Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

[Hodge1995]

I wont get into the back and forth other than to offer my observation. I had metal halide for years 3 250mh to be exact on a 300. I wrestled with the led thing for a long time and I mean along time about 2 years before I found some that I felt deserved a shot. I have never seen growth on my coral like I do with these leds. I for one will never go back to mh. The lack of heat (although they run hotter than I expected), The ability to more closely mimic the sunrise/ sunset , no bulb changes , and the ability to adjust the "color" to my liking just make them a good choice for me.

 

[Johnseye]

"With LEDs we can dial into any spectrum we want."

"Another issue is dialing in enough PAR with enough spread for growth. Deeper tanks have less light towards the bottom due to PAR levels. Glass tops reduce the PAR value in the tank. The height of the light above the tank reduces the PAR. This will all restrict growth. If LEDs can put out enough PAR before they reach the point where they put out as much heat as a MH rig, and the color spectrum and spread is dialed in, there will be no need for MH or T5."

IMO and IME the above statements simply are not true YET.
The bolded IF above is a mighty big one.
I have invested $3300.00 in the best LED fixture I could find after doing extensive research and even with all of the variables at my disposal my LEDs simply cannot match the look and feel of MHs.
My LEDs are 3" above the water (open tank) and my halides were maybe 6-8" off the water.

I don't think you mean to say that my statement wasn't true, but that there isn't an ideal LED rig with respect to color and PAR available yet. I was not stating LED was there yet, which is why I used the word "If" and you picked up on that.

The best thing we as hobbyists can do is to both encourage manufacturers of LEDs to produce bulbs with high PAR output and to test with color spectrum variations. The former likely has high costs to the manufacturer and the latter has high costs to us. Manufacturers are going to make lights defined by the spectrums we know already because that's what people know and will buy. There are some like Build My LED that allow for a custom light configuration but the cost is on us to experiment.

 

[mypepper]

This only my opinion, which I ran metal halides for 15 years and switch to the AI Vega Color units when the came out and recently upgraded to the AI Hydra 52 units.

For myself, I would never go back to metal halides due to the controllability of the lighting, no more heat buildup, and overall coral growth in my tank.

Sure my corals went into shock when I first introduced LED lighting to them, but after a year of slowly introducing the LED light intensity to them, my corals are thriving.

Don't get me wrong, Metal Halides are great, but I prefer LED's now.

Thanks,
Randy

 

[nynick]

Who exactly are these people?
There don't seem to be many on this thread.
And BTW I do have decades of experience in the hobby.

NOBODY has decades of experience with LEDs.

They are "most people I know", I thought I made that pretty clear in my post by typing out "most people I know".

Also, I obviously wasn't suggesting that people had decades of experience with led for reefs...but you already knew that.

You can call it what you want, "tell it like it is" or "shoot from the hip" but the fact remains that most of the time it is just off topic, argumentative and rude.

 

[JPMagyar]

A few interesting tid-bits from my tank . . . which for anyone that doesn't know, is a Radium/ metal halide lit tank

first here is what I trimmed and threw out which represents growth since January . . . . albeit growth from faster growing corals . . . still . . . a lotta growth (I was gonna show just the bucket picture, but then I fished the coral out of the garbage to show a better picture)

and then a couple photos showing coral growth from Feb 27th to today so roughly 3.5 months . . .

 

[EllisJuan]

A few interesting tid-bits from my tank . . .

first here is what I trimmed and threw out which represents growth since January . . . . albeit growth from faster growing corals . . . still . . . a lotta growth (I was gonna show just the bucket picture, but then I fished the coral out of the garbage to show a better picture)

and then a couple photos showing coral growth from Feb 27th to today so roughly 3.5 months . . .

Damn. Next time hit me up and send that stuff to me. I'll pay shipping...lol

 

[d2mini]

Yeah, seriously Joe!
This is what I was referring to in my previous post about closing the financial gap with frag sales. You'd have yearly bulbs costs covered in a few months worth of frags.

 

[JPMagyar]

They were "garbage corals". Purple Monti Cap that I am trying to exterminate. Blue tip tenuis that no one really wants and that grows like 2 inches a day and lime green stag and orange monti digi both of which also grow like weeds. If you guys really want some of that I'm happy to send boat loads for free in September when I trim again

oh and here's the obligatory FTS plus another from February for comparison's sake.

 

[sirreal63]

I understand not selling them, twice in the past year I have removed a 5 gallon bucket of Caps, the time investment in selling frags is sometimes not worth it. I would have given them away but no one near me wanted them. It was just easier to let them dry out for future CaRx use.

 

[Webmanny]

Damn!!! This discussion is getting heated.

I just have to share these... LOL

Removed

 

[AD87]

I'm not taking offense to these but damn that can ruin someone's day dude. The last one is pretty offensive to some people.

 

[Khemul]

I did not mean it as a personal attack.
But to say the cooling and other concerns do not figure into the equation is only true for those with no financial worries.
Like I said earlier, if I were single and wealthy I would have MH on all of my tanks, but due to financial concerns it is not feasible.
If I offended you or Khemul, I do apologize.
I have a tendency to shoot from the hip sometimes and speak before I think it through, plus I haven't had my coffee yet.

No offense taken, since I'm not one of the people in that group anyways. Otherwise, I agree. Bunch of elitist SPS snobs. :beer:

Personally, I have a DIY LED fixture with a single T5HO bulb over a soft coral tank. Half the corals in there would be happy under a warm white CFL. The primary reason I put together the LED fixture is because I got tired of answering "why do you need to spend money on new bulbs, they seem to still be working perfectly fine?" from certain people in the household whenever bulb replacement time came around.

 

[Webmanny]

I'm not taking offense to these but damn that can ruin someone's day dude. The last one is pretty offensive to some people.

Agreed. Removed. I guess I have a darker humor than the rest of the world. My apologies if I offended anyone who got to see the picture before it was removed.

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

I'm not taking offense to these but damn that can ruin someone's day dude. The last one is pretty offensive to some people.

Then they are mighty thin skinned.
No words can ruin my day.
Only I can do that.

 

[AD87]

That's what makes us human. Ha.

Back to the thread....


I have yet to see a led lit sps tank that meets my expectations. I hope the whatever seems to be "off" with the spectrum is corrected with these new fixtures hitting the market.

Ati has recently come out with a fixture but only time will tell.

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

I woke up early this morning and watched one of my favorite movies, 2001 A Space Odyssey. Much of the technology depicted in the film was not in existence when the film was made. Things like Velcro and Skype for instance. They do now.
So why do we not have the giant rotating space station and moon bases depicted? One word: Money. We have the technology, we have brave men and women willing to put their lives at risk to make it happen, but rather than band together as a species and reach for the stars we choose to go on killing one another and trying to make ourselves as comfortable as possible because it is cheaper and easier.
To say that money does not figure into decision making on aquarium lighting or any human endeavor for that matter is beyond stupid.
Financial situations are as unique as we as individuals are. Some have lots of money at their disposal, others don't.
Sometimes sacrifices have to be made in the name of money. Everything is a question of "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"

Just my humble opinion.

 

[Mikefromaz]

I have been hanging with this thread almost since day one. The bottom line is I have to love my reef. I have to spend my money on it and I have to "suck it up" when the occasional failure comes along. Its nice when other people say "hey thats a nice tank", but I can tell anyone I don't live for other peoples approval or affirmations. The old saying "thats why they make opinions so everyone can have one" is as true about reef tanks as anything else. 'Nuff said .
'

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

Thanks Mike. My name is Mike as well.
I love my reef every bit as much as you love yours, but when making decisions on it's care money always comes into play. When the economy was good I bought brand name kalk from the LFS, today I buy 5 lbs. of Mrs Wages for 1/4 the cost. Some people spend hundreds on an ATO with float switches.
I employ an aqualifter on a lamp timer that does the same thing just as reliably for a fraction of the cost. I'm not saying don't spend money on your tank, I'm just saying do not spend it foolishly.

 

[Scorpius]

Thanks Mike. My name is Mike as well.
I love my reef every bit as much as you love yours, but when making decisions on it's care money always comes into play. When the economy was good I bought brand name kalk from the LFS, today I buy 5 lbs. of Mrs Wages for 1/4 the cost. Some people spend hundreds on an ATO with float switches.
I employ an aqualifter on a lamp timer that does the same thing just as reliably for a fraction of the cost. I'm not saying don't spend money on your tank, I'm just saying do not spend it foolishly.

I wouldn't call a $200 ATO foolish, I'd call it a product for the person who isn't knowledgeable in the building of ATO's.

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

How much knowledge does it take to plug an aqualifter into a lamp timer?
I am not trying to be snide here.

Scorpius, I was born a Hoosier.