AI Hydra Settings Thread

[sfb911]

Hi folks,

Brand New owner of 2 x Hydra 26 HD....Looking for some suggestions on settings and power (which I still haven't quite figured out how to tweak yet in the app). What are folks having good success with color blend wise? What should the lamps power be set to?

Tank is 36x18x25 (LXDXH), mostly LPS. Everything previously was under an a pacific sun light Hyperion S2 (2 x 75W) which is now over my frag tank.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[sfb911]

Hey folks,

Just wanted to follow up on my post from yesterday, still looking for some feedback from folks on what works for them. I've been messing around with the display a bit (all the corals and fish are down in my frag tank at the moment). But can't seem to find the exact look I want.

I have a friend who has the same tank as I have although he is a lot more SPS heavy and has been using settings he is pretty happy with, I took his and lowered them by about 20% and came up with this:

UV: 64
V: 64
RB: 72
B: 72
G: 60
R: 20
CW: 20

I like the look though I wish it was a little less blue. I'm curious if anyone else is running something similar dimensions (36x18x25 Tall) with two Hydra 26 HD and what their colors look like. Also curious about power, I don't want to bleach anything if I can help it.

Right now like I had mentioned in my original thread my corals are in my frag tank under a pac sun Hyperion S2 ( 2 x 75 watt) which is at about 75% power, in a tank that is 48x24x16 and the light is probably about 12-14 inches AWL.

Would love to hear some thoughts.


Thanks
Steve

 

[Reeefer]

Hey folks,

Just wanted to follow up on my post from yesterday, still looking for some feedback from folks on what works for them. I've been messing around with the display a bit (all the corals and fish are down in my frag tank at the moment). But can't seem to find the exact look I want.

I have a friend who has the same tank as I have although he is a lot more SPS heavy and has been using settings he is pretty happy with, I took his and lowered them by about 20% and came up with this:

UV: 64
V: 64
RB: 72
B: 72
G: 60
R: 20
CW: 20

I like the look though I wish it was a little less blue. I'm curious if anyone else is running something similar dimensions (36x18x25 Tall) with two Hydra 26 HD and what their colors look like. Also curious about power, I don't want to bleach anything if I can help it.

Right now like I had mentioned in my original thread my corals are in my frag tank under a pac sun Hyperion S2 ( 2 x 75 watt) which is at about 75% power, in a tank that is 48x24x16 and the light is probably about 12-14 inches AWL.

Would love to hear some thoughts.


Thanks
Steve

I certainly don't have things dialed in exactly the way I like and why I have subscribed to this thread. Personally, your friends settings wouldn't make me happy unless I dropped the GRN to match RED and bumped up the whites at least 10. But hey, that's me.

 

[bashment]

I am trying to dial in on the light schedule and settings for my Hydra 52 HD on my IM Nuvo 40. I have the light mounted approximately 14" from the water line. Focusing mainly on LPS and Softies with a few easy SPS. I've tried searching and browsing through thread with no luck. Any suggestion on settings?

 

[Narzyzz12]

Is anyone keeping acropora under the Ai Hydra 52 as the sole light source?Which settings are you running them at?

 

[Wazzel]

Is anyone keeping acropora under the Ai Hydra 52 as the sole light source?Which settings are you running them at?

Yes I am and have been for the past 2 years.

Here is what I was running when I took my 60 down. I am using the same setting on the 120, but doing a 2 month acclimation. I think I am going to turn them down some.

These setting use around 65% of the fixture power. I do not know the exact spectrum.

Here is my schedule is text form. Let me know is you need further explanation.

DB is my moon light. It runs 2% from 9pm to 8am

For normal day time operations the lights start ramping up at 8 am starting with DB and adding a color every 5 minutes in the following order DB, RB, V, UV, G, R, W. The ramp off starts to end at 9pm with W going off first and the rest following every 5 minutes in the following order W, R, G, UV, V, RB, DB.

At 10AM and 8pm the channels have the following settings
DB - 64
RB - 60
V - 56
UV - 52
G - 48
R - 44
W - 24

From 1pm to 5pm all channels at 85 except white which is at 40

That should cover the inflection points. I ramp between them.

If you are looking for a bit more blue you can bump those two channels to your liking.

And a graph.

Hope this helps.

And what those first 2 years looked like.

Two year progress
May-14

May-15

May-16

 

[Ebisan]

Just got my Apogee par sensor and checked my tank. I have two Hydra 52 HDs installed 10" above the water line. UV at 20%, V at 30%, RB at 65%, B at 70%, G and R at 0%, CW at 25%. Power usage 54W. I am coming from using two 175W MH. Unfortunately didn't have the par meter before switch to the Hydras about two months ago. Anyways, 500 par at the water level, 250-300 8" down, 120-150 16" down from waterline. I only have gbtas (around 76 clones),gsp and mushrooms and a kenya tree. Tank seems to be doing ok since the switch. I do miss the shimmer from MHs. But not the extra heat. My temp remains a stable 77.5F.

 

[Orcus Varuna]

AI Hydra Settings Thread

I have had a Hydra HD and Prime HD over my 29 gallon since May and June respectively and was shocked, while perusing this thread tonight, how blue you all seem to run these lights. Maybe its just me but I prefer a much more natural tone because it reminds me of midday reef dives!

For my settings I vary between 8-12 k during the daytime peak and I built in respiration peaks to approximate cloud cover, as I strongly dislike the thunderstorm feature. Here is the aip if anyone is interested https://1drv.ms/u/s!Akco_cmvvLNrgZFgRIC9qDg3bNkVqw

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[myboyblu1911]

So I replace 2 Kessil 360's the other day with 2 hydra 52hds. Wow I miss the shimmer but I get much better coverage. I mounted about 10" off the water. On my 60x24x20 tank. My corals we werected doing fine with the kessils but after 2 days of hydra 1 coral died. I've been running about 15-20k 60%power max for 2 hrs 3 hr ramp up and 3 hr ramp down and 1%uv and 1% rb for 4hrs then total darkness for 12hrs. Do you think I fried my little red dragon in 2 days? Nothing else changed.

 

[forddna]

30 x 30 x 25H cube mixed reef tank. Do you guys think a single 52 would be fine or 2 of the 26s? The corals will mostly be mounted to rockwork in the center of the tank. I don't necessarily need spread to all 4 corners, but I do want fairly even looking coverage over that middle section.

Thank you!

 

[myboyblu1911]

30 x 30 x 25H cube mixed reef tank. Do you guys think a single 52 would be fine or 2 of the 26s? The corals will mostly be mounted to rockwork in the center of the tank. I don't necessarily need spread to all 4 corners, but I do want fairly even looking coverage over that middle section.

Thank you!

i think the 52's have a 36"x36" coverage

 

[Wazzel]

30 x 30 x 25H cube mixed reef tank. Do you guys think a single 52 would be fine or 2 of the 26s? The corals will mostly be mounted to rockwork in the center of the tank. I don't necessarily need spread to all 4 corners, but I do want fairly even looking coverage over that middle section.

Thank you!

A single hydra52 will not light 30x30 tank well. Two 26s would be better, but they will struggle hitting the 30" in the long axis. I am assuming you would run them side by side, long axis from to back.

 

[Orcus Varuna]

So I replace 2 Kessil 360's the other day with 2 hydra 52hds. Wow I miss the shimmer but I get much better coverage. I mounted about 10" off the water. On my 60x24x20 tank. My corals we werected doing fine with the kessils but after 2 days of hydra 1 coral died. I've been running about 15-20k 60%power max for 2 hrs 3 hr ramp up and 3 hr ramp down and 1%uv and 1% rb for 4hrs then total darkness for 12hrs. Do you think I fried my little red dragon in 2 days? Nothing else changed.

That's odd especially coming from another quality led like the kessils. But I doubt light from the Hydra fried an acro in less then 2 days with the intensity and photo period you are running. However, I did notice in the picture you posted that the rocks were really green. Have you checked your phosphates recently? I have seen a nutrient spike blow up whole colonies overnight.


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[sfb911]

So thanks to some help from some wonderful folks on here, I have my lights where I think I want them as far as color and intensity goes:

I run a 12 hour light cycle, starts at 9:30AM with 3 hour ramp time to the following:

CW: 25
UV: 45
V: 45
RB: 65
DB: 55
G: 8
R: 8

Moonlights are RB at 5% and UV 1% with the lunar cycle on.

My T5's kick on for the duration of the full power period (12:30pm - 6:30pm). Corals are looking great and happy.

I'd love things to be a bit more blue overall during the day but, I realize the corals do better with full spectrum. I may kick up the blues by 5% after another week or two of letting things adjust.

The one thing I'm not loving is how white things are during the ramp down time which is when I spend most of my time enjoying the tank. What I'd like to do is at 6:30pm when the sunset starts, is quickly ramp down the CW and UV to 0, and then continue with the sunset. I'm wondering what the best way to accomplish this would be....I haven't messed around much with anything beyond easy setup at this point...

Ideally, once 6:30pm rolls around, I'd like to see the white and uv drop to 0 or maybe 5% over the next 60 minutes and then have the 'normal' sunset kick in (this may mean extending the full light period to 13 hours?)

Here is what I have currently. Any help on how to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[sfb911]

Still looking for some suggestions on the above if possible!

Thanks
Steve

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[forddna]

i think the 52's have a 36"x36" coverage

A single hydra52 will not light 30x30 tank well. Two 26s would be better, but they will struggle hitting the 30" in the long axis. I am assuming you would run them side by side, long axis from to back.

Thank you. I'm okay with it not reaching the corners. If it'll cover 28x28 I'll be happy.

 

[Wazzel]

So thanks to some help from some wonderful folks on here, I have my lights where I think I want them as far as color and intensity goes:

I run a 12 hour light cycle, starts at 9:30AM with 3 hour ramp time to the following:

CW: 25
UV: 45
V: 45
RB: 65
DB: 55
G: 8
R: 8

Moonlights are RB at 5% and UV 1% with the lunar cycle on.

My T5's kick on for the duration of the full power period (12:30pm - 6:30pm). Corals are looking great and happy.

I'd love things to be a bit more blue overall during the day but, I realize the corals do better with full spectrum. I may kick up the blues by 5% after another week or two of letting things adjust.

The one thing I'm not loving is how white things are during the ramp down time which is when I spend most of my time enjoying the tank. What I'd like to do is at 6:30pm when the sunset starts, is quickly ramp down the CW and UV to 0, and then continue with the sunset. I'm wondering what the best way to accomplish this would be....I haven't messed around much with anything beyond easy setup at this point...

Ideally, once 6:30pm rolls around, I'd like to see the white and uv drop to 0 or maybe 5% over the next 60 minutes and then have the 'normal' sunset kick in (this may mean extending the full light period to 13 hours?)

Here is what I have currently. Any help on how to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

Here is a screen shot of my schedule. It is whitest at the mid-day plateau and much bluer at sun rise and sunset. My total light period is 14 hours, but the first few and last few are not much. The mid-day hold is only 4 hours.

I can give you the text explanation if you like.

 

[sfb911]

This is awesome. A text explanation with numbers would be great. You are welcome to pm me or put it here. I really appreciate your help!

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[Wazzel]

This is awesome. A text explanation with numbers would be great. You are welcome to pm me or put it here. I really appreciate your help!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Here you go. I got it in a place where I can cut and paste.

These setting use around 65% of the fixture power. I do not know the exact spectrum.

Here is my schedule is text form. Let me know is you need further explanation.

DB is my moon light. It runs 2% from 9pm to 8am

For normal day time operations the lights start ramping up at 8 am starting with DB and adding a color every 5 minutes in the following order DB, RB, V, UV, G, R, W. The ramp off starts to end at 9pm with W going off first and the rest following every 5 minutes in the following order W, R, G, UV, V, RB, DB.

At 10AM and 8pm the channels have the following settings
DB - 64
RB - 60
V - 56
UV - 52
G - 48
R - 44
W - 24

From 1pm to 5pm all channels at 85 except white which is at 40

That should cover the inflection points. I ramp between them.

 

[sfb911]

I will mess around with this when I get home and share the results. How do you accomplish the every 5 minute ramp up? At 8 do you just start the dB and the others at. 8:30? I would expect to see points at every 5 minute interval...

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