Hydra32 over Nuvo 10 overkill?

[116]

First post so I'll give a little back ground info before asking my question. I have been out of the hobby over 10 years and looking to get back in to it again. I had mostly Montis, Birdsnest and Euphillyia back in the day. I have a spot in house where an IM Nuvo 10 would fit perfect. I want to make it an SPS dominated tank and if I'm succesfull with Montipora I want to make the jump to Acroporas.

So I'm not too familiar with LEDs but have seen videos of Acro dominated tanks with LED lighting. I was looking at the Hydra 32 HD for the Nuvo 10. Would that be a good choice or will the 16 prime be good enough for a Acropora and Montipora dominated 10 gallon? If neither of those would be a good choice what's a better one?

 

[SDK]

I would go with the Hydra. I kept a NUVO 10 with a Prime and had Montipora doing well and Acropora growing very slowly right under the light. I had it 4 inches off the water to get enough power.

I dont think a Prime will cut it for wall to wall SPS. It would work for a mixed reef with some careful placement. I had LPS doing well doing on the bottom with this setup.

PS- Welcome to R2R! Throw up an intro in the meet and greet and do a build thread when you start putting it all together....

 

[116]

Ok so the more planning I do I'm leaning more towards the nuvo 20. Will the Hydra 32 still be enough coverage for that tank?

 

[SDK]

Strong enough but possibly some fall off/shadowing at the ends of an almost 2' wide tank. In that case you may be better off with two Primes spread out a bit further than the Hydras two pucks...

 

[Cannedfish]

I have two Prime HD’s over a Nuvo 10, and love it. I like the ability to aim the individual pucks to prevent shadowing.


You can see the lights mounted below.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Strong enough but possibly some fall off/shadowing at the ends of an almost 2' wide tank. In that case you may be better off with two Primes spread out a bit further than the Hydras two pucks...

This, for sure.

One suggestion to OP: have you looked at the waterbox 20? I've had the Innovative Marine 20, the IM Peninsula 20 and the Waterbox 20 and the last one was my favorite.

 

[116]

This, for sure.

One suggestion to OP: have you looked at the waterbox 20? I've had the Innovative Marine 20, the IM Peninsula 20 and the Waterbox 20 and the last one was my favorite.

I have not but will now. What about thre Waterbox 20 do you like better?

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

I have not but will now. What about thre Waterbox 20 do you like better?

I liked that it seems like a huge cube but it’s only 20 gallons. The only negative is that it doesn’t come with a lid so i has to order one.