Soft Coral Settings for Hydra26

[Trigger Tough]

Is anyone doing soft corals and mushrooms with a Hydra26?

My tank is 70 gallons. The light is 6” from the water because of my canopy. The tank is 24” deep

My current settings are (because I burned up a Colt Coral at higher ones)

UV - 10
Violet - 20
DB - 60 to 70
Blue - 10
Green - 5
Red -10
White - 5

I was still shrinking mushrooms and a couple leathers at that setting so I’ve just set my acclimation for 30 days at 50%

What’s the max that people are running these at for soft corals at that distance?

I checked out the par readings for different settings and I can’t tell if I need to do about 1/4 or a 1/2 of the full output of the lights. Please help!

 

[jmags080307]

I have 2 hydra I'd 26s over my 60 gallon which is 23" deep (zoas, shrooms and lps). I run heavy blues
Blue - 85%
Royal blue - 85%
White - 40%
Violet - 25%
UV - 16%
Red - 10%
Green - 10%

Mine come on around 9am and ramp up for 3 hours and ramp down starts around 730pm. Since I switched to my hydras about 6 months ago my growth has been really good.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Trigger Tough]

Good to know. Thanks!

I’ve got mine on a 12 hour cycle with a 3 hour ranp

How long did you acclimate to get to those numbers and at what percentage?

 

[jmags080307]

Good to know. Thanks!

I’ve got mine on a 12 hour cycle with a 3 hour ranp

How long did you acclimate to get to those numbers and at what percentage?

I've gradually raised my blues up 5% or so a week and I started around 55%.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Versys47]

This was posted a while back. Non HD HYDRA AI Hydra 26 PAR specs & settings
Thank you Mark. The lights are more powerful than it appears.
High nutrients, high light. Low nutrients, low light.
I have 3 .72for blue/uv/v/rb and 40 red,green, and white. 10 hours with 2 hour ramps 6 hours at peek. Lights are 10 inches from water. 160 par on sand with pumps running at this setting. 55watts ea.
Set and don't mess with for at least a month. Each change whether spectrum or intensity can take a month or 2 for coral to readapt and grow.

 

[Mark_C]

TT,
Settings are way too low atm.

You want to make sure that your total W(watts) is around, at least, 120-140w for softies (zoas, leathers, palys). If you add SPS or such, you're going to want to eventually increase it to 200w+.

I've got one HD26 mounted 12" above waterline on a softie (zoa) dominated tank.
Tank is a 25g 18" deep, so 30" from light to tank bottom.
Getting some great growth on zoas (rastas and UCs out of control).

Settings...
7AM:
0% all

9AM:
UV 40 V40 R80 B80 G25 DR25 CW20

5PM:
Same as above

8PM:
UV0 V0 R80 B80 G0 DR0 CW0
(this is so I have great views of coral as night winding down, still provides 35w for next hour or so)

11PM:
0% all

This is working well for me, and I have a few SPS in the center of the tank that are doing very well.
If anyone has any suggestions, would love to experiment. Errr...

Keep in mind that though we're both covering 30", I've got 12" of air and 18" of water.
You have 6" of air and 24" of water.

Could be an interesting comparison and learning thread.

Versys,
Thanks for the shout. How deep is your tank and how high is the mount?

 

[Trigger Tough]

I was running all of the blues at 80% and the white at 20% and I bleached a Colt coral pretty bad in a day that’s why I turned the lights down. I’m reluctant to turn them up because I don’t want to melt anything else. That’s why I have them so low and on a month acclimation period as well. Even then I’m seeing whiting on the tips of a leather right in the middle of the day

I was using that page on par readings as well and I’m still trying to figure that out with the settings I’m using now. I probably need to use a PAR meter at this point

 

[Trigger Tough]

TT,
Settings are way too low atm.

You want to make sure that your total W(watts) is around, at least, 120-140w for softies (zoas, leathers, palys). If you add SPS or such, you're going to want to eventually increase it to 200w+.

I've got one HD26 mounted 12" above waterline on a softie (zoa) dominated tank.
Tank is a 25g 18" deep, so 30" from light to tank bottom.
Getting some great growth on zoas (rastas and UCs out of control).

Settings...
7AM:
0% all

9AM:
UV 40 V40 R80 B80 G25 DR25 CW20

5PM:
Same as above

8PM:
UV0 V0 R80 B80 G0 DR0 CW0
(this is so I have great views of coral as night winding down, still provides 35w for next hour or so)

11PM:
0% all

This is working well for me, and I have a few SPS in the center of the tank that are doing very well.
If anyone has any suggestions, would love to experiment. Errr...

Keep in mind that though we're both covering 30", I've got 12" of air and 18" of water.
You have 6" of air and 24" of water.

Could be an interesting comparison and learning thread.

Versys,
Thanks for the shout. How deep is your tank and how high is the mount?

See the post below in regards to this one

 

[Trigger Tough]

140w for softies? The light only runs at I believe 85w max and watts is such a bad way to measure light output for LEDs. I always thought PAR is what we need to be using

 

[Trigger Tough]

I’ve also had a problem with the blue channel on the light on the right. It doesn’t go anywhere past 10 for intensity. That’s why I’m only running it at 10. I’ve contacted AI several times about it and they just blow me off. Really pisses me off since I’ve spent so much money on these lights

 

[Versys47]

Versys,
Thanks for the shout. How deep is your tank and how high is the mount?

The tank is a Reefer deluxe stock 10 inches to water from bottom of light. 22 inch deep, 1 inch sand so 21 inches.
I lost most coral color at 85 percent blue when 0 P04 and 0 NO3. I am now dosing P04 and NO3 to maintain .04 and 5ppm. My Sps are mid to top. In the middle they get 250 to 280 par the, under the water line
Its 400-450.

I have the Seneye par meter.

 

[horseplay]

Corals can easily be bleached if the nutrient level is too low. So adjust light levels accordingly.

 

[Trigger Tough]

I’m sure my nutrient levels are pretty high. My nitrates hover around 20ppm. Which isn’t out of the norm for a tank with softies. Should I keep the lights more or less intense at that point?

 

[Versys47]

If I understand correctly you have 1 light? Assuming your coral are under the light your settings are probably close. I would put U/V, V,RB,B even and adjust red,green, white to a color you like. I think if you are around 45 watts total power give or take 5 watts it should be enough/plenty for what you currently stock. The only way to really know is with a Par meter and by watching coral over TIME. I have mushrooms in the dark, some in 180 par. Softies in 250par. They are all doing fine.
I personally like it a bit more balanced spectrum wise, doesn't mean its right for you.

Many opinions on this stuff. Be patient and you will eventually figure out what works.

 

[Trigger Tough]

If I understand correctly you have 1 light? Assuming your coral are under the light your settings are probably close. I would put U/V, V,RB,B even and adjust red,green, white to a color you like. I think if you are around 45 watts total power give or take 5 watts it should be enough/plenty for what you currently stock. The only way to really know is with a Par meter and by watching coral over TIME. I have mushrooms in the dark, some in 180 par. Softies in 250par. They are all doing fine.
I personally like it a bit more balanced spectrum wise, doesn't mean its right for you.

Many opinions on this stuff. Be patient and you will eventually figure out what works.

I’ve got 2 lights over the tank and it’s 3 feet long. Do you think 45w with 2 lights is overkill?

 

[JRWOHLER]

No your light is fine. You can run them at less than max for softy tank. I have 3 on 120 now but I run them at higher levels. I would look at ATI blue plus spectrum as a base setting for your lights,you can adjust the levels to come close to this. ATI T5 Blue Plus That is the tried and true spectrum for corals. Then if you want to add sunrise sunset levels in works well.

 

[Versys47]

I agree lights are fine. I had a reefer 250 with 2 Hydra and I ran them at 45watts power ea. 90 total.
I would start there with blues 3 or 4 times the white ratio. Example: 60 blue, 20 white, Or adjust white to your color preference.
Take pictures. Leave it for at least a couple of months. Watch for general animal happiness. Compare with photos for size reference/growth.

I was a chronic light adjuster because coral looked sad. That's why I bought the Seneye. Eventually figured out P04 and No3 at 0 is a bad thing.

Good luck!