Experience and thoughts on AI hydra 52s

[Fish drive me crazy]

So I just got two ai hydra 52s on my 58 gallon oceanic tank will be replacing my 160watt am spect razor so that will be for sale soon most likely but had two questions first being mounting I was thinking moving them front to back so the pucks go front to back for better coverage and less shadowing second does anyone have experience with them what do you run them at and how do you like them

 

[Fin]

I run mine front to back.

 

[Fin]

Oops, that is a pic of the pre-upgrade from the SOLs. They are all Hydra 52s now.

 

[Fish drive me crazy]

How far alert do you have them apart and hight from water?

 

[Fish drive me crazy]

Stupid autocorrect haha

 

[Fin]

The tank is a 48" 140. The lights are inside of my canopy, along with 4 T5 bulbs. They are roughly 6" apart and about 7 inches off the surface, but a good ways from the bottom of the tank. Its a 29" deep tank. Three would have probably done ok, but I already had the 4 SOLs.

 

[cultivatedcoral]

I run mine left to right. When I had them front to back there was too much shadow near my center brace but that's just specific to a 180g. They are great as far as I am concerned and I've got 90% SPS.

Before


After

 

[Fish drive me crazy]

So do you think on a 36 inche wide tank though with two fixtures there would still be a shadowing issue in the middle cause I'd like to get the most coverage as possible

 

[Fin]

I can't really comment on the shadowing, because I have supplemental lighting that is on all the time, with the exception of the final ramp down for the night. I believe they say that the Hydras are sufficient for a 2'x2' square, so I would think that 2 of them would be fine for a 36" tank.