Hygger 30W Reef LED PAR measurements

[EchoPear]

Greetings!

When searching for a light for my first tank (5G Marineland Portrait) I wanted something small like the Kessil A80 and much cheaper. I stumbled across the Hygger 30W light on Amazon which retails for $39.99. It is essentially a rebranded Chinese light being sold in the states (just search 30W reef led on AliExpress)

The goal of my tank is to be an LPS/Softie Tank. So I’m shooting for 50-150 in the tank, but trying to trend towards the lower side.

After my Dipsastraea began looking worse and worse I rented a PAR meter from LFS. Turns out I was blasting it with way too much light! This little light packs a serious punch!

The basic modes of this light are 5 brightness settings and 3 spectrum settings. Brightness goes 10%, 32%, 55%, 77%, 100%. Spectrum options are an Actinic mode (blues purples and one green I think), everything in the Actinic plus the rest of the white LEDs (full spectrum), and a third mode that is full whites and half power actinic.

Below are the settings I finally settled on after lots of tweaking light height and brightness levels. All the measurements were taken with an Apogee meter and the Lid off with my flow at what it normally is. I did notice roughly a 5-10% drop in PAR across the places I could reach with the lid on. Sticking with the 7” 3/5 power for now, when I first turned it on I had it at 4/5 6.5” away… think I was blasting my coral with 180+! If long term the 7” distance doesn’t seem high enough I can lower a half inch at a time to get a small boost. I actually struggled getting a gradient with 100-120 at top and 50-60 on bottom which is what I wanted. Level 2 was basically the same ratios but even lower all around.

Tank is 14 in tall with a 1” sand bed and water line 1” below the top. Light distance was measured from water surface to the bottom of the hood flare

This light could easily grow SPS at level 5!

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

It''s good that you actually measured to see where things were at. Lack of light wont be an issue for your LPS and softies!

 

[splunty]

This is super helpful. I am using this same light with somewhat lucky success.

Your first picture (full spectrum, level 2/5) doesn't have a height. Was that also at 6.5" or 7"? I'm asking because I've been running the light at level 2/5 on the 9 hour cycle at 6.5" and I'm curious if your measured PAR levels are a good proxy for my setup.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[EchoPear]

This is super helpful. I am using this same light with somewhat lucky success.

Your first picture (full spectrum, level 2/5) doesn't have a height. Was that also at 6.5" or 7"? I'm asking because I've been running the light at level 2/5 on the 9 hour cycle at 6.5" and I'm curious if your measured PAR levels are a good proxy for my setup.

Thanks for sharing!

Sorry, 6” on the 2/5 picture!

I recently lowered it an inch-ish because my blasto, hammer, and dipsastraea looked like they were stretching/excessively puffed. I have actually been running my 2/5 level, not the higher 3/5 levels.

Unfortunately I paid $45 to rent the PAR meter and a month later I’m already setting up my upgrade tank! Lol. Guess I’ll need another PAR meter soon.

My main gripe with the light is how big of jumps each of the 5 light settings are. My light for next tank has 0-100% ramping which should be really nice to dial in levels

 

[splunty]

Sorry, 6” on the 2/5 picture!

I recently lowered it an inch-ish because my blasto, hammer, and dipsastraea looked like they were stretching/excessively puffed. I have actually been running my 2/5 level, not the higher 3/5 levels.

Unfortunately I paid $45 to rent the PAR meter and a month later I’m already setting up my upgrade tank! Lol. Guess I’ll need another PAR meter soon.

My main gripe with the light is how big of jumps each of the 5 light settings are. My light for next tank has 0-100% ramping which should be really nice to dial in levels

Super. That gives me a lot of confidence in my own setup.

Your comment about the upgrade tank is so relatable. We are "fortunate" in that there's simply no place to put another tank. It would be possible to "hot swap" this 14g nano for a 20, but that isn't enough of an upgrade to bother with. There's some advantage to living in a shoebox :).

What light are you thinking about for the upgrade tank, if you don't mind?

 

[EchoPear]

Super. That gives me a lot of confidence in my own setup.

Your comment about the upgrade tank is so relatable. We are "fortunate" in that there's simply no place to put another tank. It would be possible to "hot swap" this 14g nano for a 20, but that isn't enough of an upgrade to bother with. There's some advantage to living in a shoebox :).

What light are you thinking about for the upgrade tank, if you don't mind?

Haha, totally get it

The next tank is a seapora 33 long, my stand is 48” wide and wanted something that would fill the width but still have a “nano” water volume as I’m limited to carting RO from the LFS. The tank is super shallow, 48x13 and 12in tall. So I just went with a 48”/59W Fluval marine 3.0.

I could barely keep a PAR gradient in my taller Marineland portrait, so I’m sure it will be even more “even” with this shallow tank. I think the Fluval will be more than capable of sustaining LPS, shrooms, and softies based on the marine 3.0 thread here on R2R. I also wish I could tune the white intensity on the hygger, which I can on the Fluval in the app. I struggle with daily film algae on the glass, thinking less white might go a long way. Not sure I would shell out $260 for it brand new, but I found one open box on eBay I picked up with an offer for $150

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

@EchoPear I dont Under stand the par measurements like could you tell us how high above the light is, the centermeters from the top the par measurements are etc

 

[EchoPear]

@EchoPear I dont Under stand the par measurements like could you tell us how high above the light is, the centermeters from the top the par measurements are etc

The pictures include a distance measurement along with the intensity setting. 3/5 6” means intensity 3 out of 5, light is 6” away from the water line. The only one that doesn’t is the 2/5 level because I forgot to add it. I believe that one was 6” away from the water

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

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[keepingfishwithnoidea]

@EchoPear what mode do you keep ur light on. Blue white or both mix

 

[EchoPear]

@EchoPear what mode do you keep ur light on. Blue white or both mix

Always both channels, unless I want to temporarily flip to blue to make the corals more dramatic while I am looking at it

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Always both channels, unless I want to temporarily flip to blue to make the corals more dramatic while I am looking at it

Thanks. It was a lot of help as I'm getting more corals tomorrow

 

[EchoPear]

Thanks. It was a lot of help as I'm getting more corals tomorrow

How exciting!

My light now will on and off make a high pitched whine, I think it has something to do with the fan. Hopefully yours doesn’t suffer the same fate

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

How exciting!

My light now will on and off make a high pitched whine, I think it has something to do with the fan. Hopefully yours doesn’t suffer the same fate

So far it hasn't

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Btw its 20:20 in my country now

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

So close for tomorrow evening just can't wait

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

How exciting!

My light now will on and off make a high pitched whine, I think it has something to do with the fan. Hopefully yours doesn’t suffer the same fate

now i am hearing a sound from my tank. at first i thought it was a pistol shrimp or mantis then we thought it was a leak but it turns out salt was coming out of the bottom plastic frame! so we took out the biggest rock in the tank but keep hearing the noise. click click. at this point we were desperate and tried to find a leek as it sounded like water dripping and gave up. now i am suspecting the sound is from the light. what do you think? the light would now hit its 2 week mark.

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

How exciting!

guess what got the corals. its my first acropa and goni!
you know never kept softes in my life and this is my 2nd sps coral batch ( not sure if goni counts but i keep buying the worst begginer corals just because hammers and zoas are expensive in my area)

 

[EchoPear]

now i am hearing a sound from my tank. at first i thought it was a pistol shrimp or mantis then we thought it was a leak but it turns out salt was coming out of the bottom plastic frame! so we took out the biggest rock in the tank but keep hearing the noise. click click. at this point we were desperate and tried to find a leek as it sounded like water dripping and gave up. now i am suspecting the sound is from the light. what do you think? the light would now hit its 2 week mark.

My light will occasionally omit a high frequency whine, not like anything you are describing. If you have hermit crabs it could be their shells hitting the glass when they are moving around

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

My light will occasionally omit a high frequency whine, not like anything you are describing. If you have hermit crabs it could be their shells hitting the glass when they are moving around

Found a pistol shrimp in the tank.
LOL