SPS lighting

[Matt56]

I am going to start filling my tank with SPS corals I was wondering if I will need to add more light or how could I change my schedule on my hydra 26 HD to make it work. Currently own a reefer 425xl
47’’ in length 22” in width and the lights are 13” above the water I believe. I have just created this schedule with a little help from David saxby’s schedule.

 

[SeaDweller]

@Chaswood79

 

[Matt56]

Bump!

 

[dank reefer]

I would drop the lights down some (10 inches above water) and I would switch to the AB+ schedule for the 26 hd's.

How many hydras are you running?

 

[Matt56]

I would drop the lights down some (10 inches above water) and I would switch to the AB+ schedule for the 26 hd's.

How many hydras are you running?

I am running 2 hydra 26 HD’s I was going to try this setting because this reefer I follow has an amazing tank (in the picture provided) however he will not reply to my messages on finding out his light schedule and has only said he modified David saxby’s schedule

 

[dank reefer]

It has probably been modded for intensity as DZ has a deep tank. The AB+ is a tested schedule from Coral Labs that was brought out for the Ecotech Radion lights. Not saying DZ schedule is not great, but many reefers have seen great growth running the AB+.

And I think at the end of the day it will be personal preference.

 

[Phil D.]

I'm running my 26s at 65% on UV and blues, 0 on red & green and 5% on whites. I have the blues ramp up and down and hour before and after the whites. Getting good growth.

 

[dank reefer]

A top down view from my SPS section of the tank. Running 3 hydra 26 hd, and aquaticlife t5 hybrid.

 

[Matt56]

It has probably been modded for intensity as DZ has a deep tank. The AB+ is a tested schedule from Coral Labs that was brought out for the Ecotech Radion lights. Not saying DZ schedule is not great, but many reefers have seen great growth running the AB+.

And I think at the end of the day it will be personal preference.

I have the exact same tank minus all the corals of course.

 

[Matt56]

A top down view from my SPS section of the tank. Running 3 hydra 26 hd, and aquaticlife t5 hybrid.

You have the T5’s so you have a lot of light.

 

[Matt56]

A top down view from my SPS section of the tank. Running 3 hydra 26 hd, and aquaticlife t5 hybrid.

This is my tank at the moment not much growth but it’s going to be almost a year since it’s been up. I just bought a ponape birdsnest frag that had 2 branches on it so I split them and then one of those branches broke so now I have 3 frags hopefully one grows

 

[dank reefer]

The Hydras alone were putting out around 550-600 par where those corals are located. After adding the T5 I had to adjust the intensity on the hydras. I had my white channel at 35-40 %, and had to drop it back down to 19%.

And yes adding the T5 gives me more light/PAR, but one of the main reasons I got it was to even distribution of light, and to ease off on the disco ball effect.

EDIT: Corals where at 6-9 inches below water line (forgot to mention that)

 

[Matt56]

The Hydras alone were putting out around 550-600 par where those corals are located. After adding the T5 I had to adjust the intensity on the hydras. I had my white channel at 35-40 %, and had to drop it back down to 19%.

And yes adding the T5 gives me more light/PAR, but one of the main reasons I got it was to even distribution of light, and to ease off on the disco ball effect.

EDIT: Corals where at 6-9 inches below water line (forgot to mention that)

I guess I’ll have to check what my par levels are at. And maybe just change back to the AB+ setting I’m assuming that’s what you’re using? If so is there anything I Should change on it.

 

[dank reefer]

I

I guess I’ll have to check what my par levels are at. And maybe just change back to the AB+ setting I’m assuming that’s what you’re using? If so is there anything I Should change on it.

Yes, that's the schedule I run slightly modded.

If you are able to get a hold of a par meter, do that first. The only thing that you will want to adjust in my opinion will be the white channel as that is where you will gain the increase in par. Since your tank is pretty bare with corals, I wouldn't even run acclimation mode on it, but you can if you'd like to be on the safe side. Start off with the base AB+, and then adjust from there.

Here is the schedule I am running right now. And what you are seeing is peak time.

Here is the AB+ for the Hydras unmodded.

 

[Matt56]

I


Yes, that's the schedule I run slightly modded.

If you are able to get a hold of a par meter, do that first. The only thing that you will want to adjust in my opinion will be the white channel as that is where you will gain the increase in par. Since your tank is pretty bare with corals, I wouldn't even run acclimation mode on it, but you can if you'd like to be on the safe side. Start off with the base AB+, and then adjust from there.

Here is the schedule I am running right now. And what you are seeing is peak time.

Here is the AB+ for the Hydras unmodded.

Any possibility you can attach the schedule so it’s easier Because I see you have 3 more pints on the right. I’ll keep my current schedule and see how it goes for maybe max a month and if I don’t see much I’ll change back to the AB+ please lmk if you think I should change something with my current schedule. Thank you for all the help.

 

[dank reefer]

Any possibility you can attach the schedule so it’s easier Because I see you have 3 more pints on the right. I’ll keep my current schedule and see how it goes for maybe max a month and if I don’t see much I’ll change back to the AB+ please lmk if you think I should change something with my current schedule. Thank you for all the help.

Sent PM

 

[dank reefer]

Before you change anything with your current schedule, you really want to see what PAR your getting first. After you find out your PAR, then you can adjust to get the amount of PAR you would like to give your corals.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

@Chaswood79 measured the par of Hydra 26's running AB+ and the results were surprisingly low.
I was struggling to get above 200.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

The ab+ on the 26 hds is not very powerful in terms of par. Its awesome on the 52 HD’s, but not so much on the 26’s. You’ll have to keep the acros more toward the surface of the water.

 

[dank reefer]

Before I added the T5 to the tank, I was getting high par, but I had also had the white channel bumped up.