20584810 said:
Is this the current pic of your tank? I am curious which corals in the tank have had growth, it is an empty tank? What am I missing here? What have you actually achieved in the past 6 months in this tank?
Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides
- Thread starter Goldcoastreefs
- Start date
Is this the current pic of your tank? I am curious which corals in the tank have had growth, it is an empty tank? What am I missing here? What have you actually achieved in the past 6 months in this tank?
bhazard451
New member
The tank itself crashed 3 months ago from an ATO failure, bad hitchikers, and all sorts of things that required a full breakdown. It was running MH/T5 for 3 years, and LED for 3 months. That is the tank just starting back up again, and the Pukani rock used is leaching phosphates which I'm hesitant to start adding a lot back in yet. Even still, there are a few pieces with good growth that I'll try to capture a month at a time.
This is the tank before the crash.
Ok, so to be clear it was a tank of mostly soft corals, LPS and anemone's that had LED's on it for 3 months. I'll have to take your word on the great growth with what was in the tank. It seems a little premature to claim anything on a tank that crashed and currently has nothing in it, wouldn't you agree?
All of lighting you are recommending on the Chinese LED thread is coming from a tank that has nothing in it and nothing to show that the lighting you are recommending is growing anything and doesn't even have the Chinese LED's in it, you replaced them all to improve the fixture. Seems odd to me to be telling people to use something you aren't even using and haven't used with success. Maybe I am looking at it wrong though. While I like what you have done with the fixture and believe it will work great, it hasn't actually worked great yet.
All of lighting you are recommending on the Chinese LED thread is coming from a tank that has nothing in it and nothing to show that the lighting you are recommending is growing anything and doesn't even have the Chinese LED's in it, you replaced them all to improve the fixture. Seems odd to me to be telling people to use something you aren't even using and haven't used with success. Maybe I am looking at it wrong though. While I like what you have done with the fixture and believe it will work great, it hasn't actually worked great yet.
loup
Premium Member
On my old tank i ran mh with t5 supplement. When the ai sol white came out 2.5 yrs ago, i switch over to led. The growth exploded on my sps tank but the color was not there so i added the t5 back to supplement and the color came back. Basically i switch mh for leds. If your led is just blue and white you wont get that color. All the new led now have multi color now and my new tank will run one of those new leds.
I wonder if most ppl switching back were running only blue and white?
I wonder if most ppl switching back were running only blue and white?
MedRed
Active member
dunk373
New member
heres the problem with led's they have no 420nm in them all the diy'ers are adding 420 and they are successful. If you have mh with vho actinics supplementing the mh you have a lot of 420nm. then you switch to led with no 420 all the zoox leaves dies whatever now the coral has to repopulate with another type of zoox, this takes a long time to do. I don't care about the energy savings I want my stuff to look good. If you do a diy led right you can get good results, growth, color. I added rb to my vhos and got better color. Now I am making a 100% led system that i have high hopes for. We all have access to the chlorophyll chart A B and caratonoids all we need is led s to hit those spectrums. And we can all agree if they last a long time it'll be better for our corals and they will operate cheaper. I find it hard to believe that any one has a successful tank with ai sols the earlier ones they have no 420 and if you do have success using them theres probably not a lot of sps corals in there.
bhazard451
New member
Soft corals, LPS, SPS, anemones... It was a mixed tank, and will be mixed again. 3 years of MH/T5, 3 months of LED. I did not lose any coral from the leds, and there were no color shifts in that. 3 months with growth shows a tank previously grown with MH is completely sustainable with growth using leds, even the cw:rb chinese ones used there. You can take my word or not, the fact is, it grew the coral, and I did not regret the switch. I would have loved the tank to not have needed to be torn down as well, but such is life.
The DIY fixture and re-started tank will be a great way to document things. It has a few pieces 3 months old, and each have grown a bit. As more and more gets added, I can show it a little better. Its going to take a long time, but nothing has made me wish to switch back. If something did, I would switch back in a heartbeat.
I would love to start throwing more SPS in aside from the two pieces in now, but transferring the bioload of fish over + Pukani leaching made it very risky (and dumb) to load up on them until the water parameters were less volatile. I'm not even a fan of SPS dominated tanks, and there are quite a few SPS snobs out there who scoff at any tank that isn't one. Some people like myself just aren't into it, or are on a budget. Leds have been a blessing for that group. Soon enough, I'll start adding and documenting more. A little data is better than no data.
It seems that more people are willing to completely dismiss leds (I'm not saying you are), than to agree that they are a viable alternative that is more experimental as of now. If my 120 gallon tank wasn't freshwater and was an established SPS tank instead, sure I'd be more inclined to stay with MH/T5 myself, or go LED with T5s than to risk a full switch until lots of established tanks are shown with them. Leds with T5 would probably look outstanding over it. It wasn't until this past year that leds started to really come into their own.
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bhazard451
New member
^ This. The issue that most people have, which is a very valid one, is that those who bought earlier led units and shelled out lots of money for them, feel completely burned on their purchase. If you pay that much money, you feel it better grow your coral, look outstanding, and last a long time. One year later, and it is already obsolete.
Those of us that have started trying to hit the spectrum better with DIY are getting great results, but if you think about the commercial market fixtures, only one of them has this wavelength, and it literally just came out. Those weary to switch have every reason to be cautious, especially if they have well established tanks.
For the record, I have always had a mixed reef, I do prefer SPS but I like the looks of a varied reef with a lot of different creatures in it, bio-diversity is a good thing. I look forward to watching your tank grow. Over the years I have used everything from T12's, PC's, T5's and Halides to my current Halide LED mix. I had success with all of them but without a doubt the Halides have been my go to lighting. It will be difficult to set them aside but I will. There was talk earlier of the electrical benefits of LED's but my tank will require more wattage in LED's than I currently use in MH, weird tank shape doesn't help. I don't care about the electrical consumption, my electrical rates are dirt cheap thanks to hydro electric generation in our area. We are also considering going solar with our huge roof and carport area, we should be sending some power back to the grid. 
I use no chiller, no fans and have to keep the heater working to keep the tank from getting too cool. So those people who complain about MH being too hot need to manage their tank's heat better. We keep the house at 78-76 so it isn't too cool to begin with but the heat is dissipated very well away from the tank.
I use no chiller, no fans and have to keep the heater working to keep the tank from getting too cool. So those people who complain about MH being too hot need to manage their tank's heat better. We keep the house at 78-76 so it isn't too cool to begin with but the heat is dissipated very well away from the tank.
bullitr
broke but happy
IMO
LEDs produce better color than T5 even with metal halide if the LEDs fixtures are very good and dial right except for SPS because nothing is better than metal halide.
And T5 will slowly phase off like power compact and VHO
Again it's JMO and it just a matter of personal preference.
If I can afford it I would like to add metal halide on my fixtures But 2000 + watts for just metal halide and supplemental is way too much for me.my fixture only uses 540watts for lights and no chiller to 1 HP to run.
I live in california electricity is super expensive and it's gets really hot where I live running ac on 3600 sqft with 25 ' ceiling almost half of the house doesn't help.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
LEDs produce better color than T5 even with metal halide if the LEDs fixtures are very good and dial right except for SPS because nothing is better than metal halide.
And T5 will slowly phase off like power compact and VHO
Again it's JMO and it just a matter of personal preference.
If I can afford it I would like to add metal halide on my fixtures But 2000 + watts for just metal halide and supplemental is way too much for me.my fixture only uses 540watts for lights and no chiller to 1 HP to run.
I live in california electricity is super expensive and it's gets really hot where I live running ac on 3600 sqft with 25 ' ceiling almost half of the house doesn't help.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Mmiller40gt
arrogant reefer
So the answer is to add more spectrum. In 10 months there will be more units with even more spectrum. In 2 years even the led fan boys will laugh at the current lighting models. Much like some of us ran 6500k iwasaki bulbs for years. They worked but don't compare to the halide bulbs out today. I think the only way to win the with led is to be able to DIY your own. Every manufactured fixture is alsmot obsolete by time they start selling them.
asonitez
Floodicus Maximus Flooris
Radium' 20K's w/ T5 Supplementation
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Switched to LED's - Absolutely hated them. Colors faded, a few SPS RTNED. I tried
FathomLED's
ChinaLED's
Radions
AiSOLS
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WENT BACK TO HALIDES! LOVE THEM
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Switched to LED's - Absolutely hated them. Colors faded, a few SPS RTNED. I tried
FathomLED's
ChinaLED's
Radions
AiSOLS
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WENT BACK TO HALIDES! LOVE THEM
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OneReef
Reef Guru
Whoever posted a few posts back was right. Some of us paid full price for AI Sols and want them to work well, and without any supplementation. Adding more LEDs or VHOs or T5s to get added spectrum defeats the purpose in my mind. I think I'm going back to 250w Radium halides...
I purchased the AI sol blue about a year ago for my new 180. I upgraded from a 90g bowfront/corner unit that I had going for about 5 years under a 400 watt 20k with pc supplements. I loved that tank and the particular look that type of lighting gives off. When I researched the sols, it seemed like they offered a similar look, but with some other advantages (all of which have been well covered).
After having the sols on for a year, I have mixed feelings as others have stated. I like the look of the tank (not as much as Halides) and the options that come with Leds. Some corals have really done well, while others have just waisted away. I didn't have anthing bleach out...the only corals I have lost have been acans, chalices, and a couple of acro frags. With the tank only being a year old, it's hard to blame the lighting for a few deaths, but overall I just dont' feel like some of the corals are as healthy as they could be under Halides. I'm thinking about trying something else in the next few months...not sure what. Halides are reliable, but I'd really like to go with another led unit, regardless of price as long as it delivers. Anyways, didn't accomplish much here. Cheers!
After having the sols on for a year, I have mixed feelings as others have stated. I like the look of the tank (not as much as Halides) and the options that come with Leds. Some corals have really done well, while others have just waisted away. I didn't have anthing bleach out...the only corals I have lost have been acans, chalices, and a couple of acro frags. With the tank only being a year old, it's hard to blame the lighting for a few deaths, but overall I just dont' feel like some of the corals are as healthy as they could be under Halides. I'm thinking about trying something else in the next few months...not sure what. Halides are reliable, but I'd really like to go with another led unit, regardless of price as long as it delivers. Anyways, didn't accomplish much here. Cheers!
bhazard451
New member
You actually accomplished more than you think. More and more people have come to realize that cool white and royal blue leds alone have something missing, which is most likely a lack of spectrum that some coral need.
People (like myself) have started adding in leds of different color temps and wavelengths to help combat this. The fixtures on the market only just started doing this. It will probably take another year to see the long term results.
It would be incredibly stupid to use something like a 3500k warm white color as a MH bulb, but used sparingly and in combination with other whites and blues, it looks fantastic in a led setup.
Goldcoastreefs
New member
Hey guys ok we all get that LEDs are lacking somthing. I have been looking into plasma and it seems promising. I have availability of a plasma unit here in South Florida but it is expensive and want to hear some reviews first. It looks like plasma with some t5 supplement would be killer.
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