160 tuna blue or hydra 26 hd

[cwpetro]

I am looking on setting up a 40 gal breeder mixed reef, but cannot decide how many or which light to buy. Anyone with experience with either light help me decide which would be better.

 

[Crabs McJones]

What types of corals are you interested in keeping?

 

[cwpetro]

I would like a hand full of sps, bird of paradise or something along that line, centered on top then moving down into some lps like hammers would be ideal.

 

[ReefInskeep]

Like crabs said, depends on your plan & goals for what’ll be in the tank. It really matters and if you only plan on LPS, softies, you can get great results with less than you’d need for a mixed SPS/LPS, or an SPS dominant tank.

If you want enough light for most applications, out of those 2 options, I’d go with 2 Hydra 26HD and a 36” Aquatic Life T5 hybrid fixture for significantly improved spread/distribution and decreased shadowing.

Outside of the two options you listed, I’d personally go with 2 Kessil A360WE’s or 2 of the new A360X (once they’re available). A wonderful option, but more expensive, would be the Orphek Atlantic. That’ll be enough light if you ever upgrade tanks, and it’s spectrum & spread/distribution is unparalleled.

If you’re open to just T5, a simple 6 bulb T5 HO fixture with 3-4 ATI Blue Plus bulbs & a coral plus or purple plus & whatever you like would provide plug & play, excellent results.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I would like a hand full of sps, bird of paradise or something along that line, centered on top then moving down into some lps like hammers would be ideal.

Well. You have to take each light and weigh out the pros and cons. I myself am a huge kessil fan. The shimmer, color blending and ease of use and aesthetic appeal win it for me. Plus it's been proven time and time again that they can and will grow coral. Their only major downfall is that they are not wifi controllable out of the box. You need some sort of controller or timer to turn them on and off or ramp up and ramp down unless you manually adjust them which can be a pain.
The ai are nice because they're wifi controllable right out of the box, grow coral very nicely, and look good over the tank. One disadvantage is their color blending. IMO they dont do as good of a job as the kessils and can create what's called a disco ball effect in the tank where you can pick out each individual led color. They've fixed that issue with separate diffusers you have to purchase.

But for your tank a pair of kessils or a single 26 would look awesome

 

[ReefInskeep]

If you’re just going for lower demand SPS at the top, you’d be fine with pretty much anything. I’d have at least 2 fixtures to increase light spread & distribution, but the A160’s or the Hydra 26 HD’s would both work well. Probably get more PAR and definitely more easy controllability from the Hydras, but the Kessils are hard to screw up, spectrum wise, and are more plug & play. If you don’t need dawn & dusk controllability and don’t want to buy a Kessil spectral controller (or an Apex or something), you could just put them on a timer.

Me, if I were doing that tank, I’d get that T5 hybrid fixture, use ATI Blue Plus bulbs, and put a single AI Hydra 26 HD or an A360X in the middle.