Help me reintroduce my hydra 52 HD

Toddah · Oct 14, 2022

So I have a IM40 NUVO AIO with about 35lbs of great phoris live rock and 2 tunze 6055 pumps alternating flow between 40 and 70 % I started a little over a year ago. I did about 4 months of no light and just feeding and microbactor 7 then turned on my AI 16 light for about 10 hours a day. All was well and then I did some par testing and realized my AI was not adequate to get any PAR due to surface turbulence and a screen top I was running. I got a deal on a Hydra 52HD and after installation I was running it in acclimation mode for about 6 or 7 weeks. I was running mostly blues and UV and had reds and whites below 10%. Well my beautiful tank decided the new light was reason to suddenly go through an intense UGLY stage 14 months in, green hair algae everywhere then dinos super bad. Well I had both of those on the retreat after raising Nitrates and phosphates but then my hydra took a crap and I sent it in for repair, returning to my AI 16 HD the tank looks better (softies and euphillia) than it has in weeks. Obviously I was overdriving my tank with light. My question is in a 24 X18x18 deep tank what par should I be shooting for bottom, middle and top of the aquascape. I would eventually like a mixed reef with 3 or 4 fish and my sally lightfoot crab.
How would you reintroduce the big light without all the issues returning as I would love to gradually bring up to a point where I can shade my softees in nooks and crannies and sps on top in the intense area on the tops.
Thank you in advance for any input ypu can provide

Hooz · Oct 14, 2022

You really can't do anything without a PAR meter. Borrowing, renting or buying one is the only way to be 100% certain on your light settings.

That being said, the way I adjust my light is for lps and softies on the sandbed in 80-ish PAR range, and then test other places and/or levels in the tank to see where they fall PAR wise. In an 18" deep tank with that light, I'd imagine that if your sand is 80-90 PAR, there will be adequate PAR for SPS up top (depending on your aquascape height, etc, of course). If not, you'll have to make some compromises (i.e. more PAR on the sandbed and creative coral placement).

Toddah · Oct 31, 2022

Let me start by apologizing for the GHA that is shown in my picture. I had a horrible outbreak followed by a Dino infestation, I replaced my AI 16 HD with a Hydra52HD and I erroneously recreated the light schedule I had been running on the 16 to the 52 without thinking I was kicking the PAR factors up about 4X. result was a nightmare until I figured out my mistake. rebalancing Nitrates and Phosphates seems to be working to bring order back to the tank. In the middle of all this my hydra 52 died and I had to resort back to my AI 16 for the 24 days it took to get it repaired and back in service. that did show me I was WAY overpowering the tank for its current state.
I bought a Apogee 510 and set to mapping the tank / adjusting the lighting to get what I think is a good balance. I am hoping for a mixed reef in the end.
Does this look good for heavy blue lighting? I am running whites at < 10%, red and green 0 and all the blues at about 60%
Sorry about the picture quality, I was just looking for a shot to annotate my readings.
I did clean the glass prior to PAR mapping.
Any suggestions for changes I should consider?

Hooz · Oct 31, 2022

It really all depends on what you plan to keep. As a general rule, softies and LPS like 50-150 PAR and SPS like 200-350+ PAR. Obviously, those are not hard rules, they're more general guidelines. Some LPS (acans, blastos) like the lower LPS PAR range and some (torches in particular) like a little higher.

Now that you've got it mapped out, you'll have a much better understanding of where to put what coral as you add the to your tank.

I can't tell from the picture how high your light is mounted above the water, but you also might be able to even the spread a bit by raising it up. On a 24" wide tank, you'd probably be okay to have the light as high as 12" above the water line. Adding a diffuser could help smooth things out a bit too. Raising it and adding a diffuser would probably do wonders.

Each of those options will change the PAR map, so you'll want to check again after making any changes.

Hooz · Oct 31, 2022

I use 3DReefing diffusers on all of my AI lights.

52 / 64 HD Diffuser

FREE SHIPPING ON ALL DIFFUSERS! (USA Domestic Only) Fits Hydra 52, 52HD and the new 64HD. The 52 / 64 HD diffuser brings you one step closer to the spread of a T5 with the controllability of LED technology. Completely eliminate "disco ball" effect and soften shadows. With the diffuser you are...

3dreefing.com

Hooz · Oct 31, 2022

Also, for the spectrum... I would create an 11-12 hour schedule with short ramps up and down (30-40 minutes each). Set all the blue channels to max, red and green channels to about 10% and then adjust the white to your personal preference.

Once you have the schedule built, you can use 2 fingers on the screen to drag the whole thing up or down to adjust the intensity of all channels, all at once. It saves a lot of point editing while maintaining the same color ratios.

You can also do that with one of the preconfigured schedules (Saxby, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc). Saves a TON of hassle.

Toddah · Nov 1, 2022

Hooz,
Thank you for the input,
I am running a 3d defuser and my light is about 10.5" off the water and no tank cover or screen.

Hooz · Nov 1, 2022

Toddah said:
Hooz,
Thank you for the input,
I am running a 3d defuser and my light is about 10.5" off the water and no tank cover or screen.

If it If it was me, I'd probably raise it up to 12" off the water. The diffusers do cut down the spread a little bit and the more light you have bouncing around off the glass the better for the lower spots in the tank.