Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

I'm working on pictures with my iPhone with a camera app. This a pic of a 4" Hawkins blue.
u7eruda2.jpg
 
Thinking about it, well no. I already did the swap! 2 90gal tanks hooked into the same sump, so the only difference was the lights. I ran this test for over a year and a half. When I transferred back the sps from the led tank to the mh they started to grow liked their fragged twins I the hm tank. Some say they can get LEDs to grow stuff but I was unable. I may rerun the test with radions. Right now I have 2k worth of LEDs which make great accent lights and or sump lighting:(
 
power boat jim said:
Acroporaddict that is a beautiful tank. On the temp subject I think too that warmer is somewhat better. I lost my largest and oldest two colonies this winter and after reading the above posts I believe it was due to low temp. I think I had a week of prolonged temp below 74 deg. during one of the polar vortex outbreaks. I noticed the tank temp at 74 and bought 2 more heaters. Its been 78 and now closer to 80 with the MH experiment going on.
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I'm located in Shorewood, IL so I hear you on the polar vortex. I lowered my temp to 76 from 79 because the electric bill jumped. My tanks are in the basement and it's unfinished.
 
unitedbga said:
I'm located in Shorewood, IL so I hear you on the polar vortex. I lowered my temp to 76 from 79 because the electric bill jumped. My tanks are in the basement and it's unfinished.
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We should be ok on temp now, I just wished I had noticed it earlier. My sump is in the basement annd the pipes run trhough the unheated crawlspace between the fish room and basement. I think thats what really helped crash the temp.
 
Not exactly dumping leds but yes I am switching to halides. I have the Pacific Sun Pandora unit for the last 5 months. During these five months corals have colored up very nice. But I still feel that the growth is lacking.

My belief so far about leds is that they can color and grow corals but require a lot of research on the user part. Metal halide is simply put the radium in and watch them grow.

I got a giesemann spectra 400w unit and in coming months will monitor the growth and color. If I am happy then I am keeping the halides if not then I am switching back to leds.

No need to pay more for electric and have more heat if the outcome is similar.

Time will tell. :dance:
 
One thing I have noticed while running halides while my LEDs are being fixed is increased evaporation.
The heat being vented out of my halide fixture makes my AC work overtime, which in turn causes increased evaporation.
The look and feel of halides can't be beat, but neither can the energy savings of LEDs.
Hopefully when I get my Illumina back with the multi-color modules, I will have the best of both worlds.:fish1:
 
Uncle Salty 05 said:
One thing I have noticed while running halides while my LEDs are being fixed is increased evaporation.
The heat being vented out of my halide fixture makes my AC work overtime, which in turn causes increased evaporation.
The look and feel of halides can't be beat, but neither can the energy savings of LEDs.
Hopefully when I get my Illumina back with the multi-color modules, I will have the best of both worlds.:fish1:
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That is the reason I went to LEDs in the first place. Its a hidden cost of MH. they can dump a ton of heat into a room. Works well during a polar voertex outbreak though.

Its been been 8 days since I put the 400w radium over the center of my tank and placing the corals that didnt seem to do well under the LEDs there. So far the results are not that much different the the LEDs. Two small frags picked up just a touch of color, a tenious that was dull from being shaded by another coral has recovered nicely in its new location under MH. I am still waiting for the blue dragon to come alive with color. The brown millie is still brown at this point and still not growing. That was the one I was hoped would color up under the MH but nothing yet. Since nothing real bad is happining I will leave the light there for a good while and see what more time will do.
 
8 days isn't very long, I'm sure your coral will respond to the halide lighting.

I am glad that my MH fixture has old (due for replacement) bulbs in it.
If it had new Radiums I wold probably never go back to LEDs.
 
power boat jim said:
That is the reason I went to LEDs in the first place. Its a hidden cost of MH. they can dump a ton of heat into a room. Works well during a polar voertex outbreak though.

Its been been 8 days since I put the 400w radium over the center of my tank and placing the corals that didnt seem to do well under the LEDs there. So far the results are not that much different the the LEDs. Two small frags picked up just a touch of color, a tenious that was dull from being shaded by another coral has recovered nicely in its new location under MH. I am still waiting for the blue dragon to come alive with color. The brown millie is still brown at this point and still not growing. That was the one I was hoped would color up under the MH but nothing yet. Since nothing real bad is happining I will leave the light there for a good while and see what more time will do.
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You need to give it a trial of 3-6 months Jim. At least that was my experience when I made the system-wide switch to halides from Radions. Some corals change really slowly.
 
AcroporAddict said:
You need to give it a trial of 3-6 months Jim. At least that was my experience when I made the system-wide switch to halides from Radions. Some corals change really slowly.
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As long as things dont go bad, I have no reason to believe they will, I can leave the lights the way they are. A hybrid LED MH might be the best of both worlds. We'll see.

It would be nice to have a tank where corals that do better under certain lights can be kept together and not have to compromise.
 
Here my meager experience with LED's versus Halides. In the last year, I first had a 40BR with a single 250W DE Halide (14K Phoenix). After about 8 months or so of it, I switched to a DIY LED sourcing parts from Rapid LED. I did change out some LEDs for more regular blue's and NW's. After about 6+ months or so here's what I see:

- LED's will definitely grow corals, no question.
- LED's are far more flexible and easily customizable for color, strength, and so much more. It comes at the cost of technical skill and patience, but well worth it.

BUT, I'll say this now: I am in the middle of an upgrade and will, for now, be switching back to Halides (only halides, no supplementation).

WHY? With a nontechnical explanation and I am simply too tired to dig through photos and what not... I miss the power (Maybe it's the shine or intensity) of the MH light. I miss the color the 14K's MH bulb gave the tank, it just felt more natural. Also, IME (Obviously this is just me, I speak for no one else) my growth rates for all corals (I have a mixed reef with all
three general types of corals) under MH's were just astounding.

Another BUT: The growth under LED's were good. No if's or but's about this. Unfortunately something is causing all my SPS to start looking the same color... Minus the Monti Cap. Same purple tips with light greenish body. Oh well.

After looking at my reef videos with the halide, I just though "I tried but I miss the Halide, I'll probably visit LEDs again in about two years". I love the idea and quite frankly, the sheer amount of customization plus the DIYing of it. I look forward to it the next time I try it, especially to see where the future tech brings it.
 
power boat jim said:
We should be ok on temp now, I just wished I had noticed it earlier. My sump is in the basement annd the pipes run trhough the unheated crawlspace between the fish room and basement. I think thats what really helped crash the temp.
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Sorry your tank crashed.
Can you wrap the pipes that go through the crawlspace?
 
I have also switched back from led to T5. Since then the colors of my corals are much beter. With led the colors seem to slowly fade after a while. The blue leds where very good in masking that effect.

I have also done a DIY project in combining MH with blue, royal blue and cyan leds. I can recommend this as being a good replacement for the blue T5 bulb.
 
Electrobes said:
- LED's will definitely grow corals, no question.
- LED's are far more flexible and easily customizable for color, strength, and so much more. It comes at the cost of technical skill and patience, but well worth it.
.
Click to expand...

I think the end statement is the one that really sums it up. There is so much that you do with LED's today and every 6 months when a new series of LED's comes out the spectrum is broadened. However just as LED's can be customizable to give you fantastic lighting they can also be the wrong combination and create new issues for you.

Tes I would say LED's can surpass MH's as well as T-5's in every aspect of lighting especially spectrum flexibility, economical operation, shimmer, even light distribution, and initial cost on a DIY bases.

But the key is knowing what you want and how to get it. Some commercial systems are nice but unless your spending big dollars they are not customizable to the average person to meet there needs. And dollars spent in all cases does equal better quality.

It is unbelievable on a LED DIY system where just changing 2 out of 24 LED's can change to total effect of the tanks appearance and the growth of the corals. Add to that everyone's color taste is not the same so making a mass produced commercial fixture to please everyone is nearly impossible.
 
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