2 options lighting in acro tank

xdusty6920

New member
I have to replace my current mh setup to finish a full tank overhaul. And I've narrowed it down to two choices and figured id get some other opinions. I'm torn between the two. Option one is lumenbright II mini pendants running radiums with an aquamedic m80 or luxcore select a watt ballast. The second option is the new Apollo solarblast uv 6000 LEDs. The apollos have great reviews, but I'm still on the fence with LEDs. So do I jump into a $1000 led unit or go with a tried and true mh setup for 800?
This tank is 90% sps with a few select zoas. Which seems like the right choice if it were you?
 
I prefer leds, the electric bill will be cheaper, the leds run cold to the touch, leds last a lot longer, almost 10 years. The initail purchase is alot but if you plan on having your tank for 2 years then the money saved on electricity will pay for the light easily. Bottom line, im satisfied with my leds lol.
 
It's a 75g standard. It has a large rock structure about 12-14 below the water surface and a huge canopy so I have quite a bit of give on how high or low to suspend any fixture.
 
My suggestion would be to talk to some local reefers and ask to see their SPS tanks with the different types of lighting. Chances are they will tell you honestly face to face what their experiences are with the lighting. I think oftentimes folks on here buy a type of lighting and then tend to defend it, talk it up to justify the purchase. This is pretty typical with human nature. In person, folks become more honest and you can see the results for yourself.

Don't forget the basics in this decision either. Will MH heat be an issue, will you need a chiller or dedicated AC unit? Will buying bulbs every year be an issue? With LED, even though folks say they last for 10 years, we don't really know how corals will do with them for that long or whether or not the electronics can last that long. Just a couple thoughts.
 
I have to replace my current mh setup to finish a full tank overhaul. And I've narrowed it down to two choices and figured id get some other opinions. I'm torn between the two. Option one is lumenbright II mini pendants running radiums with an aquamedic m80 or luxcore select a watt ballast. The second option is the new Apollo solarblast uv 6000 LEDs. The apollos have great reviews, but I'm still on the fence with LEDs. So do I jump into a $1000 led unit or go with a tried and true mh setup for 800?
This tank is 90% sps with a few select zoas. Which seems like the right choice if it were you?

If your tank is 90% sps then you better go halide if you want them to grow and do well IMHO maybe w a little led or even T5 supplementation for added colour pop
 
Rather than make a safe comment that doesn't speak poorly about one lighting setup over the other, I'll say this:

LED is still in its' infancy as to whether it can successfully color up and grow SPS corals long term. Many threads are started asking LED users to show their LED lit SPS tanks. In fact, they pop up weekly. They all start and end the same way. Someone shows a great tank with LED lighting, maybe gets a supporter or two, and then the pictures wain over time and become back and forth banter about different LED fixtures, photoperiods, loss of color, optics, spectrum of bulbs...etc. All the while, the pictures of successful tanks become further and further apart as the threads age. Do a search looking for SPS tanks using Radium bulbs and you'll notice a distinct difference...the pictures of successful tanks just keep on coming. Why is this? New technology usually makes the stuff of yesteryear obsolete. This however is not the case when halide is compared to LED running an SPS tank.

All things being equal, many like to say that it could be the flow, pests or some other parameter out of sync that may be causing problems, but don't dare point the finger at LED lighting because "it's here to stay". This is nonsense. There are so many hobbyists disappointed in their LED lighting results when in fact it is the only change they've made to their tanks when things started going wrong. Turning a blind eye would be negating your observational abilities to recognize the obvious. Recently, someone posted a picture of their LED tank under an expensive fixture after they'd stirred the sanded. The water was cloudy and you could clearly see the color variations within the individual beams of light far down in the tank. There was absolutely no color mixing like there is in a halide bulb or even dispersion from a reflected t5 setup. To me, this screams "stay away" because the same large coral could be receiving 3 or four unmixed spectrums of color on different parts of the colony.

Nobody wants to admit that their very expensive LED setup may not be worth keeping, yet the for sale forums are full of hardly used fixtures at discounted prices. Fortunately, I can afford any lighting setup I want, but I don't feel like tinkering with a new lighting technology to try and get it right when there's something so simple as plug and play metal halides. Sure, I spend more on electric and need a chiller in the summer, but the costs of running my setup pale in comparison to losing my SPS corals to something that should be so simple as lighting. The early adopters of any technology act as as guinea pigs for the rest of us. I personally feel that until LED lighting can mimic or exceed the growth, coloration and longterm success of SPS corals that it's not worth the investment at all. The technology is changing so rapidly. This, in itself is an indication that the manufacturers know they aren't there yet. After some calculating, I realized that the break even point of my tank replacing halide bulbs and electrical usage as opposed to going full LED was in the 7-8 year range...hardly worth the switch at all. I realize this is opinion, but I still haven't seen one SPS tank with its' primary lighting being LED that I would aspire to emulate.

Do yourself a favor. Stick with M80 ballasts, run your Radium bulbs and grow some wicked nice SPS corals. You can spend the difference on nice frags. Or, if you have the time to fiddle around and see if you can make it work, then maybe your pioneering spirit is drawn to LED's. Some hobbyists have made them work, but this is far from the norm.
 
It's a 75g standard. It has a large rock structure about 12-14 below the water surface and a huge canopy so I have quite a bit of give on how high or low to suspend any fixture.

Dusty,

Those frags you got from me Saturday all came from under a 4 bulb setup of T5s in my 75g tank.

You can look through this thread for more pics---

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2197142&page=6

I know it's not an option you mentioned, but I'd suggest an ATI Sunpower--4 or 6 bulb.
 
Nanook is right. Go and look at some tanks. If you will be happy with the LED lit SPS tank, then get some. If you want a MH lit SPS tank, then get those. They are different. Don't believe anybody who tells you that LED will grow and color SPS like MH will, but you might be happy with the difference.

If you look at a critical mass of tanks, you will unequivocally know what you want.

FWIW, I use HQI and there are MANY people on this forum who have bought multiple LED panels since I last changed my MH bulbs (24 months).
 
I just ordered an Apollo UV 6000 so I will let you know how it does. I have a Cayman Sun MH, 400w right now. I plan on doing PAR numbers for both.
 
It's a 75g standard. It has a large rock structure about 12-14 below the water surface and a huge canopy so I have quite a bit of give on how high or low to suspend any fixture.


Dusty - I saw you are from Columbus. First of all Go Bucks! Yea...I noticed your avatar :D

I'm not sure if you have been out to Reef Systems Coral Farm in New Albany, but I would check them out. They have the Apollos out there and you will be able to see the fixtures for yourself, along with the growth they produce.

The owner has a ton of SPS knowledge and can help you out with your decision. He has all variations of lighting systems for sale. I
 
Dusty - I saw you are from Columbus. First of all Go Bucks! Yea...I noticed your avatar :D

I'm not sure if you have been out to Reef Systems Coral Farm in New Albany, but I would check them out. They have the Apollos out there and you will be able to see the fixtures for yourself, along with the growth they produce.

The owner has a ton of SPS knowledge and can help you out with your decision. He has all variations of lighting systems for sale. I

I stopped in there a couple of weeks ago and had an hour conversation with the guy. He is a big believer in bare bottom tanks, LEDs, and no feeding f corals. Their SPS corals lack color, to put it mildly. Cool facility though and they've got some nice clams outside in the raceways..
 
Ive used leds and the growth are not the same as when I had 400w halides..now im running led t5 hybrid and the colors and growth is getting better..
 
My suggestion would be to talk to some local reefers and ask to see their SPS tanks with the different types of lighting. Chances are they will tell you honestly face to face what their experiences are with the lighting. I think oftentimes folks on here buy a type of lighting and then tend to defend it, talk it up to justify the purchase. This is pretty typical with human nature. In person, folks become more honest and you can see the results for yourself.

Don't forget the basics in this decision either. Will MH heat be an issue, will you need a chiller or dedicated AC unit? Will buying bulbs every year be an issue? With LED, even though folks say they last for 10 years, we don't really know how corals will do with them for that long or whether or not the electronics can last that long. Just a couple thoughts.

+1 on this advice

I would also like to add that I used MH vho combo for years and they do work well no question about it. But I could get away from the electric bill the heat they gave off and not to mention bulb replacement on the vho every nine months with also changing the 400watt radium yearly.

Then I switched to LEDs and at first I was taken back by how many different options you could get to change the color to your liking something MH couldn't give me. My all Sps tank is getting better and better everyday and my growth is good. Remember color and growth is affected by more then just lighting and I can't emphasize that enought.

If I could do it again I would by LEDs again I just wish they would come out with something new ever few months that makes you want to upgrade. That's why I think you see so many for sale on the threads but they really aren't that much cheaper.

By the way I run a radion G1 with TIR lens.

Good luck on your choice as there are plenty of them.
 
IME, LED's can give colors just as good or better than halides, BUT i've only seen this in very established tanks. I think the point source intensity is too much for SPS in newer, cleaner systems. I don't think SPS with lighter colors (less zoox) in a low nutrient system tolerate the intensity of LED very well. I've experienced this myself switching from 400w radium to LED radion 40% and burning SPS.
The nicest SPS systems under LED that I have seen have been up for many years, have a larger bio-load, and have deeper colors in general (even before they used LED). I'm guessing the organic po4 available to the corals in these systems keeps the zooxanthellae population higher, allowing the corals to flourish under such point specific and intense light?

I don't really know :) Just speculation and observation...... and yes there are a million newbs that will push LED's when they really don't have much experience in other lightings.
 
Back
Top