixed reef. It is decent, but down the road I plan to add another.