Hydra 52 HD + T5 Settings

[choco24]

Anything.....

 

[Seminoles76]

I talked to Jon a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure he switched to Radion.
I still run the 52HD with the Aquatic Life and I am overall happy with the setup.

 

[choco24]

I talked to Jon a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure he switched to Radion.
I still run the 52HD with the Aquatic Life and I am overall happy with the setup.

Are you also using the same light program he provided here? Thanks
I started yesterday with the same 52HD setup.

 

[VJV]

Hi. I am currently running 6 Hydra 26 HDs in my 80” long peninsula tank and am debating whether to add the Aquatic Life 60” to the mix or simply add more Hydra 26 HDs. (Currently running perpendicular to the tank and 12” off the water).

My concern with combining T5s with the hydras is because of the narrow 80 degree lenses if you mount them close to the water they should inevitably creat strong hotspots in the middle. On the other hand if you mount the T5s at 12” a lot of the light will just be spilling out of the tank... I understand why some people change to radions: with their wider 120 degree lenses they will better match the diffusion of the at5s...

I really like the Hybrid T5 LED look (as it tamed the excessive and in my view unnatural shimmer of LEDs) and the wide blanket that limits shadowing, BUT I love the slim profile of having a row of Hydras AND the convenience that it provides in terms of easy acres to the tank (I do not have to move the lights to perform any maintenance). Wire management is also a plus with the Hudras alone as they all hide inside the HMMS arm...

Opinions, views?

 

[Seminoles76]

Hey VJ, I know exactly what your talking about with regard to your concerns. I also debated the same thing and in the end decided to hang the fixture at about the 11 inch mark. While you may not be getting the max benefit of the T5 at this height I assure you that you are still getting a lot of benefit.

I have been running my setup for about 10 months now. My tank is probably 14 months old now. I have been happy with the results and would do the same thing if i had it to do over. Keep in mind I have always been a T5 guy and this is my first go round with LED. I have gotten some decent results with the fixture and most likely could have been a lot better if I wasn't always messing with the LED spectrum. It's like I can't get out of my own way with these dang LED's......like a little kid with a new toy.....wonder what would happen if I push this slider up a little more........etc, etc. Some other problems I ran into with this tank is starting with all dry rock which was also a first for me and a big learning curve. So, I can't attribute all my problems I have had so far to LED alone.

I would say if you plan to run SPS, go with the T5 supplements. They will do much better IMHO than LED alone. I hear you though on your convenience of getting into the tank etc. with just the LED's. If you hang it at 11 or 12 inches you should still be fine. Ill try and upload a current pic of my tank so you can see the progress over the last 10 months.

 

[Seminoles76]

All frags were started as 1 inch frags. Last batch of frags were probably added close to three months ago.

 

[Seminoles76]

If you look back at page two you can see where the tank was at in March when I added the Hybrid T5 to the HYDRA 52's.

Please disregard the unsightly red coralline algae. Yet another first for me. I have battle this stuff like there is no tomorrow. I just dropped an Urchin in who immediately started mowing it down so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Let me know if you have any other questions and hopefully I can help you out some.

 

[VJV]

Thanks Seminoles for the incredibly detailed answer [emoji4]. I should have said that the tank is about 2 years old and the rock came from a 5 year old tank so not exactly new.

I have had a Giesemann Matrix ii (8x80w), a Giesemann Aurora Hybrid and finally settled for the hydras. Both Giesemanns has to be returned due to malfunction.

I must say that I have had the most growth with the hydras. A number of factors likely contributed though, such as

1- running Triton method for the first 7 months did not work for me and nothing seemed to grow during that time, except for GHA (nutrients always zero). When I went to Aquaforest balling things just exploded.

2- did not have a controller back than (now running Profilux 4) and my temp would reach like 28 or 29 degrees as Eheim heaters were off by 2 degrees or more and 640watts of T5 in the summer really produced a ton of heat

My easy mode SPS grow like weeds. I keep breaking off entire plates of Monti as it starts to reach the glass and every small bit that hits the sand turns into a big plate in no time. My seriatopora is now some 24” across by 20” . My other SPS also were growing like nuts (until I decided that I was fed up mixing 3 x 5L jugs of balling every 2 weeks to keep up, got a calcium reactor and had major pH and Alk swings which pretty much wiped out my acropora).

The only issue is with such big colonies shadowing is a problem so the T5s should fill in nicely. Also, the debate is between adding two more hydras and have two rows of 4 side by side along the length of the aquarium or simply add the aquatic life and be done with it.

 

[Seminoles76]

Hey VJ, I also ran Triton in the beginning and struggled with it.....guessing because the tank was started with dry rock and I also had zero nutrients with heavy feeding three to four times a day. I switched off Trition and went to KALK and now do KALK with 2 part.

Thats great that your having good success with the Hydras. I blamed most of my problems in the beginning on the LED's because it was my first go with LED's. My current tank doesn't compare to my older T5 tanks with growth or color. Looking back I was probably the biggest factor in the problems and not the LED's.

Back to your dilemma..... If you stick with adding a couple more Hydras you just plug the new ones in to your already successful system. I do think that if you added the T5 you would see a significant increase in overall brightness and light coverage in the tank. I don't think there is any way that two more Hydra 26's would have the same effect as adding 320 watts of T5......especially if the concern is shadowing from big colonies.

In the end though, I think you would be good either way you went, especially since you are already successful with just the LED.

 

[VJV]

Not my reef but just to show what several hydras can do for you [emoji4]

 

[Seminoles76]

No doubt about it. I was reluctant in the first months of my tank but I'm coming around

 

[VJV]

One thing that happened to me when I switched was that the tips of my Alk we in one week did a 189 degree turn and started growing down. I pulled out my PAR meter and to my disbelief I was getting 600 PAR with the AIs only running at 60%, so a total of 270w (I only had 5) vs the 640w previously!

So I moved them higher (now at 12”) and cut back to around 50% and things immediately improved.

The 80degree lenses really push light I to the tank. The disadvantage is less coverage so you either need more and run them at lower intensity or supplement with T5s.

I am running a very basic schedule, essentially ramping up from 8am to a peek at 12pm, keep it there until 6pm and than tamp down until 7pm and keep moonlight until 12:00am.

I am also going from 20k to 14,5k to 16k, than to 18,5k for the moonlight.

 

[Seminoles76]

Thanks so much for the information. I use a seneye and after reading what your posting I'm not totally convinced I'm getting accurate readings from it. Like you, I also run a fairly basic schedule, but my PAR readings are nowhere near yours. My lights are at about 11" above the waterline. With the Seneye I am getting 350-450 midway down the tank with RB, B, V, and UV all at 100%, W is at 35%, R, G are at about 15%.....and that is also with 4 Blue plus 48" inch T5 as well. Par readings near the bottom of the tank are at 100-150. I have 2 Hydra 52 HD over a standard 120.

One of my biggest heartaches with converting over to using LED is that in my mind it is now a variable, as I have the ability to tweak the settings of them. I have run many tanks with T5 and in those tanks lighting was never a variable that I worried about. With my current tank, I have wondered wether or not I am pushing too much UV and V and things like that.

Thanks again for the information. So good to hear what other AI users are doing. The forums are littered with Radion users but AI seems few and far between.

 

[VJV]

Well, I must say that I also used a Seneye monitor and half way down I was also getting around 300 par... so maybe we are not that different. 600 was perhaps 8” down and under one of the lights. Never measured at sandbed level though.

In terms of PAR if you have the fixtures at 11 height not sure if the T5s are adding much...??

That is my issue with the Ais and T5s. The narrow lens means you need to hang them higher to avoid serious hotspots in the middle but at that point not sure the T5s are adding much...

If you have seen the BRS video on the aquatic life they hang it at 8” and with the primes

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Well, I must say that I also used a Seneye monitor and half way down I was also getting around 300 par... so maybe we are not that different. 600 was perhaps 8” down and under one of the lights. Never measured at sandbed level though.

In terms of PAR if you have the fixtures at 11 height not sure if the T5s are adding much...??

That is my issue with the Ais and T5s. The narrow lens means you need to hang them higher to avoid serious hotspots in the middle but at that point not sure the T5s are adding much...

If you have seen the BRS video on the aquatic life they hang it at 8” and with the primes

When BRS did their series on the WWC tanks, both the 900 gallon and 500 gallon tank had T5 bulbs and they were mounted pretty high. I believe that the 900 gallon tank had its lights mounted about 20 inches above the water.

 

[Seminoles76]

Gotcha, that makes more sense and seems like we are more aligned on Par readings.

If you do decide to go with the T5 I think you will be happy with the end result. You will definitely get benefit at 12" AWL. When my T5 come on it almost seems to double the brightness of the tank. It's been some time since I took par readings with and without but there is definitely a positive increase in Par with the T5.

Like Island said, WWC is running there T5 at almost 20" AWL.

Forgot to mention that one of the only things I don't like about the Aquatic hybrid is there is no active cooling. I threw a fan in my canopy to try and cool the bulbs a little. I know you mentioned aesthetics were important so just figured I'd mention that.

 

[VJV]

Yes... the aesthetics are not brilliant and the fact that each power cord comes out of opposite ends to me is a no no. The tank is. 2m long península so all cords need to come out from one end. It is rimless with no canopy. The AIs mounted on their HMMS allow cable routing on the inside for a clean installation. Having the aquatic life I will not be able to hide the 6 hydra cables plus 2 cords from the aquatic life itself....

I do love the way that visually T5s fill in the space.... but the cable issue, length (60” is short for my 80” tank. I know because I hated the shadowing I had on the ends of my tank with the Giesemann units), ease of access, low watt consumption and little to no heat transfer are keeping me in the fence...

If they would only make a nice cable management accessory....

 

[Seminoles76]

Yeah, a cable management accessory would be good. You could run the the one cable to the other end but the end result would still be a substantial visual cable bundle.

Good luck with whatever option you go with.

 

[Oaken]

I cant download your aip file Jon. Is there any way to get it on a shareable file, the google drive uploads it as a bin file

 

[Jeight]

This hybrid api is exactly what I have been hunting for awhile!!! Bumping it for others who use an aqua illumination t5/hdra setup