Ai hydra immediate help please

[Twostepper4041]

I'm at my wits end with these lights. I've threatened numerous times to dump them and go to sols or radions. I really need some help with lighting settings.

I've read all the ai hydra posts on the net, and so many have mixed settings.

I have 2 hydras running on a 65 gal tall mixed reef

I've lost a decent amount of sps since I've changed from my panorama pros to the hydras.

Right now all my water parameters are spot on. Had 2 Lfs verify.

Settings

W 30
V 25
R 8
G. 8
Deep blue 90
Royal 90
Uv 40

How can my maxima clam at the bottom be doing ok, but my zoanthids mid tank are stretching for light. My sps mid tank are not growing, browning In spots, but yet a sps toward bottom is somewhat bleached. Torch is at tip of tank, and not bleached. Flower pots at bottom of tank and thriving, acans doing good at bottom...

So if all of my Zoe's have 1" stems, stretching for light, why is my maxima doing ok?

If I turn my whites up, corals look translucent, and lose color...

If I turn my reds and greens up, my tank gets almost a algea break out...

What's gives?

How can people be running everything at 100%

[Twostepper4041]

Some pics

[ghostman]

I feel your pain, as I lost several of my prized corals in my transition to LEDs. I don't think there is an answer to your questions, and going to sols or radions isn't going to help. I would suggest you buy or borrow a par meter. That might give you a better idea of high and low par areas. My led par is about 75% of my T5 par readings, and I'm getting similar results. I can't run my LEDs over 70% on any color, and under 40% on the whites. I would suggest lowering the outputs. Sure the zoos are stretching, but they'll live. I haven't lost a coral since lowering my output. Some SPS May brown, but they'll survive and color back up. It took 4-6 months before I felt I got decent colors and growth from my LEDs. Good luck and be patient. HMO.

[meshwheel]

Twostepper,
Beautiful tank by the way! Great job! I can understand your concern. Is the layout of your new AI Hydras alot different then your old lights? I know the hydras are laid out in pucks.
I have been testing par measurements on my new reefbreeders fixture. I would say your shooting light around at totally different angles now, not to mention different intensities.
These led's seem to be so directional, it's probably going to take time for your corals to adjust. I would CALL AI RIGHT AWAY TOMORROW MORNING and tell them whats going on. Ask for opinions from them.
Also, how close are your lights to the top of the tank? My new lights at a tad less then half their output are giving me 450 par dead center at 14 inches down!!! thats enough to fry most corals!
I would call AI right away. Review what they show for their par numbers and get a idea of whats getting into your tank in the way of photons.
I hope this helps! Good luck!

[ihigh]

they don't run 100% right away unless they're typically coming from a ton of MH lighting. I had a transition stage as well and because I rushed it, I lost a couple of my first sps.

your lights are:

W 30
V 25
R 8
G. 8
Deep blue 90
Royal 90
Uv 40

I would transition it to peak

white: 20-30
violet: 20
red: 5
green: 5
deep blue: 50
royal blue: 50
UV: 20
or roughly for NOW.

Use the coral acclimation mode and set it accordingly to what % you want to end up at and span it over 3-4 months. I had vegas and went from a 20white/35blues/10red/10green morning sunrise to 35white/50blues/15red/15green and back down to 20w/35b/10r/10g as my base minimal to 3 month acclimation now hitting a peak of 60w/75b/20r/20g.

UV and violet are EXTREMELY overpowering, you do not need too much

[Twostepper4041]

Thank you for all of your inputs. It's funny how I was coming from LEDs... The ecoxotic panoramas... And getting great results, then go to ai hydras because I thought I was upgrading... So far it seams like I downgraded

[ihigh]

you're going from one LED that has a lower output than another so there has to be an acclimation phase as well.

That's the good thing about the higher end lights, most of them if not all of them have an acclimation mode.

How high are you mounting them?

[Twostepper4041]

Mounting them 13" above tank, with them running parallel to the tank...

I was thinking about buying another rail kit and mounting them running long way front to back instead of side to side...

I guess what I'm wondering is where do I need to have the end result settings in relation to running my 2 panorama actinic pros, and my 50/50 pro at full blast and only 1" from water surface?

[FullBoreReefer]

FWIW, I got some frags from my buddy who has off brand led fixtures. He was talking them up because they use 5watt leds where as the Hydra uses 3watt. I have 2 over my 95gal. He had the frags on a rack high up, I placed them in my tank and some started to bleach. I guess his "high output" leds were no match for my hydras.

I had to turn on the coral acclimation and dim them for about a week. Now they are cranked back up...

W 65
V 85
R 45
G 45
Rb 100
Db 100
Uv 80

12pm-8pm with a 3hr ramp.

I agree, get a par meter if possible. Mine are just set to my visual liking. And yes, it's bright!

[Twostepper4041]

Fullbore, I'm interested if your corals are holding color with the whites up so high...
See it's a bunch of bs... A ton of people are telling me that the uv and the violets are the devil, but what's the point of the hydra without those? Might as well had bought sols

[ihigh]

uv/violets definitely bring out colors in corals i've never seen before in some of my friend's tanks. Some went from radion gen 1's to radion pros. others went from ai sol blues to ai vega w/ custom pucks and you can see the difference in certain rainbows/colors. just gotta fine tune it

[Aqualund]

Originally Posted by Twostepper4041

See it's a bunch of bs... A ton of people are telling me that the uv and the violets are the devil

Anyone telling you that doesn't know what they are talking about. But they will be the same people to recommend purple plus and super actinic t5 bulbs or Radium MH for coral coloration and growth.

What do these lights have? 380-430nm purple and uv light.

[jabudda]

I tried my maxspect razor on around 60% with some coral frags to see and they bleached out within days. I took about 2 months from 20% going up about 1% every other day to the final of 60%. I now keep my LEDs no higher than 40%

I also have the AI Vega and keep it around 20% white and the blues at 40% the red and green at 10%

Everything seems to be going pretty well in both tanks.
above is a cadlight 50g cube with the AI Vega
Below is the BioCube 29g with the MaxSpect Razor

[jabudda]

[ghostman]

Originally Posted by Aqualund

Anyone telling you that doesn't know what they are talking about. But they will be the same people to recommend purple plus and super actinic t5 bulbs or Radium MH for coral coloration and growth.

What do these lights have? 380-430nm purple and uv light.

+1 to this. Violet and "UV" LEDs enhance colors and florescence, but I've never had them cause a problem. IME, the white LEDs are the ones that can cause the most damage to corals if cranked up.

[Twostepper4041]

Turning the whites down to 20 and going to see what happens

[meshwheel]

Lol, did you call ai?????

[Twostepper4041]

Left 2 messages no call back