KSUChemist
Community Member
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2019
- Messages
- 71
- Reaction score
- 112
I finally got my Christmas gift set up and rolling! I got an AI Hydra 32 HD, and had heard about the alternating red/teal light driver fault. Well, I got it as well and was frustrated. Support sent me an email back quickly and stated that something had likely come loose during shipping, so I took the plastic cover off to check. Lo and behold! The motherboard had worked itself loose. Popped it back in and all was good.
The PAR meter was waiting so I took measurements of my old light (24" Aqueon triple LED bar) and was blown away. It was even worse than I ever imagined. My sand bed was at <10 PAR across the board. Directly under the light at the top of my rocks was 30 PAR. It seems the uphill climb of new light acclimation was going to take longer than I thought.
I set up a rip-off of the Ecotech AB+ program to see where my readings were. Settings were 80% power to all blues/violet/uv and 20% for cool white, green, red, and moonlight. At 54W overall power, the sand bed was over 90 in most areas and the top of the rocks was 250 PAR! AI only has a 30 day acclimation period built in to the app and I worried that this was too fast considering how low my current readings are. I decided to set up an intermediate program for an initial 30 day acclimation.
Subdued program: 60% blues/violet/UV, 20% white, 10% green and red. Total power 42W. The sand bed was between 60 and 90 PAR for the most part, and I was happier with these numbers to reduce light stress. 6 inches off the sand (average) where most of my corals stand on rockwork, PAR was 90-140 with most corals in the 130-140 area. At the top of the rocks I read 190 PAR. I felt much more comfortable with this level of light increase and started the acclimation cycle at 30% initial intensity for a roughly 2% per day increase. I also tried readings with and without the glass top (I'm going to make a net top in the next few weeks) and there was mostly only a 5-10 PAR difference, but there was much better light blending without the glass top (no red/green shimmer due to condensed water under the glass).
The app takes a bit because of the sliders (you can't just type in the number you want, and OCD takes over and it takes longer than necessary). I liked that you can set multiple presets and select between them on the fly. It will make it easier to have an all white set for pest photos, etc. My light cycle will be 1100-2100 with a 1 hour sunrise and sunset and I am going to use the moon phase setting as well.
The tank itself is a 45g cube (24x24x18"). I have shrooms, leather finger, blastomussa, torch, and 2 hammers. Eventually I want to get a clam which is what sparked the upgrade in the first place. Before and after pics are included as well as some poorly scribbled PAR reading notes that my nephew scribed for me.
I hope that this information helps people in the future. There isn't much data on the 32HD yet as it is a very new light. Also, keep in mind my numbers had very little scientific control on the actual measuring heights. I was basically just going by approximately 1/3 up and 2/3 up from the sandbed. The light itself is approximately 8" above the tank (I can measure exactly later if anyone is interested to know the exact height.) The blue tinted pictures are the new light.
The PAR meter was waiting so I took measurements of my old light (24" Aqueon triple LED bar) and was blown away. It was even worse than I ever imagined. My sand bed was at <10 PAR across the board. Directly under the light at the top of my rocks was 30 PAR. It seems the uphill climb of new light acclimation was going to take longer than I thought.
I set up a rip-off of the Ecotech AB+ program to see where my readings were. Settings were 80% power to all blues/violet/uv and 20% for cool white, green, red, and moonlight. At 54W overall power, the sand bed was over 90 in most areas and the top of the rocks was 250 PAR! AI only has a 30 day acclimation period built in to the app and I worried that this was too fast considering how low my current readings are. I decided to set up an intermediate program for an initial 30 day acclimation.
Subdued program: 60% blues/violet/UV, 20% white, 10% green and red. Total power 42W. The sand bed was between 60 and 90 PAR for the most part, and I was happier with these numbers to reduce light stress. 6 inches off the sand (average) where most of my corals stand on rockwork, PAR was 90-140 with most corals in the 130-140 area. At the top of the rocks I read 190 PAR. I felt much more comfortable with this level of light increase and started the acclimation cycle at 30% initial intensity for a roughly 2% per day increase. I also tried readings with and without the glass top (I'm going to make a net top in the next few weeks) and there was mostly only a 5-10 PAR difference, but there was much better light blending without the glass top (no red/green shimmer due to condensed water under the glass).
The app takes a bit because of the sliders (you can't just type in the number you want, and OCD takes over and it takes longer than necessary). I liked that you can set multiple presets and select between them on the fly. It will make it easier to have an all white set for pest photos, etc. My light cycle will be 1100-2100 with a 1 hour sunrise and sunset and I am going to use the moon phase setting as well.
The tank itself is a 45g cube (24x24x18"). I have shrooms, leather finger, blastomussa, torch, and 2 hammers. Eventually I want to get a clam which is what sparked the upgrade in the first place. Before and after pics are included as well as some poorly scribbled PAR reading notes that my nephew scribed for me.
I hope that this information helps people in the future. There isn't much data on the 32HD yet as it is a very new light. Also, keep in mind my numbers had very little scientific control on the actual measuring heights. I was basically just going by approximately 1/3 up and 2/3 up from the sandbed. The light itself is approximately 8" above the tank (I can measure exactly later if anyone is interested to know the exact height.) The blue tinted pictures are the new light.
