MaxSpect R420R or AI Hydra 52?

[Skimmer Juice]

Originally Posted by Myka

If you want to add more SPS I'd suggest a switch to T5 instead of LED. The ATI T5 fixtures are currently probably the most popular lighting system of all types out there right now for SPS dominant systems.

Of the fixtures mentioned in this thread though, I dislike the Hydra the least.

this ^. I have a razor 160w 20k , a few kessil a360we . Used both lights on my mixed reef , both the maxspect and kessils did fine with a couple sps I have a bunch of high end zoas and some nems flower/bta with a ton of different lps .
razor :
pro: sleek
built in controller
good build quality
corals did fine
price

Cons:
disco ball effect

Kessil:
sleek
natural shimmer
color pop
small/easy to hang
price

Cons :
manual control
only 2 dials to adj (for people who need more control )( I dont use contollers like to manually adjust my lights , yes I know Im old )

So after using both lights for a while I ended up preferring the kessil instantly , the shimmer is ridiculous so natural looking . Used a single kessil for about 1 year everything did great zoas have great color , my lps loved the lighting more than any other corals , my 2 sps did fine but grew really slow . Just for the heck of it I decided to gut my old tek light removed all but 2 reflectors , cut some holes in the fixture for my kessil a360we .
Got to ati actinic bulbs dropped the kessil in and hung the light . The atinics were way different spectrum wise then I was expecting, I was expecting blue for night time however the at actinc were really pink looking and they really brought out some green in corals I had never seen before . While the t5 did take away some shimmer its worth it as with in a few days my zoas were really reacting well to the t5 supplement like night and day , the skirts got longer color stayed the same as the color was great under the kessil , and now the zoas were growing twice as fast as before . So in my opinion the best thing I ever did was combine the 2 lights together , now I have 2 a360we in the middle of my tek fixture running 2 39w t5 bulbs run the t5's for about 6-7 hrs a day and then just 2 a360we with the blue %100 and my corals love it .
So I would recommend selling your razor get 2 kessils and add 2 or more t5 bulbs and then dont worry about what corals you can and cant get . Dont get me wrong the ati hybrids are super nice I think the price is not worth what you pay for IMO I preffer the matrix chip in the kessil to the ati led clusters.
if Im going led Im sticking to kessils with t5 , here is my fixture it now has 2 a360we's in . I seen a couple tek lights on kijiji for $100 I think .




And a starfish riding a crab