Red sea Reefer 350 full SPS

[jordimex]

Hello, guys I just bought a one-month-old used red sea 350 from a friend here in Florida. I decided to have an SPS dominant tank I will be posting pictures here as I go on, but for now I have a quick question about lighting, almost everywhere I read the desired LED for SPS is Radions, but I can't decide which way to go, I was wondering if I should get 2 radion XR30W G4 Pro or 3 XR15W G4 Pro.
Thank you guys any insight, for now, will significantly be appreciated

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

I have three AI Prime HDs over my Red Sea Reefer 350. Works extremely well at growing SPS and LPS. I also have a seneye and the par and spectrum seem to be on point. I don't see a problem with either the XR30s or XR15s. You could get better spread with 3 XR15s though. I'd just go with whichever setup is cheaper tbh at that point.

 

[Night_shift_reefer_]

I have two hydra 26s over my 350 and am running about 50%. More than enough lights than i will ever need. I honestly think you could do 2 xr15s and be great.

 

[sromero287]

With 3 XR15’s G4 or 2 XR30’s G4 in parallel will be plenty enough for the dimensions on your 350. That’s my 0.02 [emoji106][emoji225][emoji886]

 

[CWR24]

Hello, guys I just bought a one-month-old used red sea 350 from a friend here in Florida. I decided to have an SPS dominant tank I will be posting pictures here as I go on, but for now I have a quick question about lighting, almost everywhere I read the desired LED for SPS is Radions, but I can't decide which way to go, I was wondering if I should get 2 radion XR30W G4 Pro or 3 XR15W G4 Pro.
Thank you guys any insight, for now, will significantly be appreciated

Thanks for posting as I had the same tank and was thinking the exact same thing. I'll be following along and thanks to all for the input.

I myself thought about going with 3 XR15's instead of the 30's to save a few hundred......plus the cooling fans are on top which I could assume is a better thing with less water exposure.

 

[CWR24]

I have two hydra 26s over my 350 and am running about 50%. More than enough lights than i will ever need. I honestly think you could do 2 xr15s and be great.

Have the same tank and am following along.......could I really get away with just 2 Hydra 26 HD's on here? Thought I would need 3 for sure.

I have the old full size Hydra in my Red Sea 130D original top that I'll be switching over from..... along with an unused brand new one and the HMS mounts are new as well, so I wouldn't need to buy those...unless I went with 3 lights I'd grab another mount. Like the customer service from AI and i've never had an issue with the lights, so that's a plus for me about going that route and sticking with them.

Are the Hydra 26's decent for growing out your corals and keeping them colored up? Soft stuff the light is fine, and I actually get some decent but slow SPS growth with the crappy old Hydra light, but my colors aren't nowhere where they need to be on SPS. Sure I would notice a difference in coloration on most everything.

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

If you look at the Red Sea Reefer 350 Deluxe system, it only has two Hydra 26s on it. Im sure that would be enough for SPS. But probably not great coverage.

There's a huge different between the old Hydras and the new HD Hydras. I had the old Hydra 52 on my previous build, and it would also grow SPS decently, but not as great colors I think. However, the new HDs are a whole new ball game and amaze me on the growth and colors I am seeing from some of my SPS.

 

[CWR24]

Brother......I'm still in the stone age as far as LED's are concerned!!

Dial it back even further for me, in that my lights aren't even considered "52's" from what I believe. They are just the original "Hydra" model. 4 pucks per light with only 5 led's per puck. So I'm sure I'll be amazed with anything somewhat newer.
I'm not even sure what these lights are worth if anything if I wanted to sell them on here. One is still brand new and never used.....and as I said I have 2 brand new unused HMS mounts. Maybe to keep costs down I can buy one more mount and put the older Hydra in the middle behind the overflow, and buy 2 new Hydra 26HD's and mount them to the left and right of the older one.
Do you have any insight if that would work ok from the aspect of lighting the tank and the strength of the newer lights blending together with the "older" but new Hydra?

Would give me a decent amount of light and coverage for less than $800 more.

 

[bonomo53]

Here is my reefer 425 with 3 XR15 pros. Been up fro around a year now and sps is growing well. Might need to add 1 more down the road to reduce shadowing but for now they are doing a great job.
20180207_124647 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150845566@N03/

 

[TheHarold]

T5 for the win!

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

Brother......I'm still in the stone age as far as LED's are concerned!!

Dial it back even further for me, in that my lights aren't even considered "52's" from what I believe. They are just the original "Hydra" model. 4 pucks per light with only 5 led's per puck. So I'm sure I'll be amazed with anything somewhat newer.
I'm not even sure what these lights are worth if anything if I wanted to sell them on here. One is still brand new and never used.....and as I said I have 2 brand new unused HMS mounts. Maybe to keep costs down I can buy one more mount and put the older Hydra in the middle behind the overflow, and buy 2 new Hydra 26HD's and mount them to the left and right of the older one.
Do you have any insight if that would work ok from the aspect of lighting the tank and the strength of the newer lights blending together with the "older" but new Hydra?

Would give me a decent amount of light and coverage for less than $800 more.

I actually used my old Hydra 52 with my new Prime HDs for about 6 months. It really did not have any effect on the coral I believe. It is kind of an eye sore though because one section of the tank is at a different spectrum that the other sections. It should work and will grow coral fine I believe. However, you will probably want to upgrade to all of the same lights very soon for aesthetic purposes. That's exactly what I did at least

 

[Night_shift_reefer_]

Have the same tank and am following along.......could I really get away with just 2 Hydra 26 HD's on here? Thought I would need 3 for sure.

I have the old full size Hydra in my Red Sea 130D original top that I'll be switching over from..... along with an unused brand new one and the HMS mounts are new as well, so I wouldn't need to buy those...unless I went with 3 lights I'd grab another mount. Like the customer service from AI and i've never had an issue with the lights, so that's a plus for me about going that route and sticking with them.

Are the Hydra 26's decent for growing out your corals and keeping them colored up? Soft stuff the light is fine, and I actually get some decent but slow SPS growth with the crappy old Hydra light, but my colors aren't nowhere where they need to be on SPS. Sure I would notice a difference in coloration on most everything.

I have had my hydras for about 2 months and I’ve seen the best growth I’ve seen yet.

I have all LPS right now but this setting is set at 50% reduced power all the time because the lights were so bright. I need to get hold of par meter soon.