Upgraded from AI SOL SuperBlue to Hydra

I've upgraded two of my AI SOL SuperBlue fixtures that hang above my 55g tank to Hydra. From reading online, it seems Hydra pucks have a very broad spectrum and include UV/Violet. It's also now wireless with AIs wireless controller (which is kind of crappy), but can also work with upcoming AI Director.

I took some pictures during the upgrade, figured I'd share if someone is interested:

AI SuperBlue cover off, board removed:




Old SOL Superblue 3 LED pucks removed (Blue, Deep-Blue, Cool White):




SOL -> Hydra upgrade kit in a box:




Ooo, shiney:




Hydra upgrade kit:




New 5-led pucks (two middle pucks have red/green/uv/violet leds, two outside pucks have cool white, blue and deep blue):




Mounting new pucks:




Installing new board (note the wireless add-on card up top):




All done:




I'll post some tank shots later and my impressions after a few days.

Cheers.

 

Awesome write up and pics.

 

Thanks for posting. I love seeing the process. I know I always want to take pictures but I get caught up in doing the new part install that I forget to take pictures.

 

So I ended up running my fixture in Fiji regional profile, with max intensities of everything at 100% except red/green, which I have set at 60%. Night mode I have UV 1%, Violet 1% and Deep Blue 1%. Night time looks pretty amazing.

So far my impressions are mixed bust mostly positive:

Pros:
- Better and more uniform overall tank coverage, wider optics help for sure
- Addition of UV and Violet LEDs make fluorescent bits pop more without drowning non-fluorescent colors.
- Green and red LEDs at half the intensity of other LEDs works great and shows off more coral colors

Cons:
- Overall I do not think the lights are as bright as my SOL SuperBlues. Hydra at everything at 100% to my eye seems to have same intensity as my SOLs did around 60%. Given, I never ran SOLs higher than 60% as it would start to stress my corals. Please take this bit with a grain of salt, as looks may be deceptive. A par meter would really tell.

- Red and Green LEDs at same intensity as the rest produce a bit of red/green disco ball effect. At half intensity, it's not noticeable and lighting looks more uniform.

Undecided:
- Visually tank coloration is warmer. Dialing red down helps dial out the red/light purple tint. I can't tell if I like it or not, it's just different from what my SOL SuperBlues looked like. I don't dislike it, but I am not wowed either.

- What is going to make or brake this upgrade is finding out if broader light spectrum and addition of UV helps coral coloration/growth. Will need a few month to tell.

 

Not surprising that it "seems less bright". The Sol's have 8 white diodes, and the Hydra, only 4. My eye always seemed to judge the brightness of the lights by the intensities of only the whites...assuming our eyes depict the white diode spectrums easier than the blues/violets. I had guessed after reading the specs that one would need at least 3 of these over a standard 90 gallon SPS tank.

 

Some pics. It's a 20" tall tank. Lights are 6" above ground. Mixed reef with tons of softies and few SPS. Very new to SPS and so far was able to keep some successfully, but ALK is not stable enough for acros Going to rectify that in my new 125g with dosing pumps and controller.

I noticed Clam got a ton more coloration/color variations since I upgraded to Hydra.

 

Now that's a deep sand bed!

 

Heh. It constantly changes thanks to my 2y old diamond goby. Not having a sump, I think it helps. This tank is 2.5y old.

 

I was going to say the same thing! Gotta love sand sifting gobies and jawfish!

 

I am actually deciding what to do with my new 125g rimless. It's going to have only about 1" of sand in my DT and deeper sand bed in the sump fuge.

Wonder if I should get a goby/jawfish, but I am worried that's not enough sand for them.

Also, I pretty much figured you can't keep any cool plate corals or any other corals that sit on the sand, since gobies will just burry them.

I'll sure miss diamond goby's personality. Any thoughts?