How is coloration/growth with David Saxby's Hydra HD settings?

[Orm Embar]

I've been running a pretty blue spectrum for my tank for many months (similar to the Radion LPS+ schedule; lots of UV/violet/blue and very little red/green/white); while corals have been growing ok I haven't really cared for the look.

I came home today with a Fiji yellow leather coral, and thought that the coral looked drab enough that I went looking for "better settings". I prefer a whiter tank, but don't want to sacrifice coral coloration/fluorescence if possible.

I found David Saxby's presets on AI's webpage, and went with a 52 UV/66 violet/99 royal/94 blue/7 green/10 red/47 white. The big difference is that the whites are a lot higher (were around 15) and the UV/violet is about half.

The tank looks a whole lot better to me - my green Sinularia now looks nice and green, my yellow leather looks reasonably yellow . . . but I'm wondering what will happen down the road.

Has anyone used Saxby's presets for months/years, and if so, how do things look in the long run? I've had Acans lose some of their color when the UV was lower, and I would rather keep them as bright and colorful as they are initially.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

 

[hanas]

I haven’t used his settings so I can’t comment on that piece but I would highly recommend using a PAR meter and measuring the intensity between your current program and his settings. Turning the white up that fast from ~15 to 47 is going to fry your corals if not acclimated gradually. I’ve been running 52 HD’s for a couple years now and it took me several months to find a good program that worked and used a PAR meter during that process.

 

[JulianIgnacio]

I have an AI Hydra 26 HD over a Red Sea Reefer 170. The mounting height is about 8 inches above the water. It’s a mount provided with the Red Sea Reefer 170 Deluxe and I do not recommend it. The mount is cracking where it clamps on the back of the overflow due to water exposure. Also, the mounting height should be higher for better dispersion and blending of the different wavelengths.

I’ve been running David Saxby’s settings for awhile and every time I introduce a coral I do a 50% reduction acclimation for two weeks. Near the end of acclimation I have bleaching/dying corals. At first I though it was my water parameters or my water flow, but after three acclimation periods I’ve come to realize that David Saxby’s lighting is way too bright. I’m renting an Apogee MQ-510 Par Meter from Bulk Reef Supply and I’m going to measure the par at different heights and adjust the brightness.

 

[Orm Embar]

I should add - switching to the Saxby schedule did indeed bleach some corals. I dramatically underestimated the PAR jump by upping my whites - next time, I will boost them by a lot less and do it much more gradually.

 

[Waynerock]

I've been running a pretty blue spectrum for my tank for many months (similar to the Radion LPS+ schedule; lots of UV/violet/blue and very little red/green/white); while corals have been growing ok I haven't really cared for the look.

I came home today with a Fiji yellow leather coral, and thought that the coral looked drab enough that I went looking for "better settings". I prefer a whiter tank, but don't want to sacrifice coral coloration/fluorescence if possible.

I found David Saxby's presets on AI's webpage, and went with a 52 UV/66 violet/99 royal/94 blue/7 green/10 red/47 white. The big difference is that the whites are a lot higher (were around 15) and the UV/violet is about half.

The tank looks a whole lot better to me - my green Sinularia now looks nice and green, my yellow leather looks reasonably yellow . . . but I'm wondering what will happen down the road.

Has anyone used Saxby's presets for months/years, and if so, how do things look in the long run? I've had Acans lose some of their color when the UV was lower, and I would rather keep them as bright and colorful as they are initially.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

New running a slightly lower Saxby since November. Had to trim BN twice already and even my clam is growing. I like it. 2 prime HD’s over a reefer 170

 

[JulianIgnacio]

I've measured the par output with the Apogee MQ-510 rental from BRS. I have David Saxby's settings on a single AI Hydra 26 HD over a Reefer 170. I took the readings at the peak of his schedule, when the par output would be at its highest. Here are some par readings: 330 (center, 2/3 up) to 130-100 (center, sand bed), 60 (bottom, far back corners) and 70 (bottom, front corners).

I had several WWC sps corals in the 160-90 and they bleached out. BRS's video on WWC's 293 mixed reef tank had readings from 185-80, so my corals should have thrived. But they did not survive. Only my soft corals are alive.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Saxbys tank is like 4 ft deep and his lights are mounted a lot higher than 8”s. I have 2 52 HD’s 16” above my 50 gallon cube and my par numbers are 550 in some spots but my whites peak at 17

 

[merereef]

Ive ran the wwc schedule.. ive ran the BRS schedule but the saxby schedule has given be the fastest growth with good colour than the other two... so its amazing... i have a red sea reefer 250... at max peak i had them set originally at 45% now they are at 60%... i am keeping it at these levels for a while to see how my corals are doing

 

[Kzang]

I've been running a pretty blue spectrum for my tank for many months (similar to the Radion LPS+ schedule; lots of UV/violet/blue and very little red/green/white); while corals have been growing ok I haven't really cared for the look.

I came home today with a Fiji yellow leather coral, and thought that the coral looked drab enough that I went looking for "better settings". I prefer a whiter tank, but don't want to sacrifice coral coloration/fluorescence if possible.

I found David Saxby's presets on AI's webpage, and went with a 52 UV/66 violet/99 royal/94 blue/7 green/10 red/47 white. The big difference is that the whites are a lot higher (were around 15) and the UV/violet is about half.

The tank looks a whole lot better to me - my green Sinularia now looks nice and green, my yellow leather looks reasonably yellow . . . but I'm wondering what will happen down the road.

Has anyone used Saxby's presets for months/years, and if so, how do things look in the long run? I've had Acans lose some of their color when the UV was lower, and I would rather keep them as bright and colorful as they are initially.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

It makes my tank bloom with dino, so I can never keep it on

 

[Reef and Dive]

I've measured the par output with the Apogee MQ-510 rental from BRS. I have David Saxby's settings on a single AI Hydra 26 HD over a Reefer 170. I took the readings at the peak of his schedule, when the par output would be at its highest. Here are some par readings: 330 (center, 2/3 up) to 130-100 (center, sand bed), 60 (bottom, far back corners) and 70 (bottom, front corners).

I had several WWC sps corals in the 160-90 and they bleached out. BRS's video on WWC's 293 mixed reef tank had readings from 185-80, so my corals should have thrived. But they did not survive. Only my soft corals are alive.

I have the same perception.
I have hydra 64 and was adjusting my light intensity with a PAR meter. With par 250-350 I have bleached many corals.
It seems to me PAR under LED does not represent the same thing as PAR under T5....

 

[Kzang]

David Saxby's preset caused a major dino outbreak for me. I had to switch off of it when I ran AI

 

[CompulsiveFragCollector86]

I've measured the par output with the Apogee MQ-510 rental from BRS. I have David Saxby's settings on a single AI Hydra 26 HD over a Reefer 170. I took the readings at the peak of his schedule, when the par output would be at its highest. Here are some par readings: 330 (center, 2/3 up) to 130-100 (center, sand bed), 60 (bottom, far back corners) and 70 (bottom, front corners).

I had several WWC sps corals in the 160-90 and they bleached out. BRS's video on WWC's 293 mixed reef tank had readings from 185-80, so my corals should have thrived. But they did not survive. Only my soft corals are alive.

Same I dont get it bro I run wwc29 gallon instead of the 100g schedule turned down to 50% because I lost almost all the Monti's I got from wwc in slightly under recommended par numbers and they bleached in a week smh so ticked .