HYDRA 26HD

[Fredm]

Hi guys,

In my quest for my new light, i saw the hydra 26HD. Do you think 2 at 10 inchs height, will be ok for my tank (40"x23"x19" height) ?

Thanks
Fred

PS : i forget the spectrus 90 because it's seems a poor light...

 

[themcnertney]

I love my hydra 52hd. I say it should suffice.

 

[Fredm]

Do you think the surface enlightened will be enough ? My retailer tell me with the 52HD, 23"x23" at 10"

 

[Waboss]

I have 1 26HD over my tank (24x20x20) at about 12" and it does a great job. Assuming you space 2 of them out well, they'll cover that tank nicely.

 

[themcnertney]

I'd go with (2) 52s instead of (2) 26s IMO

 

[Fredm]

ok thanks to all for your answers. My question now is the hydra vs kessil a360w. I like the kessil's look and their job seems to be great regarding the returns on the web.

big dilema hydra 26hd vs kessil a360w.

 

[Waboss]

For me, it wouldn't be a dilema at all, having had both lights of course. The Kessil is nice, but if I were to go back to it, I'd need to have 2 over my 24" tank. Way too much shadowing with just one. With the HD26, I'm actually getting away with one (I had two for the same reason until I figured out how high to have it over my tank.......now one does just fine).

 

[jsker]

I am running 2 Hydra 26 hd's 12 inch high over the tank 48w x 18 w x 21 d with the lights at 61 watts. I like the shimmer of the water and I also like that like how my corals are grown and the color

 

[Fredm]

Waboss - I'll need 2 A360w or 2 Hydra 26HD for my 40" tank. As you have the twice, what's the one you prefer finlally ?

 

[Waboss]

On your 40" tank, if you went with Kessils, I'd go with 3 of them to help minimize shadowing.

As for my preference, I'm still running my Hydra 26HD and am quite happy with it. I think 2 of them would serve you well. Don't get me wrong though, Kessils are nice lights, I've just seen better reactions from my coral with the Hydra and having 2 sources/"pucks" spreads out the lighting a little better I think.

 

[Fredm]

ok thanks for your point of view

 

[Fredm]

Hi guys,

I received my 2 hydras on friday. Put on my tank and wwoooww. I love this light. But, I do not really know how to adjust the power. Before on my evergrow 2080 i ran at 70% of max power (168w). Now, i'm at 60w on each hydra with this setup during 7 hours with 1h30 ramp up and down:

Uv 50
Violet 70
Royal Blue 70
Blue 70
green 25
Deep red 35
Cool white 60

Do you think is good ??

Thanks

 

[Lenny_S]

Those levels are a good start I'd say.
Something I've learned with these lights is that it is a very directed beam. So at 70% lets say and 10" above the water line you get (just an example) 350 PAR 6" below water directly under the light. I've seen that in a setup like that, when you move say 8" off center the PAR drops to like 250 at the same 6" of depth. (Tested on my own tank with a PAR meter)
If you were to mount them higher, like 12" above the water line and increase the intensity to 90% you would still get (as an example) 350 PAR 6" below water directly under the light, but now if you move 8" off center, the PAR only drops to like 300. If you look at how the Echotec Coral Lab sets their lights up it's 24" above the water, and the PAR is very even over a 24x24 area.
My conclusion, if you have power to spare, raise the lights higher and increase the power to match. This gives a better PAR distribution and better blending with less shadowing.

 

[jsker]

Here are my current settings, they work really well. When I first started using these setting I used the acclamation cycle for 30 days. I also use the lunar cycle at night time which give the tank a great effect.

 

[Fredm]

lemmy - Thanks for your advice and for tell me about the ecotech lab, on good document to read. I'm thinking about another DIY mount for the ramps and maybe i'll raise them to 12", with the intensity for the blue channels at 80-90 and white at 60.

jsker - Thanks for sharing your setting it give me reason to use more blue than white !!

When my DIY mout will ok and done i'll post some pictures.

For the moment it's like that :

 

[Fredm]

oups some errors in writing.... sorry for my english, i try to do my best

 

[themcnertney]

3 hydra 52 hd 8" above the water, 30" deep tank

 

[AwildcatsZ]

This is a great thread!

I personally love AI lights and its great to see others who have great results with them as well. I currently have a 12 gallon tank that has an AI Prime and the coral growth has been spectacular! My zoas, monti, acan and birdsnest are all thriving.

After having such success it was only natural that I got a Hyrda 26HD to put above my new 29 gallon. The light currently sits 10" above the water and I have attached my schedule that I am running. To those who say you will not get the same growth with LEDs as you would with T5...I would like for you to see my duncan, bubble, acans, zoas, and frogspawn. All of which have grown since being added to my system!

The only complaint I have with AI is that they do not have a variety of mounting systems. I had to get creative with my Hydra 26 and built my own mounting system using the hanging kit. Very pleased with it!

 

[Fredm]

Hi guys,

Yesterday i tried my news hydra's 26 mount (the with paint is missing, work of the week end). I'm verry happy with them, the tank seems to be more "airy" and especially they cost me only 35€ !!!!.

Another point, i had a discussion by mail with a guy of AI. For a tank like mine, i said to me that my power level should not exceed 40% and no more 20% of white.... Of course i do not question about the expertise of him, i'm just a newbie, but it's seem to me little, do you think so ?? Now, i'm running at 70% for all blue and 40% white for 7 hours for a amount of 53W for each hydra.... I'm very lost with this setup....

My hydras are now at 12" high, my SPS are between 8" and 10" below the surface and lps are 16" below.

And with my Galaxy S6 and a luxmeter app, i find in a square of 18"x18" in center 35-40 000 lux and 11-12 000 at exterior of the square...

Bye

 

[jsker]

TV mounts