Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

RVANANO said:
Almost all my SPS is at the middle or higher. I want to say the fixture is about 14" from the water. I will double check and report back. My bulbs are definitely past their due date for replacement so perhaps that is contributing. Not looking forward to replacing 3- MH's and 8- T5's right around the holidays.
Click to expand...

Right, but i thought i remembered your rock work being pretty low.
I had rock that went up to only 6" below the surface of the water and had sps mounted there, with my mh 10" off the surface.

Not sure about your Geisemann bulbs but my Radium bulbs were good for at least 14 months. Never saw any issue towards the end of their life span.

Basically, if we are assuming water quality, stability, etc is all perfect and are thinking there is an issue with lighting, I would guess the issue is not enough of it.
And you would need one heck of a lot of leds to cover that tank and penetrate deep enough. If you think a few bulbs is costly... woahhhhh nelly. ;)
 
btw, the math has been done in this thread alone several times.
If you are looking at off the shelf units like Radions... in order to cover your tank with enough light, you would be looking at a minimum of 3 years before you even break even, considering the costs of power and bulbs. The savings is not nearly as much as people think.
 
RVANANO said:
True. Until the next time I have to do it. Then anything further and the LED's actually become cheaper. Not even taking the power bills into consideration.
Click to expand...

If you have a working lighting system it will take a long time to recoup that cost by switching to LED. My break even time is like 2-3 years and that includes fixture cost. On just electricity and bulb changes it would be much longer.
 
mhucasey said:
As soon as I see more people actually keeping the same LEDs for more than 2 years, I'll believe that. Even the majority of the die-hard proponents of LED here have upgraded at least once well before the mythical 5 or ten year lifetime of the fixtures. I suspect you would do the same if you switched...
Click to expand...

Give me a few months.
 
Wazzel said:
Give me a few months.
Click to expand...

You've had your first Hydra since April 2014, correct? Adding more of the same units isn't the same as upgrading, but it is close....

If anyone will stay the course with the same model, it's you though Mark:)
Perhaps that has something to do with your success - Stability.
 
mhucasey said:
You've had your first Hydra since April 2014, correct? Adding more of the same units isn't the same as upgrading, but it is close....

If anyone will stay the course with the same model, it's you though Mark:)
Perhaps that has something to do with your success - Stability.
Click to expand...

April 2014 sounds about right. The unit I added was used, if that matters. The additional units I am getting for my 120 are used also.

I hate to say I am cheap, but I am not one to throw out things that are working just fine because something new came out. No plans to get the Hydra HD, or replace my '08 car, or my '07 bass, etc.. Hell I still have my Hp48SX calculator from college and use it daily. It was purchased in 1989.

I would say stability and simplicity are the keys to my success. I did not try to out smart the lights nor do I fiddle with them often.
 
Wazzel said:
April 2014 sounds about right. The unit I added was used, if that matters. The additional units I am getting for my 120 are used also.

I hate to say I am cheap, but I am not one to throw out things that are working just fine because something new came out. No plans to get the Hydra HD, or replace my '08 car, or my '07 bass, etc.. Hell I still have my Hp48SX calculator from college and use it daily. It was purchased in 1989.

I would say stability and simplicity are the keys to my success. I did not try to out smart the lights nor do I fiddle with them often.
Click to expand...

Indeed stability is key, and getting the Hydras used helps with the sticker shock:) You also added a second unit when coverage demanded it, which was a good idea.

It really does amaze me how many people here will rave about how much they are saving with their LEDs and they are on their second or third system in a few years. I like keeping things long term as well.
 
Last edited:
I'm having success with my Kessil A360we's. Mostly LPS and tank is 6 months old. I'll check back in, in two years. :lol:
 
Great points, all! I will give it more thought. I have yet to be impressed with any LED's setups I have seen in person. I only want that color pop though. My coral looks so much less colorful when I bring it home than it did in the LFS's etc.
 
RVANANO said:
Great points, all! I will give it more thought. I have yet to be impressed with any LED's setups I have seen in person. I only want that color pop though. My coral looks so much less colorful when I bring it home than it did in the LFS's etc.
Click to expand...

Add a BML Super Actinic led strip or two, that's what I did. That way you can get those crazy colors in the evening.
 
I am pretty much doing what you are doing Dennis on my tank. 36" wide by 30" front to back and 26" deep. I have one 20K Radium MH on the right side of the tank and a 36" BML super actinic across the whole tank. The right side is my deepest area with little reef structure and mostly open to the substrate. So the tank has rays of light that angle to the left and much less light gets on that side of the tank. Gives it a nice look. When the MH is off, the corals that pop do so nicely. I have a few very easy sps corals on the top of my cove layout and mostly zoas and all sorts of mushrooms throughout the rest of the tank. I was running 400W and went down to 250W but may switch back up. I was thinking about putting a full Hamilton hood on the tank, adding the 4 T5's, keeping the BML super actinic and running the left MH for a few hours a day and the right MH longer. Dennis - what t5 lamps do you like running with your 20K and BML setup?

I have been tempted by LEDs because of how nice zoas can look throughout the day but will most likely stick to my current setup since I know it works.

Bob
 
From and LED user and proponent to all my T-5 and Mh user friends. If your system is working and you feel tempted to switch to LED don't. It is different enought that you will not like it and you will likely be out of the hobby before you break even on the cost of the fixtures. You do not save near enough money to justify dumping a working system.

If you are starting out, consider LED. The pay back is not so bad starting from new and frags can adapt to the lighting source.
 
Wazzel said:
From and LED user and proponent to all my T-5 and Mh user friends. If your system is working and you feel tempted to switch to LED don't. It is different enought that you will not like it and you will likely be out of the hobby before you break even on the cost of the fixtures. You do not save near enough money to justify dumping a working system.

If you are starting out, consider LED. The pay back is not so bad starting from new and frags can adapt to the lighting source.
Click to expand...

I think you missed the title of this thread: "Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides" :D
 
RVANANO said:
Great points, all! I will give it more thought. I have yet to be impressed with any LED's setups I have seen in person. I only want that color pop though. My coral looks so much less colorful when I bring it home than it did in the LFS's etc.
Click to expand...

A couple of suggestions- lower the T5s a couple of inches, and look for bulb sales and buy in bulk. For the metal halide, if you want more color stay away from 13000k bulbs, for price, stay away from Giesemann. List price on those are near a hundred a pop. Perhaps go with something with a higher K rating such as the Phoenix 14000k(59 bucks).
I guarantee 3 Radions won't cut it for a tank your size.
 
I will check on the PAR meter. Most SPS is probably 10-12" from the water surface. I cannot lower my T5's without also lowering the MH's. I tried higher kelvin bulbs but it always looks like windex in my tank to me. I like whiter MH and use the 8- T5's to achieve my blues.
 
alton said:
If you think about it, in the winter our metal halides run for free? They help heat our homes and keep our tanks warm. Without them our heaters would run much more. I am surprised this thread is still going though, except for a few everyone has been very civilized. Back to the Chevy is so much better than Ford Thread
Click to expand...

Not really, unless your house is heated by electric resistance heaters - which is the least efficient way to heat a house. Heat pumps are several times (5-7x) more efficient when the outside temperature is above 20 degrees, and if you use gas you lose the conversion losses that occur when burning something to make electricity (assuming your electricity comes from burning something).

Electric tank heaters are resistance heaters, but only heat the water not the house - leaving the house for the much more efficient central heating system that you most likely have. As rationalizations go, this one doesn't work.

Oh, and Ford is definitely better than Chevy. :)
 
atreis said:
Not really, unless your house is heated by electric resistance heaters - which is the least efficient way to heat a house. Heat pumps are several times (5-7x) more efficient when the outside temperature is above 20 degrees, and if you use gas you lose the conversion losses that occur when burning something to make electricity (assuming your electricity comes from burning something).

Electric tank heaters are resistance heaters, but only heat the water not the house - leaving the house for the much more efficient central heating system that you most likely have. As rationalizations go, this one doesn't work.

Oh, and Ford is definitely better than Chevy. :)
Click to expand...

You don't know how much money I have put into my Trane unit to get my AC and heat to work. Much more than my energy cost. As a matter of fact last night I tested my Emergency heat to get my strips to come on and once again the contactor is bad and will have to be replaced again, three years in a row. At least on a Chevy Diesel Pickup you can change the serpentine belt without taking the front of the truck off. Or pulling the cab off to work on it.

Now back to the show. For me for large tanks unless you want to spend a bunch of money MH is still King! But on smaller tanks my BML fixtures work perfect with no issues moving frags from my 300 with MH into them. And as far as arguing which is better? After three years both LED and MH users have mellowed out a bunch, LED users are not calling MH users Dinosaurs, and MH people are not calling LED users preppies
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
LED fixture lighting help (replacing old T5 HO)
Replies
5
Views
407
griss
griss
C
Maxspect jump led issue
Replies
0
Views
95
Cruzersmith
C
L
Equipment help
Replies
8
Views
90
lilredwuck
L
M
Can't find 60"VHO Actinics anymore... LED recommendations
2
Replies
23
Views
890
griss
griss
P
MP10mqd with old controller?
Replies
9
Views
585
phreeflow
P
Back
Top