that i will agree with,
just sold the leds last night the new mh hqi lights are coming in today .
already prepaired my wife for higher electric bills LOL,
but atleast i know its proven and i wont question if its the lights or something else.
Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides
- Thread starter Goldcoastreefs
- Start date
that i will agree with,
just sold the leds last night the new mh hqi lights are coming in today .
already prepaired my wife for higher electric bills LOL,
but atleast i know its proven and i wont question if its the lights or something else.
blackthunda77
New member
Have you done the math on this for your scenario? I have (for mine).
I ran 2 165 watt LED fixtures along with 2 48" t5 bulbs to fill in the spectrum gap.
I went back to my dual 250Watt Radiums. In regards to my "energy savings" Im spending about $5 a month more to run my radiums(regarding lights ONLY). That doesnt take into account that my heater was on almost 3 times as much when running the LEDs so if you factor in the energy consumption from the heater...it might actually be a washout.
mos90
New member
my problem was not the heaters running in the winter but the chiller running nonstop in the summer and the room was got so hot it wasnt even comfortable to sit in. even with the a/c on. the central air couldnt keep up so i would have had to add another a/c unit.
but i was running 3-400w radiums and 4-80 t5's, tons of heat. plus 2-250 watt phoenix bulbs on my frag tank. that is not up anymore.
but i was running 3-400w radiums and 4-80 t5's, tons of heat. plus 2-250 watt phoenix bulbs on my frag tank. that is not up anymore.
Uncle Salty 05
New member
Yes, but your electric meter will still be whirring.
d2mini
Premium Member
haha, yes. I think that point has been beaten to death, and not as drastic as some would think.
Around here, running LED saves me about $100/year in electricity to run 4 Radion Pros instead of 3 mh and 4 80w T5. Mmmmm... that's like two whole extra lattes/month! Yum!
theaquareef
New member
No i know! There's just something about them in some of the tanks I've seen in person that appear that way to my eyes. Some were on razor maxspects and i think I've heard they are known to be that way. i understand its hard to truly capture the led output through a camera.
Depends on where you live. Electricity savings for me is a whopping 2 to 5 bucks every 2 months...WOOHOOOO!
But yeah, they sure look a lot nicer than my old MH, and nice not to need all the electrical stuff underneath the tank as well. ...Having a blond moment...can't remember the name of the "electrical stuff" in English...lol
FastUno
New member
Okay I found another guy who is using the Chinese LED's as well and has the white SPS as it grows & masks itself from underneath (coral on the top right).
Can you SPS experts tell me if the same thing could & does happen if a 250W MH fixture was used instead? Look at the coral, even with MH I don't think light can get underneath something that has grown on top & is covered like that?
When I had a volleyball size coral & my biggest coral I had the white underneath as well, but my parameters were off at that time & I had used reef rock from another reefer that just killed that sps, so I could never study it long term.
Can you SPS experts tell me if the same thing could & does happen if a 250W MH fixture was used instead? Look at the coral, even with MH I don't think light can get underneath something that has grown on top & is covered like that?
When I had a volleyball size coral & my biggest coral I had the white underneath as well, but my parameters were off at that time & I had used reef rock from another reefer that just killed that sps, so I could never study it long term.
It would be even worse with MH probably, depending on the reflector of course. It is the T5 that gives you the wide, carpeting light spread. You can mimic that with led btw, look at those awful "reef ready" units from Marineland. The light might suck but there sure isn't any shadowing.
Would be nice if someone invented a "mono rail" for lights.
Just have a few strong pinpoint light sources go a few rounds a day on a metal loop over the tank. You get everything, perfect coverage, great shadows/visual depth and shimmer to boot.
Would be nice if someone invented a "mono rail" for lights.
Just have a few strong pinpoint light sources go a few rounds a day on a metal loop over the tank. You get everything, perfect coverage, great shadows/visual depth and shimmer to boot.That depends on a lot of things, most of all on the shape of the panel of course. They are not uniform. You can also use optics or move the lights higher up....lots of stuff can be done.
I had a very good reflector on my old MH setup and now I have 2 led panels with wipe optics. I definitely have better light spread now. I used to have blue spots in the corners and center of the tank where only the T5 hit before. With my new panels it is very uniform (and sadly shimmer less) throughout the tank.
I honestly don't think you can say that MH or LED has the best spread since there are so many factors with both that can alter it.
FastUno
New member
The volleyball size SPS frag I talk about was in the MH/T5 system, but that fixture had a reflector that was a half cut cylinder over the entire fixture. It was over both the MH & T5 bulbs & had even spread, but not intense spread. So that SPS had white branch footing too.
I have shadows over other corals now with LEDS, besides just the puple sytlo, but only the Stylo shows this white bottom branches. I am sure because it is not getting any par underneath....I wish I had a par meter just to check real quick.
Who can we ask that has just MH that can take a picture of their monster SPS's from the underside for us?
I have shadows over other corals now with LEDS, besides just the puple sytlo, but only the Stylo shows this white bottom branches. I am sure because it is not getting any par underneath....I wish I had a par meter just to check real quick.
Who can we ask that has just MH that can take a picture of their monster SPS's from the underside for us?
Spyderturbo007
New member
Beautiful pictures FastUno. I would kill for coral colors like that. Well, actually I would kill for me coral to stop dying, but that's another story. :sad2:
Uncle Salty 05
New member
A 3' Illumina would do it.
shifty51008
12-5 Chiefs record
it would get the length but you would need 2 of them for the 40" width
The most common of them all, the Chinese 120w units, would do it with ease...and then some.
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