AI Hydra Settings Thread

[Wazzel]

not much diff of what i have, i used yours and set 50% acclimate for 6 months . just to make sure that i will not bleach my corals

If you are based off one of my old ones this one is not much different. I have been creeping up the non-blue channels a percent or two every month or so. Taking a long time to acclimate is a good idea. I took about 6 months to get from 50% to where I am now.

 

[Sonicboom]

FWIW, I spoke to Justin at AI explaining to him the situation with my horribly faded sps. I gave him my settings, which I copied from Sonicboom's.

He said whites at 25 is very low and that he recommended cranking them up slowly, about 5 percent a week until I reach 50-55.

He said that white is the powerhouse in the color spectrum that corals need and having them this low is the reason for my very low par readings.

I realize the reason could very well be lack of nutrients in my tank, so I have upped my feeding based on everything everyone is telling me in my SPS thread.

For the time being, I have actually kept each color level the same as Sonicboom's, but have just lowered the overall intensity to 60 percent. So basically it makes 60 percent of what each color is set at, white at 25 is now 15 and so on for the rest of the colors.

My plan is to establish more nutrients, then slowly work the entire color spectrum back up.

Sonic, what are your thoughts on this?

As wazzel said. Check you nutrients and go from there, each and every tank is different. For what it's worth i may have been running with burned out royal blues on each of my hydras except the 26 for a few months. I noticed when one side of my tank looked yellowish, all pucks and motherboards have been replaced thanks to the awesome customer service from AI. My whites were still at 35 and blues at 100 and I still showed great coral growth. New lights have need running for two weeks now with no issues and I have a 52 on the way.

I also run my whites lower because I prefer a bluer tank.

 

[Tuffloud1]

IMO 50-55 is still low. Still going to take a major hit to your power there. This fixture is approximately equal to a 250 way MH when all channels are 100%.

What do you think is a good "starting point" in terms of acclimating sps with the regular Hydra's?

I'm not one who likes to be constantly moving corals all over the place, I'd rather start the light itself at a lower intensity.

Do you think I'm starting too low?


I'm running 60 percent of each of these settings for 5 hours a day plus a 3 hour ramp up and down time.

 

[Wazzel]

What do you think is a good "starting point" in terms of acclimating sps with the regular Hydra's?

I'm not one who likes to be constantly moving corals all over the place, I'd rather start the light itself at a lower intensity.

Do you think I'm starting too low?


I'm running 60 percent of each of these settings for 5 hours a day plus a 3 hour ramp up and down time.

Right or wrong this is what I did and it worked for me.

I got the color close to what I wanted, set the acclimation for 50% and 6 months and called it a day. From there I did some small adjustment (made the photo period longer, increased individual channels higher), but for the most part I make a change and let it run a month or so.

60% seems kind of drastic, and 11 hours might be a bit short. Again what is working for me is 5 hour ramps and 4 hours max power. Yes 14 hours total. When you think about it that is not much different than in the tropics. There is 12 hours, more or less, of sun up and about an hour of twilight morning and night. The sun's intensity varies parabolically during the day. I used those two bit of reference to set my time and shape of my graph. I did simplify the parabolic shape to a straight line segments approximation.

 

[newe70]

New lights have need running for two weeks now with no issues and I have a 52 on the way.

You will be extremely pleased with your new Hydra 52. This 52 is really super bright. I replaced three hydras to three hydra 52s and the corals could not be happier, IMO.

 

[smtank]

Shout out and many thanks to those following this thread and offering their 1st hand experience. I have learned more here than anywhere else.

Thanks from a new Hydra owner and sps keeper.

 

[Tuffloud1]

Right or wrong this is what I did and it worked for me.

I got the color close to what I wanted, set the acclimation for 50% and 6 months and called it a day. From there I did some small adjustment (made the photo period longer, increased individual channels higher), but for the most part I make a change and let it run a month or so.

60% seems kind of drastic, and 11 hours might be a bit short. Again what is working for me is 5 hour ramps and 4 hours max power. Yes 14 hours total. When you think about it that is not much different than in the tropics. There is 12 hours, more or less, of sun up and about an hour of twilight morning and night. The sun's intensity varies parabolically during the day. I used those two bit of reference to set my time and shape of my graph. I did simplify the parabolic shape to a straight line segments approximation.

Sadly, my Apex AWM module does not have an acclimation function, so I am having to do things manually.

Are you saying starting at 60 percent is drastically low? If so, what overall percentage should I start with with the end result being up to what I posted?

Can you post a picture of your tank?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Tuffloud1]

As wazzel said. Check you nutrients and go from there, each and every tank is different. For what it's worth i may have been running with burned out royal blues on each of my hydras except the 26 for a few months. I noticed when one side of my tank looked yellowish, all pucks and motherboards have been replaced thanks to the awesome customer service from AI. My whites were still at 35 and blues at 100 and I still showed great coral growth. New lights have need running for two weeks now with no issues and I have a 52 on the way.

I also run my whites lower because I prefer a bluer tank.

So are you converting your regular Hydra's to the 52's? If so why?

 

[Wazzel]

Sadly, my Apex AWM module does not have an acclimation function, so I am having to do things manually.

Are you saying starting at 60 percent is drastically low? If so, what overall percentage should I start with with the end result being up to what I posted?

Can you post a picture of your tank?

Thanks for all your help!

I find it odd apex does not have an acclimation mode. I think 60% is low, but it is just a starting point. If you are comfortable with that and your corals are happy go with it. Better to start lower than to start high anyway. Corals can handle not enough light for a short time way better than to much light.
Pictures are in the following threads. Hope you are not expecting much. My tank if just a year old and 8 months since first coral. I will be posting new shots next month.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2467729&highlight=study
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2421524&highlight=wazzel

 

[Tuffloud1]

I find it odd apex does not have an acclimation mode. I think 60% is low, but it is just a starting point. If you are comfortable with that and your corals are happy go with it. Better to start lower than to start high anyway. Corals can handle not enough light for a short time way better than to much light.
Pictures are in the following threads. Hope you are not expecting much. My tank if just a year old and 8 months since first coral. I will be posting new shots next month.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2467729&highlight=study
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2421524&highlight=wazzel

With your 5 hour ramp times, during the ramping up, do all colors evenly increase from sunrise to your peak settings?

Are the Hydra 52 settings pretty compatable with the regular Hydra's, just at a lower intensity?

 

[Wazzel]

With your 5 hour ramp times, during the ramping up, do all colors evenly increase from sunrise to your peak settings?

Are the Hydra 52 settings pretty compatable with the regular Hydra's, just at a lower intensity?

More or less. They start and end at 10 minutes increments. The inflection points are all at the same time. I think the difference is intensity.

 

[Sonicboom]

You will be extremely pleased with your new Hydra 52. This 52 is really super bright. I replaced three hydras to three hydra 52s and the corals could not be happier, IMO.

thanks for the heads up, my plan is 1 hydra 52 in the center and two hydra 26 on the ends in front of the overflows.:beer:

 

[Sonicboom]

With your 5 hour ramp times, during the ramping up, do all colors evenly increase from sunrise to your peak settings?

Are the Hydra 52 settings pretty compatible with the regular Hydra's, just at a lower intensity?

Yes, the colors evenly increase based on your min/max settings, the 52's are the same form factor and LED spec, the difference is an additional 32 leds and the power supply is rated for i believe 135w vs 90w.

 

[Sonicboom]

So are you converting your regular Hydra's to the 52's? If so why?

Not converting, buying and replacing, just got a deal i couldn't pass up so figured what the heck, least i'll be ready if i go bigger.

Here's a couple growth pics,

Reverse superman, one of my first corals in my tank, has been on this rock about a yr and has covered both sides down to the sand and seems to be growing on itself upwards. mother colony was a 1" square at the top center.

Got this one as a 2" frag hidden at the back of my lfs frag rack for 10.00, depending on where i place it the tips turn skyblue, lowered it after rearranging my rocks. has been fragged twice.

Larger GBT after split sunning next to my setosa, It was too high and started growing outwards instead of upwards. was lowered last month and is now showing upwards growth.

`

 

[Tuffloud1]

Wazzle/Sonic,

Since I have to manually acclimate, how much overall percentage do you suggest I raise per week?

 

[Sonicboom]

Wazzle/Sonic,

Since I have to manually acclimate, how much overall percentage do you suggest I raise per week?

I have adjusted 2-3% with no issues

 

[Wazzel]

I have adjusted 2-3% with no issues

I agree.

 

[Tuffloud1]

Sonic, that reverse superman is sweet. I want one!

 

[Sonicboom]

Thanks! Its a fun coral to watch grow.

 

[Tuffloud1]

What does "Lighting 3% probability" mean?

Is it supposed to read "Lightning"?