AI Hydra 26 in a 125 gallon. How many?

[HeadleesSon]

I am getting ready to set up a few tanks and have 8 Hydra 26 LED panels. I could spread them out, or I can put many in the one tank I will have lots of SPS in.

My question: Would 4 of these spread out in a 125 be enough. If not, then 6 or 8. Any comments on these light panels in this setting would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Geeray]

For proper coverage you would need 8 unless you have overflows in both corners in which case you might be Abe to get away with 6

 

[HeadleesSon]

I do have two corner overflows

 

[Mom2jayden]

I also agree with 6,esp with the double overflows. Lots of light.

 

[Geeray]

I might put all eight anyway but its your call.

 

[Mark426]

I would just use them all. Minimizes shadows.

 

[cleverbs]

I would get hydra 52s and run 6 of them over the tank. I don't think that 6 26s are enough. I have a 220 and I ran 3 over it and it was really bad. I had 3 old hydras and ran 6 hydras over it and I don't think it was enough light. That's why I upgraded to 3x 250mh and 4x 80w t5ho

 

[STRATNEST6769]

Optics? 12" min

 

[HeadleesSon]

I guess I could use all 8. That is $2400-in lights. It would be nice to use a couple somewhere else in the system, but if I keep the other 125 mostly LPS and monti I can stick the 3 120w off brand LEDs over them and T5s over the 90 which will only have low light items.

If I do use all 8 does anyone think I should still add some t5s?

 

[Perth_reefer]

I would get hydra 52s and run 6 of them over the tank. I don't think that 6 26s are enough. I have a 220 and I ran 3 over it and it was really bad. I had 3 old hydras and ran 6 hydras over it and I don't think it was enough light. That's why I upgraded to 3x 250mh and 4x 80w t5ho

No freaking way!!! 6 Hydra52s over a 125!!! I run 3 52s over my 150 and it's pretty much perfect coverage!

My question: Would 4 of these spread out in a 125 be enough. If not, then 6 or 8. Any comments on these light panels in this setting would be helpful. Thanks.

I'd go with 6, you may get away with 4 but you might have shadowing issues.

I was initially looking at 3 26s on my 150 and emailed Justin at AI, saying that I wanted to keep Acros and what did he recommend. This was his reply:-

'Happy to help answer any questions you may have as well. For your tank, (3) of the Hydra 26s would be a good fit indeed. The only issue may be a little bit of shadowing given the footprint of the Hydra 26. Still however, many customers in the States are using the same over their setup.

Regarding the Hydra 52...I would still go with 3. You can get by with 2 of them if you were to mount them around 350-400mm off the water line however.'

That was for a 150 gallon tank.

 

[Geeray]

No freaking way!!! 6 Hydra52s over a 125!!! I run 3 52s over my 150 and it's pretty much perfect coverage!



I'd go with 6, you may get away with 4 but you might have shadowing issues.

I was initially looking at 3 26s on my 150 and emailed Justin at AI, saying that I wanted to keep Acros and what did he recommend. This was his reply:-

'Happy to help answer any questions you may have as well. For your tank, (3) of the Hydra 26s would be a good fit indeed. The only issue may be a little bit of shadowing given the footprint of the Hydra 26. Still however, many customers in the States are using the same over their setup.

Regarding the Hydra 52...I would still go with 3. You can get by with 2 of them if you were to mount them around 350-400mm off the water line however.'

That was for a 150 gallon tank.

I'm sorry but I must respectfully disagree. In my opinion you need 1 hydra 52 per foot for optimal coverage. Other people tend to agree. On average you need 2 hydra 26's per foot as well. Can you get away with less? Of course but we're talking about what's optimal.

 

[Geeray]

As another example you can get away with 150mh but 400mh would be better. I sampled 1 hydra 52 at 100% over a 2ft span with a par meter and it simply wasn't strong enough for my liking.

 

[Perth_reefer]

I'm sorry but I must respectfully disagree. In my opinion you need 1 hydra 52 per foot for optimal coverage. Other people tend to agree. On average you need 2 hydra 26's per foot as well. Can you get away with less? Of course but we're talking about what's optimal.

That's ok you're entitled to your opinion. Of course one person who doesn't agree is the guy that works for them! If you ran 6 on a 6' tank you'd have about a 150mm gap separating them, with 80 degree lenses that is a massive overlap! It would depend on the depth of the tank though I guess, mine is shallow so I don't need as much penetration.

 

[cleverbs]

Justin at AI also told me to grow acros in my 220g I would only need 3 AI Hydra 26s, Do you know what the par was in the middle of my 220g with 3 AI Hydras? 60par in 15" of water...that is unless i was right under the light then I was rocking a whole 80 par...its a joke you cannot get away with that few of 26's over the tank. you have a 6ft tank you need to rock 6 hydra 52s if you want SPS in the tank. If not the go with the 26's and you can keep LPS. My issue wasnt ever keep anything alive it was getting things to grow. I have had my 250w MH's for 5 days now and have more growth on my corals then I have seen in a year. not even joking.

 

[Perth_reefer]

Justin at AI also told me to grow acros in my 220g I would only need 3 AI Hydra 26s, Do you know what the par was in the middle of my 220g with 3 AI Hydras? 60par in 15" of water...that is unless i was right under the light then I was rocking a whole 80 par...its a joke you cannot get away with that few of 26's over the tank. you have a 6ft tank you need to rock 6 hydra 52s if you want SPS in the tank. If not the go with the 26's and you can keep LPS. My issue wasnt ever keep anything alive it was getting things to grow. I have had my 250w MH's for 5 days now and have more growth on my corals then I have seen in a year. not even joking.

Thats weird because he told me 3 26s wouldn't be enough because of shadowing issues on my 150! So I have 3 52s on my 5' tank and am getting awesome Acropora growth, from what you are saying I wouldn't stand a chance without having 5 on there!

 

[Geeray]

Thats weird because he told me 3 26s wouldn't be enough because of shadowing issues on my 150! So I have 3 52s on my 5' tank and am getting awesome Acropora growth, from what you are saying I wouldn't stand a chance without having 5 on there!

Unfortunately you can't put a tremendous amount of faith in the coverage recommended by the manufacturer since there goal is to sell you something. Research various recent posts the consensus is that led manufactures are far to optimistic when it comes to coverage. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

 

[cleverbs]

Thats weird because he told me 3 26s wouldn't be enough because of shadowing issues on my 150! So I have 3 52s on my 5' tank and am getting awesome Acropora growth, from what you are saying I wouldn't stand a chance without having 5 on there!

No what I am saying is you arnt going to stand a chance with 3x 26's.

It is known that you should have 1x 52 per ft or 2x26s per ft, Just because you are getting growth with it doesnt mean its ideal. You havent had the tank up very long so you cant really say you are getting awesome growth.

What is your par in your tank with 3 52's? I know the par on my 26's and thats why I am saying they will not work. Dont kid yourself just because the light spreads through the tank doesnt mean its a good amount of light and you are getting enough par. I used my hydra 26's for 2 years and have had one over a 20g frag tank and a 30g cube frag tank for a year and the growth is a joke. This is the reason I sold them and bought MH's in the amount of time I have had the MH it has opened my eyes to just how much I was missing out on and how you have to use 2x the LED's you think you need to use them. This isnt something people want to addmit but it is true. Look at any of the really nice SPS LED tanks and they typically have a Radion for every 1 sq ft of the tank and thats the best LED right now far better then a Hydra 52. The reason people dont want to realize this is because most people buy LEDs to save money on bulb replacment or Electric bill however they cant affored to float the bill on buying a ton of units unless they have a smaller tank. I mean I wouldnt, I am not going to buy 6 Radions for my 220g tank, Ill buy a MH/t5ho fixture and in 10 years I will still of paid less then buying 6 radions.

Please dont lead someone down the wrong path and have them waste their money on a product that isnt going to work just because you are ok with having 3 hydras over your tank.

Also let me point out that we are in the SPS forum so we are talking about supporting SPS corals in the tank. When justin emailed you hes not talking about SPS and if he is hes out of his mind. Also lets remember hes a salesman. While he has helped me out many times and has great customer service he has lead me down the path more then once that was wrong and I have paid for that. I had the opprotunity to upgrade my hydras when the blue LED's burned out the the 52s for 200$ each, I was going to do it and he insisted and pushed the 26's on me saying that would be all I needed and how these lights have insane par and will have no issue growing SPS in my 220g tank. so I let him talk me down to the 26's well turns out I couldnt of made a worse choice. Getting 60 par in 15" of water is a joke and isnt going to grow anything in my book.

 

[Perth_reefer]

Unfortunately you can't put a tremendous amount of faith in the coverage recommended by the manufacturer since there goal is to sell you something. Research various recent posts the consensus is that led manufactures are far to optimistic when it comes to coverage. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

If this is the case then why didn't he tell me I needed 1 Hydra52 for every ft? He could have got me to buy 2 more fixtures!

It is known that you should have 1x 52 per ft or 2x26s per ft, Just because you are getting growth with it doesnt mean its ideal. You havent had the tank up very long so you cant really say you are getting awesome growth.

Please dont lead someone down the wrong path and have them waste their money on a product that isnt going to work just because you are ok with having 3 hydras over your tank.
.

You're right the tank has only been going 3 months, however I've been keeping saltwater tanks, including spa reefs for 10 years, I've used MH/T5 and LEDs in the past and I have never had such good growth and colour as I am now.

I'm not really sure why I'm leading someone down the wrong path by saying not to rush out and buy 6 52s for their tank! If they go with their original 26s or buy 3/4 52s and it doesn't do the job then they can add to it. If they go and spend $3000 on 6 fixtures and end up browning or bleaching their corals then they're going to be back on this forum asking why!

It seems to be the season for bashing LEDs at the moment, great timing as the current TOTM has had phenomenal sps growth with AI Sols which are greatly inferior to the Hydra26/52. I will admit however that he does have 13 over his 10' tank,.

 

[cleverbs]

It is led bashing season lol. It has been for awhile because people are packing up their LED bags and moving out. I think its just because people are seeing over time they just dont do the job.

I have to say though that out of all the LED fixtures I have seen the ones with the best results are AI Sols. My lfs has 2 display tanks that share water one is lit by AI Sols and the other by Hydra 52s and the one with sols has great grwoth. I think what the issue may be is when we add all the other colors to the leds we dont know how to adjust them. for example what % should I run the Red at? does running it at 100% hurt the corals? at 30% does it have a negative effect? I dont know and I havent been able to find anything that says heres the % intensity you should run your leds at for optimal color/growth.

I think he should try out his 26's but I think you will need to use all 8 of them. I am just currently very upset with the money and time I wasted on my AI 26's

 

[Perth_reefer]

I think he should try out his 26's but I think you will need to use all 8 of them. I am just currently very upset with the money and time I wasted on my AI 26's

I can tell you're upset, who wouldn't be, LEDs are expensive and if you don't get results then it will feel like wasted money. But......people have had great success with them so what's the difference between the ones who had no success and the ones who did?
I think you hit the nail on the head with the first one, the Hydra52/26 and Radions have a great deal of adjustment options, and to the naked eye we cant see some of it, so people don't know how to set them up correctly. I'll admit I have no idea which colours need to be higher or which should be lower, I run mine through my Apex at 14k and am getting good growth, maybe I just got lucky.
The other difference seems to be water parameters, there'sdinformation on threads out there how corals work on a corrolation of light and parameter levels, I remember reading about situations where lighting had been changed and SPS growth/colour declined, then Alk levels were dropped and colours/growth returned. I don't know the exact ins and outs of this but, I run an ULNS with Alk below 8 constantly and obviously LED lighting, I'm getting growth and colours. I have SPS frags that are ice blue, pink, toxic green, some grown under MH, some under LED, in the 6 weeks I've had them they all still have the bright colours and all are encrusting rocks. Which would suggest LEDs work to me, but there's so many different variables that it's difficult to pinpoint why.