Hydra 26 HD

[Phixman]

I recently purchased this light since my current USA orbit light wasn't cutting it. I mounted the hydra 26 10 inches from the surface of the water. My tank is a nuvo fusion 20 gallon and my corals consist of zoas, mushrooms.. for the most part is will be lps. I tried to do research about these lights, but can't seem to find any info regarding the settings I should put them at. I know I'm also supposed to acclimate corals for 2-4 weeks before increasing the lights. What do you guys think I should set the percents for the lights during acclimation and after ?

[Ron Reefman]

I'm sure somebody here will help with settings. I don't use AI fixtures so I won't offer.

But here are a couple of ideas for you:

A PAR meter is the easiest way to set the power levels. Borrow one from a fellow club member, ask the LFS if they have one you can borrow or rent, and you can find them for rent online.

Otherwise, try the 'canary in a coalmine' approach. Get a small frag of a red cap monti and set it in your tank higher than all the other corals. When you raise the light intensity too high, the red cap will start to bleach before any other corals. At that point, dial the power back a bit (5% to 10%) and you should be good to go.

Good luck.

[Kadee]

I use the Hydra 26 HD and love it. So much so that I am preparing to buy 3 more. I started mine at 25/25/50/50/20/20/20 for a week or two and started raising slowly. You will have to monitor not only your corals but how your tank is doing overall. If you chemistry becomes unbalanced you have a better chance of burn and algae growth at higher intensities. What my lights are set at may not work in your system.
If you have an IPhone, there is a free app called Galactica Luxmeter. I use my phone to get the lux measurement on the surface of the water and divide by 50 to get an approximate par.
I hope you like the Hydra as much as I like mine. There is a lot of power in that little box! Just go slow and raise that power as much as your tank will allow.



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[Phixman]

Thank you both for the response. Ron, I don't really have access to a PAR meter, but might try the other method to make sure I don't burn the corals. Also, what lights do you use? Kadee, what are your tank dimensions? Also, do you know how the acclimation mode works? is the reduction percent the percent deducted from regular percent? For example , I have UV at 50% on the regular schedule , and on my acclimation mode I set UV to 25% reduction percent, will this remove 25% so it will become 25% total output or will 25% be deducted from the 50% making it 37.5% output? Below is what I set my schedule as, the highs and lows are there for respiration.

[Phixman]

[Phixman]

Can't seem to know how to post images, so here are the links:

http://imgur.com/a/Loq7E
http://imgur.com/a/Nr8hx
http://imgur.com/a/h5c3t
http://imgur.com/a/qgO9W
http://imgur.com/a/QDNad

[mikeatjac]

I would set your blues at 100% and everything else at 25% for SPS, 80%, 20% for LPS. Then you can set up the acclamation mode, I would set it up at 60 to start and run it for four weeks. I used the lights for a month and loved them.

[Kadee]

My tank is a 20 long with the light centered. As the spread is 18x18, I plan to add a second light very shortly. My light is currently 12" above the water line with plans to raise it to at least 18" to allow for increase of power to 100% across all channels. I am following the advice of Adam Derickson of Battle Corals who is using this method. This to me makes a lot of sense as why not use that power I paid for?
I can not tell you what percentage the acclimation mode ramps as that is determined by how many days you determine you want to take to get to the level you desire. I ramped mine up manually instead of using the acclimation mode so that I could monitor the aquarium. There are so many variables to a system, I would be afraid of a one size fits all approach.IMG_0660.jpg

Not sure if this pic is coming through, but if it doesn't I will repost.


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[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by Phixman

Thank you both for the response. Ron, I don't really have access to a PAR meter, but might try the other method to make sure I don't burn the corals. Also, what lights do you use?

You can see my build in the link address in my signature below.

I use Reef Breeders Photon V2, a ReeFi-Lab pendant and a new fixture that isn't out yet (I'm the crash test dummy).

[buddah001]

Go the AI settings thread in this forum. I think on pg162 is a program you can download and then upload it to your light. But a few pages later there is an updated version that I now use. This is what I use and it's great.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2307040