I was going to write something about the soft corals I have this week but events have rather overtaken that. I got a call from my LFS on Wednesday to say my Red Sea LEDs were being delivered. Luckily Wednesday is their late night opening so after work I made the trek over there. I managed to get out of the shop without getting a coral fix but the shock from the LEDs was pretty bad for the credit card...
I got home and after something to eat I started unpacking the lights. Everything was well packed and I started following the instructions. On opening the first Hydra I realised they were painted black. I looked at the boxes and they were all labelled as black, implying that there were white units as well. As I had ordered a white unit to go with my tank I stopped construction until I could speak to my LFS and Red Sea. Later in the evening I looked at the Red Sea video and they seemed to be black units in their white trim set up so I was confused. So on Thursday morning I had a quick chat with
@RedSeaKev and he reassured me that is was only the trim that was white. So Thursday night I got everything completed. The construction was very straight forward. Four screw fix the chassis together and then 2 screws and a bracket fix each Hydra. I had it finished in maybe 30 minutes.
The networking took a little longer. I downloaded the Android App and found the WiFi key for my router and got the first Hydra working. It asked to do a firmware update which I let it do. I then switched on the other 3 units but because they were running the old firmware the upgraded unit couldn't find them. They have a parent / child set up with one controlling the others. So I set up one of the 3 news ones as a parent and quickly got the other two working off that one. I had light again! I played with the settings a bit on my phone and on my computer and then it was time for bed.
@RedSeaKev had posted that Red Sea had done a profile for the lights which mimics the reef spectrum of the T5 so I emailed Kev and also asked about getting the single light working on the same parent / child group as the others. Kev duly emailed back and all are now talking to each other and I'm running the Red Sea profile with a little Red and Green added.
So first thoughts on the lights. Well they certainly run cooler. I liked the 'gull wing' look of the T5s but it is easier working in the tank now as I just move the mesh cover I've added and I'm in. No more lifting up the wings. The tank looks more blue than it did but some of the corals have more 'pop'. Too early to say how the corals feel about it but the fish certainly appreciate the slow sunset rather than the abrupt cut off with the T5s. The tank is running cooler too.
My other big news in the tank is that the copperband is going to have to go. I've been watching him all weekend and he is definitely snacking on my Acans. He is picking on 3 of them but all are pretty closed up. I thought he was going after my Duncans too but they are looking good today. My Favites war coral is also closed up but not seen him going for them.
I'm going to swap him for another copperband they have that is about the same size. It is a real shame has he is quite a character. He follows me up and down the tank, is not scared when I'm working in the tank and I reckon I could get him hand feeding. He is so comical when he is searching the rocks for a snack. You can see him looking this way and that with his eyes and I've seen him turn himself upside down in a cave.
Lets hope the replacement is less hungry for LPS but maintains the same engaging character....
