The AI Prime and Hydra line of lights are arguably some of the most popular LED aquarium lights the hobby has ever enjoyed, and a new company is planning to extend the lives of older models. Luxdium has been in pseudo stealth mode for over a year creating the first replacement LED pucks for primes and hydras by a third party company.
While the Prime 16, Hydra 32 and 64 are still relatively new there is a huge population of older primes, hydra 26 and 52 out in the world, many of which have grown spectacular corals over their lifetimes, but probably put some wear on their light emitting diodes while doing it. This is where the Luxdium LUX Engine comes in, with three different spectra to choose from so you can optimize your Prime or Hydra’s light engine before you even start tuning it.
One notable departure from the stock spectrum of the Primes and Hydras is that the LUX Engine does away with any green or red diodes, and steeply restricts the amount of white LEDs. This design choice allows Luxdium to incorporate a lot more and different shades of blue light that are mostly new to the platform including violet, indigo, deep blue and some shades with fancy names like Ocean Blue and Sky Blue.
The LUX Engines from Luxdium cost $86 each and are only intended to be used with the Prime HD, Hydra 26 HD and Hydra 52 HD light fixtures from Aqua Illumination. With so many of AI’s previous gen LED light fixtures in the wider hobby it’s nice to see them get a second chance at light while saving their current owners a nice chunk of change on the upgrade.
