LED coral growth Hydra 26 or other

[brad65ford]

IMO the 26's are superior to the 52s unless you have a deep tank, like 30". According to AI 2 26s are more powerful than 1 52, I think because they cool better, but the real reason I went with 26s is because it splits the pucks. It's only slightly more expensive to run 2 26s over 1 52. Shading is a real issue, as is coverage with LEDs in general. IMO if you have a proper number of LED fixtures there should be no hotspots really, just an even PAR number across the the tank at the fixed depth. Breaking those 4 pucks in half increases power and distribution as you can position them wherever you want.

I just used the AI classic rail kit with the hanging attachment. You can see in the pic that I used the spacer for the 52s and mounted the lights parallel instead of perpendicular for the 120's depth. Also with the director you can run the fixtures at different times and intensities for different coral - another advantage of having more 26s over less 52s. Unless as I said the tank is deep and you need the power of those 4 pucks. The spread pucks is also why I like AI right now over radions.

I have a simple lighting schedule. 1hr ramp up - RB, DB, V UV at 95%, W, R G at 45% for 7hr before ramp down over 1hr.

Hart, beautiful work ! i'm running 1 hydra 26 over a 40g IM which i'm already seeing i'd rather have two to spread the lighting out. You mentioned your lighting intensity, now sure how long you are running your lights for also if you can share how high about the water surface would be wonderful! Thanks!

 

[hart24601]

No problem! The lights are 30" from the bottom of the tank.

Photoperiod 12hr, but that was based on how the coral looked, lps and softies shrink when they have too much light, so I just watched and cut lights off before that point.

 

[brad65ford]

Cool, was trying to figure out your height of your tank to figure out the distance from the water lol. I'm assuming you too have played with the white intensity on your hydra's. At one point i was at 65 any more the corals didn't like it. You get a fun color when its higher too imo. Thanks again, your tank is doing so well, saw your thread will follow as well.

 

[B22]

With 1 radion xr15 pro and it only has one puck compared to a hydra 26 that has 2 pucks the hydra wins because your chance of growing sps is higher and better because it's an amazing light for the price they dropped down to $299 compared to the $349 or 400 radions

Yes but the radion comes with a wide lens option so you get better spread

 

[jmichaelh7]

I won the acro growout contest using hydra 26's for the last half. Reefbreeders for the 1st half of the contest. I like the hydra dual pucks over the radion for just a bit more coverage. My 120 with 5 hydra 26s.

Tri color acro, 1st photo around new years - 2nd photo 6 months later. All growth under hydra 26. 1st photo was under RB right before changed over. Color of 1st photo is a bit strange, not a good camera.

What was your light settings

 

[jmichaelh7]

Cool, was trying to figure out your height of your tank to figure out the distance from the water lol. I'm assuming you too have played with the white intensity on your hydra's. At one point i was at 65 any more the corals didn't like it. You get a fun color when its higher too imo. Thanks again, your tank is doing so well, saw your thread will follow as well.

65 % white light ??