Question on Ai prime hds

[Sean O''Hara]

Hey everyone, so i have a question as to if prime hds will be adequate for my tank. I have a 240gallon, 72 long, 30 high, 24 wide. I currently have 4 prime hds ighting it, 2 in the middle, and 1 on each side, as the tank has two top braces, dividing it into thirds. I run a high blue/purple spectrum, with very little red/green and midrange cool white. Currently tank only has soft corals, zoas, mushrooms, and fish. Was thinking of adding 2 more prime hds to the ends to increase the amount of light, so i can properly keep lps and sps. Im just sure about the strength of the primes at 30", and dont have access to a par meter. Also, cant see buying hydras or radions, considering i have 4 prime hds already. Looking for any input before making a decision. Thanks everyone

 

[ludnix]

You can actually mix the different fixtures quite well with their app, but I can also see wanting to keep to one type of light for the whole setup. I think given the cost of the lights it might be worth renting a PAR meter from bulkreefsupply and do some testing, you have enough lights currently to where you could try bunching them closer together to emulate what you would get from the additional prime fixtures.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

If it were me, I’d sell the primes on here and then use that money, along with the money for the additional two you are considering, to buy much stronger lights.

I’d bet you can get enough, along with what you are going to spend on two more, for a couple hydras.

 

[Gareth elliott]

You can do some ball park figures before you get a true par meter too. One of the benefits of using a light brs has tested. If you mimic their setup. You can get an idea where you will have par at what levels at said distance.

Fwiw to get sps level par almost everywhere on my i use 3 primes on a 40b or 36” x 18x 16

I then adjust the intensity for areas with lps or mushrooms.
Mushrooms also have a diffuser.

Used the seneye reef for my par measurements(is within 5-10% of a more expensive meter except near the edges)
I also use this to monitor ammonia in qt systems to double its usefulness.

 

[Sean O''Hara]

You can actually mix the different fixtures quite well with their app, but I can also see wanting to keep to one type of light for the whole setup. I think given the cost of the lights it might be worth renting a PAR meter from bulkreefsupply and do some testing, you have enough lights currently to where you could try bunching them closer together to emulate what you would get from the additional prime fixtures.

Thank you, thats what i was thinking but not sure which is better, adding a hydra26 and bunching the existing primes, or adding 2 primes and bunching them too. Its about the same cost either way, just not sure what will give the best light penetration in the tank

 

[Sean O''Hara]

If it were me, I’d sell the primes on here and then use that money, along with the money for the additional two you are considering, to buy much stronger lights.

I’d bet you can get enough, along with what you are going to spend on two more, for a couple hydras.

Thanks, so my question then would be, is one hydra 26 that much stronger than 2 prime hds right next to each other? Would 3 hydra 26s be adequate light for this tank? The tank has 2 top braces, dividing the tank in thirds, so i couldnt do 2 hydra 52s

 

[ludnix]

It can definitely be enough you just have to manage your expectations with them. If your SPS colonies are right under the LED pucks they will do fine in there as long as they are not too deep. You could then use the lower half the rock works and surrounding areas for LPS and softies.

Check out the primes footprint of PAR, I think two primes per opening over the top of your tank could be adequate with proper planning.

versus the 26HD

24" height on the left, just light the prime chart above it. on the right is at 12" mounting distance from the meter.

I think two prime fixtures would be slightly better than one hydra 26, but I'm not sure if it's as budget friendly of an option. You could buy just one hydra 26 for the middle and move it's two primes to the outer tank openings to get a balanced 2 led pucks per opening.

 

[Sean O''Hara]

It can definitely be enough you just have to manage your expectations with them. If your SPS colonies are right under the LED pucks they will do fine in there as long as they are not too deep. You could then use the lower half the rock works and surrounding areas for LPS and softies.

Check out the primes footprint of PAR, I think two primes per opening over the top of your tank could be adequate with proper planning.

versus the 26HD

24" height on the left, just light the prime chart above it. on the right is at 12" mounting distance from the meter.

I think two prime fixtures would be slightly better than one hydra 26, but I'm not sure if it's as budget friendly of an option. You could buy just one hydra 26 for the middle and move it's two primes to the outer tank openings to get a balanced 2 led pucks per opening.

Thanks for the knowledge!

 

[artieg1]

I have almost identical stats (72 long, 30 high, 22 wide) and am using 3 AI Hydra 52s with excellent results so far (upgraded 6 months ago from generic LEDs). So I second going in that direction.