Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

I might suggest that you turn the LEDs off and see what happens. There is no such thing as too much good light, IMO.
 
Metal Halide Lighting Demand

Metal Halide Lighting Demand

jda said:
Jeremy from PM, the aquamedic guys, Marine Depot and every vendor will tell you that MH demand has never been higher than 2013
Click to expand...

Our data reveals demand for metal halide equipment has lessened each year since 2008. There has been a resurgence recently (beginning end of February), although comparing Q1 of 2014 to 2013 the demand is still down overall.

Several of our staffers still use MH lights, though, and others would if they didn't run up the electric bill so much. The growth you get under halides is difficult to match.
 
TropTrea said:
You will when you cannot get replacement bulbs. As more and more people are switching away from MH's the demand is reducing. As the demand goes down the cost of production skyrockets as it is much more economical to make 10,000 of a bulb compared to making 500 of them. As price skyrockets more people will switch till it will be unfeasible to make them in the special runs they now make them for the aquarium industry.

Initialy you will see higher prices and less selection on the MH's then you will see various brand names slowly dropping them. It is the same as what happened to the 55 Watt compact tubes. A year after they were proven you could select from over 50 different manufacturers and wave lengths. Now there are only about a dozen choices and very few of those are reef applicable.

Even look at the HOT-5's today. 8 years ago GE alone offered over 30 different K temp bulbs in every wattage. Now they are down to less than a dozen dozen different K temps, because sales dropped off on so many of the other offerings.
Click to expand...

First off I work in the lighting industry and I have to disagree with allot that was said there... We specify 100 to 1 the amount of halides to led and probably way higher.

Also it will be a very long time before you cant buy a halide lamp and by that time most likely we will be on plasma or even something better. Also most likely the prices will come down not go up on halides as lamp manufacturers try to become more competitive. Its like hard drives the prices have came down as ssd drives become more available to keep people buying regular hard drives. The people who manufacture lamps are mostly not the same ones that manufacture leds. Also the companies that sell lamps dont want leds because they will sell allot less lamps because of the replacement factor.



The only way halide will go out is if electrical codes and energy codes make it so you cant use them. This will happen in California or Florida first where energy codes are tighter.

In high bay applications we actually use more t-5 than anything. Problem with leds it is hard to get vertical footcandles so if you have racks you cant see what is one them. You can use lenses but then the efficiency drops and you loose the advantage you get with led. This is the same problem that causes self shading in corals with leds.. You can tilt the front leds back to help with this but most led fixtures for reefs dont allow for this,..

We actually get more requests to not use led lighting than to use it on jobs.

Led is used in freezer applications, outdoor lighting and exit lighting more than anything.

Honestly plasma is the future in my opinion not led.

I think the main problem with led vs halides in a reef is with sps that come from shallow water and that is where most come from., Halides produce UV.. Some sps produce pigments to protect against UV like a sunscreen..Eventually these pigments go away and you loose some color. No doubt leds can keep corals alive and produce colors in most corals.. There is give and take with any lighting. If you need something more energy efficient and produce less heat led is the way to go.
 
Last edited:
I wish I looked for this thread prior to upgrading lol.

I bought a new 5 foot led fixture with 120 3w led's with 120 degree optics. This replaced 2x 250 MH. The spread is just crap on the LED. I'll most likely be going back to Halides.
 
There was a drop off a few years ago but a definite resurgence in the past 12 months.

Two weeks ago we shipped 3 pallets of metal halide lights to a vendor and have a pallet of metal halide reflectors and metal halide bulbs shipping to another vendor today.
 
MarineDepot said:
Our data reveals demand for metal halide equipment has lessened each year since 2008. There has been a resurgence recently (beginning end of February), although comparing Q1 of 2014 to 2013 the demand is still down overall.

Several of our staffers still use MH lights, though, and others would if they didn't run up the electric bill so much. The growth you get under halides is difficult to match.
Click to expand...

I would believe it is true for the aquarium industry since the push and hype is for leds right now. Anytime there is a competing product there will be less demand for the original. I bet when t-5 came out there was a drop too...

There are allot of led manufactures and most likely there will be fall out as they consolidate. We are already seeing that with Ecotech and Aqua Illumination.
 
Last edited:
Having briefly worked in the aquarium industry I saw first hand how many of the LFS owners do not care a bit about the long term success of their customer's reefs. If they can get you to drop 500-1000 on a LED fixture now they know that most customers won't have the tank running in a year or two anyway so repeat business is a moot point. I think the statistic is that 90% of aquariums in the US are empty and in storage. If the light is not right for the tank it doesn't matter to them, the dollars are already in their pocket.

Even if they sell you a MH or T5 fixture they usually won't even get much in the way of future dollars since the majority of customers won't be around to buy bulb replacements. Its sad but very true. People get excited about having a particular fish or an anemone and when it comes to spending time and mental energy on keeping the tank up they lose interest very fast.

I personally couldn't live with myself if I recommended equipment that wasn't up to snuff and that put me and my owner at odds. His philosophy was "get the sale now, who cares if it doesn't work for them long term". At that time it was skimmers and such that we had to talk customers into. I regularly told potential customers that for what they wanted to spend they wouldn't be successful.
 
mhucasey said:
Having briefly worked in the aquarium industry I saw first hand how many of the LFS owners do not care a bit about the long term success of their customer's reefs. If they can get you to drop 500-1000 on a LED fixture now they know that most customers won't have the tank running in a year or two anyway so repeat business is a moot point. I think the statistic is that 90% of aquariums in the US are empty and in storage. If the light is not right for the tank it doesn't matter to them, the dollars are already in their pocket.

Even if they sell you a MH or T5 fixture they usually won't even get much in the way of future dollars since the majority of customers won't be around to buy bulb replacements. Its sad but very true. People get excited about having a particular fish or an anemone and when it comes to spending time and mental energy on keeping the tank up they lose interest very fast.

I personally couldn't live with myself if I recommended equipment that wasn't up to snuff and that put me and my owner at odds. His philosophy was "get the sale now, who cares if it doesn't work for them long term". At that time it was skimmers and such that we had to talk customers into. I regularly told potential customers that for what they wanted to spend they wouldn't be successful.
Click to expand...

never go into sales.... if it is the only thing feeding your family, some folk will say what it takes.:uzi:
 
daqjwd4l.jpg
Uncle Salty 05 said:
What brand of fixture and what size tank?
Click to expand...

I have a 150 gallon it's 60 inches wide. With a LEDzeal malibu s400 with 120 degree optics and custom light layout as suggested by other members here.

I have to position it because it's more like a strip than a spread. Where my MH it was just mount and turn on because it covered the whole tank.

Here is half 250 MH and half LED 120watt
4MxVhcyl.jpg


Here is the Malibu s400
zyvZAzIl.jpg

I have it positioned towards the front, you'll kinda see the back is much darker.
 
Last edited:
Reefer_Addickt said:
daqjwd4l.jpg


I have a 150 gallon it's 60 inches wide. With a LEDzeal malibu s400 with 120 degree optics and custom light layout as suggested by other members here.

I have to position it because it's more like a strip than a spread. Where my .
Click to expand...

The LED fixture appears to way too low. Raise it to 16-18 in above the water it will cover much better.
 
jda said:
I might suggest that you turn the LEDs off and see what happens. There is no such thing as too much good light, IMO.
Click to expand...

Cant really do that. Im not going back to running 3x 400w MH. There is no reson for me to dump my LEDs. They have performed very well. This coral has been under led for 3 years and has been growing like a weed. It has always had a dark pink color. It just started fading in the last couple days.
 
Ime, transferring the coral from halide to LED has increased colors. That is, buying a frag from vivid aquariuns (who keep their sps under halides), bringing it home and dropping it under my led fixture. No coral has declined, if anything a couple have colored up. Just my experience.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
LED fixture lighting help (replacing old T5 HO)
Replies
5
Views
440
griss
griss
C
Maxspect jump led issue
Replies
0
Views
127
Cruzersmith
C
L
Equipment help
Replies
8
Views
164
lilredwuck
L
M
Can't find 60"VHO Actinics anymore... LED recommendations
2
Replies
23
Views
960
griss
griss
S
Waterbox 35.2 AIO Water Flow
Replies
1
Views
60
griss
griss
Back
Top