AI Hydra Settings Thread

[rishu_pepper]

Annoyingly, the post office delayed my shipment yesterday and I will only be able to pick it up today. Why did I pay for express post... :angryfire:

oseymour, your setting looks good, I think I may mimic yours to start off as a reference point.

I'm thinking of this kind of photo period schedule, what do you guys think:

10am - 12pm: start the ramp up
12pm - 9pm: max intensity
9pm - 11pm: start the ramp down
11pm - 10am: moonlight

We spend most of our nights in the living room so we want until 9pm for some good viewing time. Is that too long for max intensity time though (9 hours)?

 

[newe70]

Just got a new pair of the Hydra 52s. I went from three Hydras to two Hydra 52s and one Hydra. Current lay out is Hydra 52, Hydra 52, Hydra.

 

[rishu_pepper]

Great coverage, newe70, I'm jealous of those rail mounts. They were a little too spendy for me so I just went with wire hanging mount.

I have mine mounted 9" off the water and the 4' gets really good coverage.

ATM I have my spectrum settings the same as oseymour, just to try it out.

Putting it up as:

10am - 12pm: start the ramp up
12pm - 9pm: max intensity
9pm - 11pm: start the ramp down
11pm - 10am: moonlight

Clouds: 10% prob., 25% intensity
Lightning: 5% prob., 20% intensity

Acclimation mode for one week, 30% reduction.

Will report on results.

 

[major stare]

I'm getting a little fed up with this unit.

I just can't get a setting I'm happy with, the tank either looks too blue or (usually) too purple and the whites are too powerful. I'm sure my AI SOL was better.
Colours just don't "pop". Stock growing well but the tank just doesn't look natural. Certainty nothing like Buchan's tank on page 98 of this thread.


1x Hydra mounted 6" above a 2x2x2, sumped, dosed tank. LPS & SPS, the highest SPS is 9" below the water surface.

White - 17
Violet - 25
Red - 5
Green - 15
Blue - 50
Royal - 50
UV - 20

9 hours with 2hrs ramp each side, 5% blue moon phase.

 

[VegasMike]

That is actually Roberto_Lopes tank and his setting were:

"I'm Using Hydra52 (19 of them)

CW: 60
Green: 20
Violet: 40
Red: 20
Blue: 100
Deep Blue: 100
Royal Blue: 100
UV: 30"


His units are also higher above the tank than what yours are. I think he is 10'-12" AWL. I personally think your settings are too low, even at only 7" AWL.

 

[Wazzel]

I'm getting a little fed up with this unit.

I just can't get a setting I'm happy with, the tank either looks too blue or (usually) too purple and the whites are too powerful. I'm sure my AI SOL was better.
Colours just don't "pop". Stock growing well but the tank just doesn't look natural. Certainty nothing like Buchan's tank on page 98 of this thread.


1x Hydra mounted 6" above a 2x2x2, sumped, dosed tank. LPS & SPS, the highest SPS is 9" below the water surface.

White - 17
Violet - 25
Red - 5
Green - 15
Blue - 50
Royal - 50
UV - 20

9 hours with 2hrs ramp each side, 5% blue moon phase.

I think your settings are to low and you are not running them long enough. I have the same sized tank. With those settings you are only using around 30% of the available power from the fixture.

Here is mine

White - 85
Violet - 92
Red - 70
Green - 75
Blue - 100
Royal - 100
UV - 82

14 hours total with a 5 hours ramp up and ramp down.

 

[DrBoxedWine]

I'm getting a little fed up with this unit.

I just can't get a setting I'm happy with, the tank either looks too blue or (usually) too purple and the whites are too powerful. I'm sure my AI SOL was better.
Colours just don't "pop". Stock growing well but the tank just doesn't look natural. Certainty nothing like Buchan's tank on page 98 of this thread.


1x Hydra mounted 6" above a 2x2x2, sumped, dosed tank. LPS & SPS, the highest SPS is 9" below the water surface.

White - 17
Violet - 25
Red - 5
Green - 15
Blue - 50
Royal - 50
UV - 20

9 hours with 2hrs ramp each side, 5% blue moon phase.

I agree, bump your settings up. With a 2' deep tank, maybe get the average up to 60% or so? I have 2 on my 75g, and run them considerably higher than that.

 

[Wazzel]

If you do bump them up make sure to acclimate your tank. If you jump to something like my settings I suggest taking 2 months to acclimate.

 

[GOSKN5]

Is it possible to set my lights to come on in the morning for a few hours and then go off prior to starting my normal phot period?

In other words maybe just blues on a low setting from 630am-730am.. and then off until my normal schedule starts? I would like to have some light on while getting ready for work...

 

[mic209]

I'm getting a little fed up with this unit.



I just can't get a setting I'm happy with, the tank either looks too blue or (usually) too purple and the whites are too powerful. I'm sure my AI SOL was better.

Colours just don't "pop". Stock growing well but the tank just doesn't look natural. Certainty nothing like Buchan's tank on page 98 of this thread.





1x Hydra mounted 6" above a 2x2x2, sumped, dosed tank. LPS & SPS, the highest SPS is 9" below the water surface.



White - 17

Violet - 25

Red - 5

Green - 15

Blue - 50

Royal - 50

UV - 20



9 hours with 2hrs ramp each side, 5% blue moon phase.

I think your settings are way too low, over my 18" cube with a hydra 26 mounted 9" AWL, I'm getting about 175-200 PAR on the sand bed with blues at 100%, violet 80%, green 85%, UV 35%, red 40% and white 60%. So don't be scared to crank the blues up to 100 and violet around 80-90. Turning the green up to around 80-90 will help drown out the purple hue. After you have your blues and violet turned up, start turning up the white channel to where it's not too blue, but still getting some pop out of your corals. Don't forget to use acclimation mode!

 

[rishu_pepper]

Holy moley, I'm really impressed with the Hydra 52s. Within 2-3 days, zoas that I thought were goners (hadn't opened up in weeks) have started opening up again slowly. Adjusting the colours on the Director is giving me a lot of options and I really like the look of the spectrum I can get.

Controls like acclimation mode and ramp up/down are really great options to have. It's so customizable. Aesthetically it looks much better and cleaner too.

It was a big purchase but so far the wife and I have enjoyed it and it looks like our livestock feels the same. Here's hoping for more growth!

Will maybe try lopes' settings once the acclimation period is over. One week of 30% too little? What do you guys think?

 

[Wazzel]

Is it possible to set my lights to come on in the morning for a few hours and then go off prior to starting my normal phot period?

In other words maybe just blues on a low setting from 630am-730am.. and then off until my normal schedule starts? I would like to have some light on while getting ready for work...

Yes it is possible to do that if you have a controller of some sort. If you have a moon phase function you can use that and there will be just a few days (new moon) a month where the tank will be totally off.

 

[Wazzel]

Holy moley, I'm really impressed with the Hydra 52s. Within 2-3 days, zoas that I thought were goners (hadn't opened up in weeks) have started opening up again slowly. Adjusting the colours on the Director is giving me a lot of options and I really like the look of the spectrum I can get.

Controls like acclimation mode and ramp up/down are really great options to have. It's so customizable. Aesthetically it looks much better and cleaner too.

It was a big purchase but so far the wife and I have enjoyed it and it looks like our livestock feels the same. Here's hoping for more growth!

Will maybe try lopes' settings once the acclimation period is over. One week of 30% too little? What do you guys think?

I would acclimate over a month instead of a week.

 

[rishu_pepper]

I would acclimate over a month instead of a week.

Thank you sir, will adjust accordingly.

What do you think of my current settings? I have two Hydra 52s horizontally mounted, 9" from water, over a 4' wide tank of 2' depth.

10am - 12pm: start the ramp up
12pm - 9pm: max intensity
9pm - 11pm: start the ramp down
11pm - 10am: moonlight (5% DB and RB)

Clouds: 10% prob., 25% intensity
Lightning: 5% prob., 20% intensity

Acclimation is set at 30% reduction.

Mostly LPS and zoas, softies/mushrooms, only SPS is monti caps (for the moment).

Any changes to any of the above you guys would recommend?

 

[Wazzel]

For what you are keeping it looks ok. I would probably bump the UV and green to around 40%. If you want to keep SPS any place in the tank I would suggest doing something similar to my settings. If you do that is a big jump in intensity from where you are now. I would suggest a multi-month acclimation for that big a change. From a power standpoint you are using about half of what is available from the fixture.

 

[rishu_pepper]

For what you are keeping it looks ok. I would probably bump the UV and green to around 40%. If you want to keep SPS any place in the tank I would suggest doing something similar to my settings. If you do that is a big jump in intensity from where you are now. I would suggest a multi-month acclimation for that big a change. From a power standpoint you are using about half of what is available from the fixture.

Thank you for the help once again

What are the reasons for increasing UV and green? For now I think I will just increase these two as you suggested.

If we get into SPS (doubt it) then maybe a multi-month increase of intensity will be in order, but that is not in the cards currently.

 

[newe70]

Holy moley, I'm really impressed with the Hydra 52s. Within 2-3 days, zoas that I thought were goners (hadn't opened up in weeks) have started opening up again slowly. Adjusting the colours on the Director is giving me a lot of options and I really like the look of the spectrum I can get.

Controls like acclimation mode and ramp up/down are really great options to have. It's so customizable. Aesthetically it looks much better and cleaner too.

It was a big purchase but so far the wife and I have enjoyed it and it looks like our livestock feels the same. Here's hoping for more growth!

Will maybe try lopes' settings once the acclimation period is over. One week of 30% too little? What do you guys think?

I concurred with you on the Hydra 52...I had two of them less than two weeks now. I am very pleased so far. This dang thing is bright and the showing good color on my small garden of sps. I am even planning on release my other Hydra and pick up a third Hydra 52 for my 100g Cadlights rimless tank.

As for the AI Director, this is a cool device to have. I have this Director running since this July and no issues at all.

 

[Wazzel]

Thank you for the help once again

What are the reasons for increasing UV and green? For now I think I will just increase these two as you suggested.

If we get into SPS (doubt it) then maybe a multi-month increase of intensity will be in order, but that is not in the cards currently.

Because of the way light gets absorbed in water.

 

[newe70]

I think your settings are to low and you are not running them long enough. I have the same sized tank. With those settings you are only using around 30% of the available power from the fixture.

Here is mine

White - 85
Violet - 92
Red - 70
Green - 75
Blue - 100
Royal - 100
UV - 82

14 hours total with a 5 hours ramp up and ramp down.

How are your sticks responding to these settings from your Hydra 52? I am thinking about duplicating your settings slowly as well.

 

[Wazzel]

How are your sticks responding to these settings from your Hydra 52? I am thinking about duplicating your settings slowly as well.

I think well. Here is my tank thread if you want to keep an eye on it. I update the pics every three months. My photo skills suck so the colors in the pics are not the best. The full tank shots are better exposures than the close ups.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2421524

If it is a big jump I would suggest a large acclimation with a multi month ramp.