LED question for my future 120

[cwschoon]

I have been in the hobby for a very long time but never had LED lighting. Am purchasing a 120 gallon-48 x 24-x-24-and am looking at Aqualllumination Hydra 26 x 2. Any thoughts or advise?
My reef will be lots of rock, fish, softies, mushrooms, bubbles, anemones, etc. Wondering if the light will be adequate, especially on the bottom of the tank. Radions are just too expensive!

Thanks for any comment.

 

[mitch91175]

I think 2 Hydra 26s would work fine. If you go with last gen Hydras, I might suggest getting 3 Hydra 26s to prevent any shadowing (this also depends on the height you will have them from the water line). On my 7ft, I have 4 Hydra 52 and do not think I would have been happy with just 3. Hopefully this helps.

Also, as you already know you can start with 2 then add another if necessary.

 

[cwschoon]

Thank you for your reply. I am planning on getting a rail, so I can add another if need be. The Marine Depo guy thinks 2 will be adequate. My LFS advised 3 radions but the price!
Any other advise or recommendations on alternates appreciated!

 

[Darth Vedder]

I have 1 hydra52 HD over my 50 breeder frag tank and only run the whites at like 60% and it works ok

I have the same dimension 120 and use LEDs on that but it's a fixture I built with 90 Cree LEDs, so I think two Hydra 26's will probably not be enough

Even with 90 LEDs on 6 independent channels, the par on the sand is like 160, not sure what PUR would be there but all my corals are happy

 

[cwschoon]

Thanks for the reply Darth. Are you happy with Aqualllumination as a "brand"? Perhaps LED is not the answer! I live in a condo and my electricity is built into the fees. How would you light a 120 softie tank, w a few bubble corals and anemones?
The US dollar it's pushed the prices of goods in Canada waaay up!

 

[drummerboyevil]

Have you thought about T5? I personally don't mind spending the extra money for bulb changes because it's taking the guesswork out of success of my SPS. LEDs grow corals... I've just had much better luck with halide and T5 (and better color to boot).

 

[cwschoon]

I went from metal halide to T5 years ago and love them! I would like to move to LED but perhaps, that may not be the right thing to do. Perhaps I should be looking at a 4 bulb T5 setup.
Thanks for the reply.

 

[drummerboyevil]

6 bulb is where the magic happes

 

[cwschoon]

I agree Drummer! Perhaps I will refocus on T5 again. Do you recommend any specific manufacturer? Living in Toronto, I don't have quite as many readily available options as you do in the USA and your dollar is so freaking strong!

 

[drummerboyevil]

I agree Drummer! Perhaps I will refocus on T5 again. Do you recommend any specific manufacturer? Living in Toronto, I don't have quite as many readily available options as you do in the USA and your dollar is so freaking strong!

I really like my ATI sunpower dimmable, but I would have just gotten the regular sunpower had I not found a great deal on this one.

 

[cwschoon]

Thanks again!

 

[Darth Vedder]

Thanks for the reply Darth. Are you happy with Aqualllumination as a "brand"? Perhaps LED is not the answer! I live in a condo and my electricity is built into the fees. How would you light a 120 softie tank, w a few bubble corals and anemones?
The US dollar it's pushed the prices of goods in Canada waaay up![/QUOTE]

I am very happy with the hydra52 HD fixture actually

Frags all growIng good, super easy to set up and tweak with their app. I only wish I could afford 3 more and they would be over my 120 and this monstrosity would be demoted to the 40 breeder frag tank

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[chilli_reef]

I recently bought a montipora digitata frag about an 1 1/2 tall as a test subject
Under my photon 48. Its growing fantastically ! Color is awesome as well.
Its went from two stick branches to five with more growth nubs starting.
I'm going to try an across frag in the next week or two.
I think I should rais my fixture off the stock stands though.

Point being I'm positive you'll be happy with a quality led fixture !

 

[thegrun]

I'm running three Hydra 52's over my 120 SPS dominated mixed reef tank. I suspect two would have been sufficient but there would be some slightly darker areas along the sides with only two. I mounted the lights on a 15 degree tilt close to the front of the tank which causes the corals to grow towards the front, giving you a semi top down view. The lights are on heavy duty drawer guides so they can be pushed back for maintenance.

 

[cwschoon]

Great pictures!
It's probably going to come down to 3 x Hydra 26, 2 x Hydra 52-on a rail-or a T5 set up with either 4 or 6 bulbs.
thegrun: that last pic is fantastic! Seeing as I am not going to have any really "challenging" corals, my concern is that from a purely "visual" point of view, will the tank look bright and completely lit up? I know I will achieve what I want with T5 and I am not concerned with power consumption. I'm seriously trying to rationalize LED and would likely do 2 x hydra 52 if I feel that from an aesthetic point of view, the taknk would be bright enough.

 

[thegrun]

With two Hydra 52's the tank would be plenty bright although a little dimmer at the sides (or in the middle of the tank depending upon how far apart you space them). With three fixtures I have a 8" space between the lights, if you ran two I suspect a 12" space would be about right. With three Hydra 52's I have the outer two max out at about 65% and the center light at 45% which gives a nice even light distribution across the entire tank. To me the advantage of LEDs over T-5s is that I no longer need to replace the bulbs every 10 months like i needed to with T-5s. If you go T-5s I like the color possibilities of a 6 bulb set up much better than a 4 bulb combo, but 4 bulbs would still provide enough light for all but the more light demanding corals.

 

[cwschoon]

thegrun: Thank you for your insight! From what you and others have said and suggested, I am beginning to feel that 2 x hydra 52 will suffice and I can always add another. One more question.....Do you think this set up (2 x hydra 52) would absolutely support softies, leathers and perhaps even certain clams on the bottom of the tank? Any hard corals will be positioned mid to top, so not worried about that.