Need lighting advice for my reefer 170

Blackfish823 · Jan 1, 2019

I currently have a Red Sea reefer 170 deluxe. It came with AI hydra 26 HD. I am currently running David Saxby’s lighting schedule. The tank is fairly new, close to 3 months old. My target is a SPS dominant tank. It currently has 1 mini colony of WWC yellow tips and 9 other SPS frags, Acan, 2 small colony of zoa’s and 1 LPS frag. I am letting the tank mature and will be getting a few more nicer Acro’s. So far the lighting schedule seems to be doing okay, I see polyp extension, some signs of growth on the SPS and Zoa’s also developing more polyps. What I notice on the AI hydra 26 HD in my tank is that the sides and the back does not get enough light. The light is approximately 12 inches from the water line. I don’t have a PAR meter to confirm it at this time. Also I see some shadowing in some of the rock scape in the tank. When the tank matures and the SPS grows, I have read that the AI hydra 26HD may not be enough.

I have read that shadowing is one limitation of LED’s. I was interested in looking to do a T5/LED hybrid but my wife will kill me is a hang it through the ceiling. If not doing a T5/LED hybrid, would Ecotech XR30 PRO Gen 4 be better? Will I see better growth, coloration and spread with the Ecotech? Will the XR30 pro gen 4 by itself be sufficient for a mature stocked reefer 170? Im also planning to build a IM Nuvo 20 in our bedroom in the near future and would be mainly LPS/soft. I can use my current light for the IM Nuvo 20 if I upgrade.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Daniel Waters · Jan 2, 2019

Blackfish823 said:
I currently have a Red Sea reefer 170 deluxe. It came with AI hydra 26 HD. I am currently running David Saxby’s lighting schedule. The tank is fairly new, close to 3 months old. My target is a SPS dominant tank. It currently has 1 mini colony of WWC yellow tips and 9 other SPS frags, Acan, 2 small colony of zoa’s and 1 LPS frag. I am letting the tank mature and will be getting a few more nicer Acro’s. So far the lighting schedule seems to be doing okay, I see polyp extension, some signs of growth on the SPS and Zoa’s also developing more polyps. What I notice on the AI hydra 26 HD in my tank is that the sides and the back does not get enough light. The light is approximately 12 inches from the water line. I don’t have a PAR meter to confirm it at this time. Also I see some shadowing in some of the rock scape in the tank. When the tank matures and the SPS grows, I have read that the AI hydra 26HD may not be enough.

I have read that shadowing is one limitation of LED’s. I was interested in looking to do a T5/LED hybrid but my wife will kill me is a hang it through the ceiling. If not doing a T5/LED hybrid, would Ecotech XR30 PRO Gen 4 be better? Will I see better growth, coloration and spread with the Ecotech? Will the XR30 pro gen 4 by itself be sufficient for a mature stocked reefer 170? Im also planning to build a IM Nuvo 20 in our bedroom in the near future and would be mainly LPS/soft. I can use my current light for the IM Nuvo 20 if I upgrade.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

A radion XR30W pro gen 4 would definitely provide you enough par for your whole tank and has much more power than your current AI hydra 26. If you go with the radion, I would recommend using the diffuser on it also. In regards to whether you will see better growth...you will have more par potential....whether that equates to more growth is debatable because more light does not always mean more growth. In general, I think more light can lead to more growth, but this assumes you are providing proper flow, water chemistry, nutrients, and a host of other factors that are just as important if not more so than just lighting (but everyone always wants to focus on lights it seems). As far as better coloration, this depends. Some corals will color up better under more intense lighting, some may not. I don't think the radion has any special spectrum offering that is absent from the AI hydra to make it color corals up better, but I've never personally used the hydras. As far as spread, the radion XR30 pro will cover a larger area than the hydra 26. But note you may also have more of a hot spot in the center of the tank with the radion xr30 pro.

As far as shading, all point source lights are going to create shadows. In general, the more point sources you have, the better it will help with shadowing. The radion XR30 pro has two pucks (which helps), but it is still a point source light. Thus, the diffusers would be the way to go if you can't utilize T5 bulbs.

Blackfish823 · Jan 2, 2019

Daniel Waters said:
A radion XR30W pro gen 4 would definitely provide you enough par for your whole tank and has much more power than your current AI hydra 26. If you go with the radion, I would recommend using the diffuser on it also. In regards to whether you will see better growth...you will have more par potential....whether that equates to more growth is debatable because more light does not always mean more growth. In general, I think more light can lead to more growth, but this assumes you are providing proper flow, water chemistry, nutrients, and a host of other factors that are just as important if not more so than just lighting (but everyone always wants to focus on lights it seems). As far as better coloration, this depends. Some corals will color up better under more intense lighting, some may not. I don't think the radion has any special spectrum offering that is absent from the AI hydra to make it color corals up better, but I've never personally used the hydras. As far as spread, the radion XR30 pro will cover a larger area than the hydra 26. But note you may also have more of a hot spot in the center of the tank with the radion xr30 pro.

As far as shading, all point source lights are going to create shadows. In general, the more point sources you have, the better it will help with shadowing. The radion XR30 pro has two pucks (which helps), but it is still a point source light. Thus, the diffusers would be the way to go if you can't utilize T5 bulbs.

Thanks for this post, It gave me a lot of information. I might go and upgrade with the Radion XR30 pro soon and will definitely get the diffusers. Thanks again.