Our Lighting comparison ATI t5 sunPower/Hydra 26 HD's

[john.m.cole3]

I cut my whites out and reduced my blues by half. Only 5 hours of blues while I fight this. .. already seeing improvements. I hope everyone else's tanks are thriving and please post pics and lighting info regardless.

 

[john.m.cole3]

From the poll, it looks like running a combination of LED and T5 is more popular by a landslide. Hey @jsker, I'll trade you 3 of my T5 bulbs for one of your LED fixtures?!?!

 

[jsker]

From the poll, it looks like running a combination of LED and T5 is more popular by a landslide. Hey @jsker, I'll trade you 3 of my T5 bulbs for one of your LED fixtures?!?!

That is what I was noticing too. As long at they are Blue I am working out of the office today, and cleaning rock and vacuuming.

 

[ifarmer]

man, the thread's title got me excited.
Well, after having read thru everything single posts in this thread and did not get to see any ATI Sunpower and Hydra comparison at all.
Did I miss anything?

 

[jsker]

man, the thread's title got me excited.
Well, after having read thru everything single posts in this thread and did not get to see any ATI Sunpower and Hydra comparison at all.
Did I miss anything?

This is a comparison, the tread is only about a month old and we are comparing how our tank look with the lights. As in reefing patients prevails, the changes are not going to happen over night. We are looking for others to post pictures of the tanks with either light and also there feed back.
Is there a question that you have? Are you looking to upgrade your light and came to the thread for information on either light? Then ask away.

 

[BryanS4]

I had led's in the past and changed over to a Sunpower unit. I liked the Led's, but notice a huge difference in color and growth when I added T5 supplements. I thought to myself, man what would running and all T5 system do for my corals. Best change I've personally made to date.

My tank is really young, just over a year. 3 blue plus, 1 coral plus, 1 purple plus and 1 actinic. I switched over to the Aquaforst line last weekend. Right now just running the salt, np pro and pro bio s. I'm not adding any of the coral supplements until po3 gets really low. No3 already reading zero, granted I did stop dosing and my tank ran 0 before I started dosing to keep it around 3-5.

 

[jsker]

Really nice setup.
@john.m.cole3 has the ATI lights, and really likes them. I was at RAP yesterday and asked a couple of question on spectrum with the Hydra's I have. What brand of LED's did you have, if you do not mind me asking.

I have been running Aquaforest Salt, and dosing Aquaforest in my tank now for about two months now. I am really happy with how simple it is to run there dosing. To be honest, yes I have lost a couple of corals due to the changes I have made in the past three months and also due to me making quick changes to the system. I will say that my corals have really colored up nicely with running Aquaforest and the new lights.

Thank you @BryanS4 for posting. Please please feel free to post updates on you lights and how your system is doing.

 

[UKMarineGuy]

Using hydra 26hd set to almost all uv with a touch of white and blue to hold a 400-450nm wavelength. My Acans have morphed into good colours since

 

[jsker]

It seems that running less white's and red makes a big difference over all. The one thing that I have notice is that coraline algae has been sparse in the past. Today looking at the tank I am see more coraline growing.

Thank you for you post @UKMarineGuy

 

[john.m.cole3]

I think the comparison will be a waiting game for sure. I have actual growth on my candy cane coral in the past month. It started as having 14 heads and now has 4 more heads w/ an additional 2 that are about to split. I'm sorry it's more like 5 weeks that I've been running my T5 fixture. when I ran my old Orbit LEDs, I sprouted 1 new head on my hammer coral in 6 months time. I know that is not a fair comparison, but those are the kinds of changes we are reporting and would like to hear from others. I use a 6 bulb ATI dimmable w/ 2 coral +, 2 blue +, actinic, and purple plus. Kalk in my ATO for supplements.

I think it will be interesting to see the difference in growth patterns and growth rates over the course of a year to show a true comparison. @jsker and I have talked about creating this thread for a month or 2 before it existed and we agree that the fun lies within the journey and not so much the result.

 

[john.m.cole3]

I had led's in the past and changed over to a Sunpower unit. I liked the Led's, but notice a huge difference in color and growth when I added T5 supplements. I thought to myself, man what would running and all T5 system do for my corals. Best change I've personally made to date.

My tank is really young, just over a year. 3 blue plus, 1 coral plus, 1 purple plus and 1 actinic. I switched over to the Aquaforst line last weekend. Right now just running the salt, np pro and pro bio s. I'm not adding any of the coral supplements until po3 gets really low. No3 already reading zero, granted I did stop dosing and my tank ran 0 before I started dosing to keep it around 3-5.

What size tank and fixture is that?

 

[jsker]

I think the comparison will be a waiting game for sure. I have actual growth on my candy cane coral in the past month. It started as having 14 heads and now has 4 more heads w/ an additional 2 that are about to split. I'm sorry it's more like 5 weeks that I've been running my T5 fixture. when I ran my old Orbit LEDs, I sprouted 1 new head on my hammer coral in 6 months time. I know that is not a fair comparison, but those are the kinds of changes we are reporting and would like to hear from others. I use a 6 bulb ATI dimmable w/ 2 coral +, 2 blue +, actinic, and purple plus. Kalk in my ATO for supplements.

I think it will be interesting to see the difference in growth patterns and growth rates over the course of a year to show a true comparison. @jsker and I have talked about creating this thread for a month or 2 before it existed and we agree that the fun lies within the journey and not so much the result.

As you can see @john.m.cole3 is a much better writer than I, and I agree.

 

[jsker]

Hey Hydra 26 guys if you are looking for a great way to wall mount your lights, check out this thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hydra-26-mount-for-under-20.183735/ @atoll came up with this one

 

[BryanS4]

What size tank and fixture is that?

Tank is a 125g and fixture is a 6 x 80.

 

[UKMarineGuy]

Or without holes in walls use a £20 maxspect razor nano mount

 

[jsker]

World Premere of my next Video 50 days of Hydra 26 hd's This one is for you @Sabellafella I am starting to get the swing of thing with Adobe. I just need to shut everything off next time so that the auto focus work correctly
Enjoy all @john.m.cole3

 

[Sabellafella]

World Premere of my next Video 50 days of Hydra 26 hd's This one is for you @Sabellafella I am starting to get the swing of thing with Adobe. I just need to shut everything off next time so that the auto focus work correctly
Enjoy all @john.m.cole3

Haha love the video bud, is that an earlie fairy i see?

 

[jsker]

Haha love the video bud, is that an earlie fairy i see?

Supposed to be an 8 liner?

 

[Sabellafella]

Supposed to be an 8 liner?

Ohh lolol it looks like an earls fairy wrasse.

 

[jsker]

Ohh lolol it looks like an earls fairy wrasse.

There you there you go then, stripe is and earls fairy. I think I will rename him the Earl of Whechler, Earl for short. Sounds so much better than stripe any way..