So what are AI Hydras really capable of??

[blackgrouper79]

Sorry, my bad. I am used to people getting really aggressive and nasty about lighting - for no reason I have ever figured out! I shouldn't have assumed you were doing that.

IME the growth is really about feeding coral appropriate sized foods. More the better if you can keep up water quality that is.

I had a biocube 14 that was all SPS - it was cool, but I had to frag those coral every single week, and it was so dense I couldn't reach to the bottom of the tank. It was like a little bonsai garden because I would take some of the frags and reattach them to the original colony to drive growth in neat ways or to make super thick stalks. Sadly I never took photos before tearing it down, but it was LED too. I had to be really conscious of the shading in that little tank, but since I had to frag all the time I just trimmed the colones so shading wasn't bad doing that.

I do think recomendations really depend on the type of tank too. Mixed reefs have a lot more leeway with coverage and LPS or softie only tanks shadowing isn't nearly as bad since the corals move around and get light on different parts (at least much more than SPS). I think most manufactures are getting better with recommendations though saying full SPS only tanks need more coverage and not just more power.

That is a tough choice on what to do. Hope to see what you eventually decide though!

I personally hate buying bulbs. It's silly I know, but to me it's like buying tires which I also dislike and put off. I never really list that as a factor for most people, because I think it's just me that gets terribly annoyed by it and puts it off way too long!

It's all good and yea there are some seriously unhappy people on here and the PC police are out in full force. I'm the last one to get pi$$ed over silly stuff. I'll give someone my .02 and they can take it or leave it. I've had people go totally out of their way to disagree and make a point to continue going on and on I'm assuming it's because they are unhappy people with crappy lives that live behind a keyboard with their wealth of googled knowledge and they have to be heard--that really is laughable. I'm not going to say who but they were showing off their tank the other day and I'll just say what a joke (I'm not one to judge but they sure were) but they sure knew it all and just couldn't let a suggestion be. People are funny!

lol I had a 18 viaAqua that I never took photos of (wish I had) oops. That tank grew acros like your tank I needed 18'' long tweezers to get to the bottom. Most of what hit the bottom stayed there and typically would take off- there was so much acro that it just didn't matter. I was in the business and hobby for years and everyone that saw that little tank couldn't believe how crazy the growth was. I even made a point of not doing any water changes (only fresh water TOs) for a good 6 months and nothing slowed down. I finally changed the water because I just couldn't keep abusing it but it really seemed like everything was so balanced that as long as I kept the skimmer cleaned and topped off with fresh water it could've gone indefinitely. I did add chemicals when I got around to it but I never tested anything. Thats something I think people put way to much time into--if the tank is established and the bio-load is on point the tank should be some what self-sufficient but thats my .02.

What are your thoughts? Right now I have 4 very old lol 54 watt T5s 2 white 2 blue it's an oceanic tank with the splash guard going all the way around the top of the tank (it looks like a 4" lip so I'm losing out on 8"s of potential lighting space) so I'm thinking----

1 replace the T5s and add a LED strip light -- just laying both sets of lights across the top like the T5s are now.
2 replace the T5s with E5s and add a LED strip light
3 get a whole new 6 or 8 light (I'll have to measure to see what will fit) T5 fixture… up in the air about the T5s or E5s (input appreciated).
4 go all LED.

have you heard anything about any of these products I'm pretty clueless about LEDs and I'm all ears as far as which route to take…

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300W-LED-Aq...d=100010&rk=1&rkt=22&mehot=pp&sd=131416676956


http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-165W-L...soffType=SaleAndClearence&_trksid=p5731.m3795

strip lights

http://www.amazon.com/MegaBrand-36-..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=0XCN2FQ0SNCBA5SNP1QP

http://www.amazon.com/Yescom-Multi-..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=08S517B2KR1K47T5GV0K

 

[Diesel]

Awesome colors!
Sorry if I missed this but how long has this tank been running and how long you got the 26 HD on top of this?

 

[BlueDevil]

Stunning tank! Those colors are unreal!

 

[hart24601]

It's all good and yea there are some seriously unhappy people on here and the PC police are out in full force. I'm the last one to get pi$$ed over silly stuff. I'll give someone my .02 and they can take it or leave it. I've had people go totally out of their way to disagree and make a point to continue going on and on I'm assuming it's because they are unhappy people with crappy lives that live behind a keyboard with their wealth of googled knowledge and they have to be heard--that really is laughable. I'm not going to say who but they were showing off their tank the other day and I'll just say what a joke (I'm not one to judge but they sure were) but they sure knew it all and just couldn't let a suggestion be. People are funny!

lol I had a 18 viaAqua that I never took photos of (wish I had) oops. That tank grew acros like your tank I needed 18'' long tweezers to get to the bottom. Most of what hit the bottom stayed there and typically would take off- there was so much acro that it just didn't matter. I was in the business and hobby for years and everyone that saw that little tank couldn't believe how crazy the growth was. I even made a point of not doing any water changes (only fresh water TOs) for a good 6 months and nothing slowed down. I finally changed the water because I just couldn't keep abusing it but it really seemed like everything was so balanced that as long as I kept the skimmer cleaned and topped off with fresh water it could've gone indefinitely. I did add chemicals when I got around to it but I never tested anything. Thats something I think people put way to much time into--if the tank is established and the bio-load is on point the tank should be some what self-sufficient but thats my .02.

What are your thoughts? Right now I have 4 very old lol 54 watt T5s 2 white 2 blue it's an oceanic tank with the splash guard going all the way around the top of the tank (it looks like a 4" lip so I'm losing out on 8"s of potential lighting space) so I'm thinking----

1 replace the T5s and add a LED strip light -- just laying both sets of lights across the top like the T5s are now.
2 replace the T5s with E5s and add a LED strip light
3 get a whole new 6 or 8 light (I'll have to measure to see what will fit) T5 fixture… up in the air about the T5s or E5s (input appreciated).
4 go all LED.

have you heard anything about any of these products I'm pretty clueless about LEDs and I'm all ears as far as which route to take…

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300W-LED-Aquarium-Light-Dimmable-Full-Spectrum-Reef-Coral-SPS-LPS-Marine-Tank-3W/191612805695?_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109&_trkparms=aid=555012&algo=PW.MBE&ao=2&asc=35314&meid=1d365b504e454b429877140d79fb0a39&pid=100010&rk=1&rkt=22&mehot=pp&sd=131416676956


http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-165W-L...soffType=SaleAndClearence&_trksid=p5731.m3795

strip lights

http://www.amazon.com/MegaBrand-36-43-Aquarium-Lighting-Fixture/dp/B011SQTDCA/ref=pd_sim_199_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41lUWmYq7GL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=0XCN2FQ0SNCBA5SNP1QP

http://www.amazon.com/Yescom-Multi-Color-Aquarium-Freshwater-Saltwater/dp/B00S9LO8PA/ref=pd_sim_sbs_199_5?ie=UTF8&dpID=61A-E7PdExL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=08S517B2KR1K47T5GV0K

I like the idea of LED with some T5 myself. Those LEDs off ebay are sort of the standard chinese LED fixture, I have used similar ones they performed well (reefbreeders, reef radiance, ocean revive) . The only think I don't like about those two fixtures is they don't have violet or UV. Of course if keeping a couple t5 tubes you can get some that have good violet and UV spectrum. I have always been a big fan of including that spectrum. I would avoid the lights with a ton of small diodes, there are a few decent ones now, but historically those provide very little PAR and left many upset consumers! Of course I have had the best luck with AI lights.

 

[blackgrouper79]

I like the idea of LED with some T5 myself. Those LEDs off ebay are sort of the standard chinese LED fixture, I have used similar ones they performed well (reefbreeders, reef radiance, ocean revive) . The only think I don't like about those two fixtures is they don't have violet or UV. Of course if keeping a couple t5 tubes you can get some that have good violet and UV spectrum. I have always been a big fan of including that spectrum. I would avoid the lights with a ton of small diodes, there are a few decent ones now, but historically those provide very little PAR and left many upset consumers! Of course I have had the best luck with AI lights.

see that's something I was worried about (violet and UV) they say "full spectrum" but leave out the UV part. I asked the Mars people if they could replace the red and green lights with a higher K white light and their response was "no". Have you heard anything about the E5s? Are there any good LED strips that would add 100+watts that are about 4"s wide? The upfront cost of the AIs is a problem for me right now I realize that in the long run it's a no brainer they are flat out bad butt. When possible I'm all about over kill with lighting because that approach has only benefited my tanks in the past.

 

[hart24601]

The only strips I know of that people seem to like are build my LED, but they are spendy! Sorry I don't know too many others, but maybe making a post in the LED section about them can get some people with experience. I have never played around with them. Those E5s do look to have some good power though.

 

[LiquidLenny]

I have to disagree...Kessils work just as good. If you use more then what's recommended. I for example, use three 360WE's on my 75 gallon. The middle fixture is pointing straight down while the side two are angled slightly inward. I am showing growth on my sps... I have a setosa, raspberry monti and a pink pocillipora that have all doubled in size in the 2 1/2 months they have been in the aquarium. They are approx. 7 inches from the surface and the Kessils are hanging 12 inches above the surface of the water.. I think LEDs as mentioned, need to be added in a quantity that does away with shadowing and allows for an even light source hitting your coral from all directions as the sun does rising and setting in the sky. To add- none of the sps I have are placed directly under a Kessil. They are all within the fixtures fall off light or perhaps a blend of two fixtures fall off light. I run at a peak of 90% for three hours ramping up and down from that. I also run color more in the blue spectrum at 30% max. Through my observation over the past couple of years with LEDs is that too much white light and not enough of blue has been one of the most negative factors effecting overall coral health. I believe that's why people substitute with T5 fluorescent lighting not really understanding that provided the right spectrum and coverage with LEDs the substitution would not be required.

 

[LiquidLenny]

Gorgeous reef by the way! I've used Hydra's myself and I had success with them as well. Then again I used three fixtures when only two were called for, to do so. They were the original Hydra's fyi.

 

[steiger33]

@hart24601 gorgeous reef. I just started building up my 120 reef with a 60g franc tank plumbed into the main system as well. On the main tank I am running 3 Hydra 52's and on the frag tank running 3 Hudra 26's. I look forward to mine building up like yours. Thank you for more inspiration with the Hydra's.

 

[atoll]

I have 4 x AI Hydra 26s on my 66 gallon.
2 mounted length ways and 2 mounted back to front.

 

[smiley28]

Been thinking about how to put more 26hd over my 75g since the first time I saw this thread. I currently have 2 but I would like 3-4 for coverage.