Which light is better..
- Thread starter kiwis
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This of them as the "same" light, just the Hydra is more powerful than the Prime. This is not 100% accurate, but close enough. Neither of them will really cover a 24" area like the manufacturer says.
Depending on what you settle on for you mix, the softies and LPS might be OK with a single prime, but a few SPS might like the Hydra, and more SPS might like a pair of Hydras. Most people like a pair of 26s over a single 52 because you can spread them out further to help with shadows.
Either of these lights can cause issues as corals grow and create shadows, but that is a problem for another day. Adding a second, or some T5s is what most people do when this happens.
Depending on what you settle on for you mix, the softies and LPS might be OK with a single prime, but a few SPS might like the Hydra, and more SPS might like a pair of Hydras. Most people like a pair of 26s over a single 52 because you can spread them out further to help with shadows.
Either of these lights can cause issues as corals grow and create shadows, but that is a problem for another day. Adding a second, or some T5s is what most people do when this happens.
ai prime is 209. ai hydra is 366. if you can get a few bucks more, 2 ai prime would work better then one 26. My understanding with most leds, its better to go with 2 of the "lesser powerful" lights over single one powerful light. ex. 2 ai primes over one hydra 26. 2 hydra 26 over one hydra 52. due to the directness of the led "bulb" iteself, using two of them help spread out the light. I ran 2 over a 40 breeder, (36x18,16) and would have some soft edges at the ends of the tank. brs on you tube has a couple nice videos on the ai primes where they used multiples to light a 120gallon tank.
ludnix
Valuable Member
For your goals I would agree two primes would be a better spread than one 26. I would just do the single 26 though. Its a great light for that size tank and I loved it on my 50g cube.
2 primes would provide better spread and more overall power/par than a single 26 hd. I would recommend 2-26 HD’s in case you ever wanted to do more with sps because 2 primes or 1-26 isn’t ideal for sps
ludnix
Valuable Member
The flex arm and most mounting arms will need some sort of clearance on the top glass or mesh. If there is no clearance on the back panel you might need to hang the lights.
http://www.aquaillumination.com/accessories/
adrianr514
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The hydra 26 is two primes in one housing which is where the saVings comes from since they only need one WiFi controller vs two. So two primes will give the same output as one hydra 26. If you want to cover more area more evenly and you can afford it then 2 primes. If not then one hydra 26.
