Hydra 26hd Help

[Reefer350Lighting]

Hi,i just bought a single hydra 26hd for now over my reefer 350( 4ft tank height is 21 inches) ive finally decided to get some corals like frog spawn zoas and so on, Not thinking about sps at the moment.
So, for my tank with the single hydra 26 which settings do you reccomend? Including the scheduling and ramp time duration.

Its my first time posting on here and I'm looking forward to all the replies. Thanks to you all

(The attached screenshot is what my lfs told me

.)

 

[Porpoise Hork]

What other lighting do you have on the tank? for a 4ft tank a single Hydra26 will not be able to provide enough PAR for the entire tank. If this is the only light, then you will need to get another one as this light only has an effective 24x24 area. As for settings, once you get a second one setup and paired to this one, you can set them similar to how I have mine for excellent color pop and good growth, but will need to increase the values by 25-30 points across the board to hit at least 90-100 PAR on the bed. The reason for the increase is this is for 4 Hydras where you would or should be running two. The schedule I have set is also showing below this.

With this setting on a 75g with the lights at 11.5" above the waterline I hit 350-400 PAR at 6" depth and 130 across the sand bed. I have a full mixed reef tank with a little bit of everything in it.

Hope this helps.

 

[SDboatguy]

You will need more fixtures , either a second 26 or maybe a pair of primes. You could also look at a hybrid and use the T5 for the heavy lifting and the hydra for the early / late veiwing

 

[Reefer350Lighting]

What other lighting do you have on the tank? for a 4ft tank a single Hydra26 will not be able to provide enough PAR for the entire tank. If this is the only light, then you will need to get another one as this light only has an effective 24x24 area. As for settings, once you get a second one setup and paired to this one, you can set them similar to how I have mine for excellent color pop and good growth, but will need to increase the values by 25-30 points across the board to hit at least 90-100 PAR on the bed. The reason for the increase is this is for 4 Hydras where you would or should be running two. The schedule I have set is also showing below this.

With this setting on a 75g with the lights at 11.5" above the waterline I hit 350-400 PAR at 6" depth and 130 across the sand bed. I have a full mixed reef tank with a little bit of everything in it.

Hope this helps.

Hi thanks, at the moment i have just a single hydra in the centre of the tank eventually i will be buying another i just wanted to get a couple corals near the center of my tank and just needed to know what best settings to run for now. I should have provided that information sorry.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

No worries. If you follow my settings but increase each channel by at least 30% and set the light to about 8-10 inches above the waterline you can put it over the center of the tank and it'll be fine for the corals you listed as long as you place them under the light to up to 10" out from directly under the light. At that setting and height you should be in the 90-100 PAR range. Anything further out from that and the PAR will drop to sub 70 and not be enough even for softies. When you add the second light as a child to this one keep the settings the same but you will want to divide your tank in half and mount them 12" in from the outer edge so they are centered over each 24" square. If you want to break into SPS down the road will need at least 3 or 4 lights then you would want to adjust the power output accordingly.