lighting

[sbazain]

I know this question is always asked I have softies mainly leathers how much white light in % should I use for them to feel good I have 4 ai26 on a 150 gl.tank right now I have the greens and reds off also the uv it gives me to much algae also how much off the tank should they be right now their about 7

 

[sp1187]

don't know how AI's compare to a TMC Aquabeam 2000. Literature sez they replace 20,000k light.
mine are on 12hrs. from off ramp up 4 hours to 100% for 4hours ramp down 4 hours to off.
lights 9" off the surface.
lobo 12" below surface

November 2019

September 2020

cabbage 12" below surface (was 25" below, moved mid 2019)
December 2018

September 2020

took this frag off it early 2020

 

[Broke2Broke]

I think as far as whites is whatever looks best to you. I like a little more white than most use now a days but I've gotten use to a blue look also. This might help if you haven't already seen it.

 

[sbazain]

I just saw it today so it looks lie leathers lie to be close to surface rather than mid my tank is 26 high

 

[rknapp]

My experience with these exact 2 corals is they are fairly forgiving.

I have had these exact two corals in your pics in one of two different tanks for 20+ years. Prior to summer 2019 my latest ~155 gal 48x30x26 had four of the original AI Hydras on it set like this:
CW - 70 GR - 50 V - 50 R - 20 DB - 90 RB - 100 UV - 80
Lights ran from 11am-11pm with 3 hr ramp up/ramp downs.

Both of these corals grew like weeds along with the mushrooms in there with them.

They eventually overgrew the tank so much a could no longer maintain it, it had become a weed garden. So I broke it all down, cleaned it out and started over aiming more for SPS/LPS. But I kept one colony of the leather and cabbage (since I had them since the late 90’s) to keep in the new tank and both are now living on the sand or close to it on small rocks in my restarted tank.

New startup last summer now uses 3 Radion G4’s using AB+ spectrum on similar 12 hour schedule at 65% overall intensity peak and after 6 months of settling in they are back to growing well, the leather in particular is calving like crazy. So being all the way down near the sand bed is not bothering them at all.

Your Hydra 26 are a different LED mix from my old Hydras so the BRS settings are probably a better LED color setting mix to start with. But I would not be afraid of R, GR, UV such that they are turned off completely. Your algae problem is probably from something else in your tank chemistry or nutrients being out of balance, not the lights themselves.

Sorry this was so long winded but hope some of it is useful to you.

 

[Shooter6]

Uv are not the cause of algae growing. White light contains all the spectrums of visible and invisible like uv.

 

[sbazain]

My experience with these exact 2 corals is they are fairly forgiving.

I have had these exact two corals in your pics in one of two different tanks for 20+ years. Prior to summer 2019 my latest ~155 gal 48x30x26 had four of the original AI Hydras on it set like this:
CW - 70 GR - 50 V - 50 R - 20 DB - 90 RB - 100 UV - 80
Lights ran from 11am-11pm with 3 hr ramp up/ramp downs.

Both of these corals grew like weeds along with the mushrooms in there with them.

They eventually overgrew the tank so much a could no longer maintain it, it had become a weed garden. So I broke it all down, cleaned it out and started over aiming more for SPS/LPS. But I kept one colony of the leather and cabbage (since I had them since the late 90’s) to keep in the new tank and both are now living on the sand or close to it on small rocks in my restarted tank.

New startup last summer now uses 3 Radion G4’s using AB+ spectrum on similar 12 hour schedule at 65% overall intensity peak and after 6 months of settling in they are back to growing well, the leather in particular is calving like crazy. So being all the way down near the sand bed is not bothering them at all.

Your Hydra 26 are a different LED mix from my old Hydras so the BRS settings are probably a better LED color setting mix to start with. But I would not be afraid of R, GR, UV such that they are turned off completely. Your algae problem is probably from something else in your tank chemistry or nutrients being out of balance, not the lights themselves.

Sorry this was so long winded but hope some of it is useful to you.

with your red and greens so high you didn't get algae