d2mini
Premium Member
You should keep reading then.
Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides
- Thread starter Goldcoastreefs
- Start date
You should keep reading then.
Mikefromaz
New member
Hmmmmm....keep thinking about Fukushima. Plent radiation there!
JPMagyar
New member
So Mike how many TOTM tanks have you seen with pure LEDs so far? And of the TOTM type reef keepers that keep awesome reefs here on RC how many are going pure LED? Answer very very few. Are these the kind of folks that don't like to experiment? Have none of them really given LEDs an honest try? Com' on really?
And while we are opening up the "LEDs" can do it discussion, can you you show me one single example of a reef that grew like ReefBums tank or my tank using LEDs that has multi-year progression shots and started most of the corals from frags? Personally I have not seen a single one.
The best tanks on RC and around the world continue to be dominated by MH and fluorescent lighting. Why? Because LED lighting is not close enough to natural lighting so many, many corals do not grow well or grow colorful under pure LED lighting. Are there a handful of nice LED tanks? Yes, of course. Are they the minority when it comes to nice color and growth in LED tanks? Yes.
I love to experiment and try new stuff even if it takes some work. When T5s came out I hesitated at first, but after trying them I loved them and used them on my display with great results and continue to use them on my daughter's 38. When LEDs came out I started experimenting. Over the last 4 years I have tried maybe a half dozen different LED setups both on my display and my basement 180. The results are ALWAYS the same. Color goes off on some corals and I end up losing a couple corals and some corals simply glow and grow fantastically under LEDs, but none of the LEDs I have tried to date were easy to use or had the overall efficacy of MH and T5. I've said it many times before: when commercial grow houses start replacing their HIT and MH with LEDs THAT will be when LEDs are simple and efficacious enough for reef tanks. Meantime I don't begrudge anybody their choice of lighting, after all this is just a hobby, but you will never convince me that ANY pure LED lit tank can compare to the best MH lit reefs, and trust me when I say my opinion is NOT from lack of trying, it is from hands on experience and real world results that I have seen repeated over and over.
SNAKEMANVET
PREMIUM MEMBER
I am not pro met halide but i went back to halides because my LEDs weren't getting me the right colors of my corals .my purple month is getting its color back.
Mikefromaz
New member
Thanks for your opinion Joe.
Uncle Salty 05
New member
The only two advantages of LEDs are low power consumption and infrequent or no bulb replacement.
Aside from those two points LEDs cannot and do not rival MH lighting. Period.
And I have LEDs on my tank.
Aside from those two points LEDs cannot and do not rival MH lighting. Period.
And I have LEDs on my tank.
msderganc
New member
One quick note: optics actually focus the light. I believe LEDs actually have a natural spread of just more than 120°. Most optics focus down to the 60°-90° spread.
I wouldn't say those are the only two advantages, but those are sure good ones. Being able to control the colors via multiple channels is a nice ability along with how easy they are to control intensity with many fixtures being able to peak at when desired at whatever color temp you like and then fade to sunset. Plus LED development is going really fast with new blending colors (lime, PC amber) coming out and efficiency increasing.
Plus LEDs can be much more powerful PAR wise. Want to give that crocea 1500 PAR, it can be done with LEDs and done even in a nano. Heck with a custom Steve's LED kit on my biocube the PAR was 3000 2" under the waterline at 100 percent if for any reason someone wanted to cook a coral up that high. The little biocube 14 won't even crack 80 degrees with it on full blast. It wasn't that long ago, you can find lots of posts, of people saying it impossible to ever come close to matching the sun's PAR and it would never be possible. Sure there are lots of crocea that lived well under MH, but there were lots that died too just because those little buggers need tons of light.
Westcoastreeef
New member
I agree with above statement. The adjustable features are hard to compare with when i had mhs and pcs
kevin_austin
New member
Add things like lack of heat generation, compact size that will fit just about anywhere, price, and convenience (no external ballast, no changing bulbs), they are hard to beat.
This discussion is getting beyond pointless by now. 90% of the people participating would fail 5th grade physics.
Statements about LED not growing SPS and LED growing LPS is just proving this point beyond any doubt.
A few of you might want to read up on this before making any more comments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light
Statements about LED not growing SPS and LED growing LPS is just proving this point beyond any doubt.
A few of you might want to read up on this before making any more comments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light
d2mini
Premium Member
Or you something as simple as try the lights yourself. Run a popular LED fixture for a year or two and then switch to mh/t5 and eat your lunch.
Wash it down with a little :beer: Mmmmmmm.... yum!Or you something as simple as try the lights yourself. Run a popular LED fixture for a year or two and then switch to mh/t5 and eat your lunch.
It still seems like a lot of people think that LED light is fundamentally different from MH light....it isn't.
Mikefromaz
New member
Spirited conversation. A good thing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with MH or flourescent. Each system has its merits and detractions. LEDS are more adjustable from the point of controlling the intensity from the fixture while MH etc. is a familiar (comfortable) standard adjustable by knowing how far below the surface each coral does best at. I am sure everyone regardless of their favorite lighting goes through a learning curve. Each system had the power to fry coral if wrongly used. My RB Photon on my 29gal. Is quite different from the 400w. of PC lighting on my 80gal.reef. They both grow coral well.
To each his own but I can only go by my experience with those two types of lighting over a reef tank and that is I have been much happier and more successful using Metal Halides than LEDs. Radion and AI included.
A quality 250 watt metal halide with a good reflector and good ballast - by itself or in conjunction with T5 HO - is the best reef lighting I have used.
alton
Well-known member
The biggest difference I see is you buy a MH lamp or a T5 lamp and they where designed to grow coral. With LED if you buy a fixture like BML or use the factory settings on most high dollar fixtures you are still okay. But the first thing most users do is take there controller without any meters and start adjusting the output and color using there eyes instead of a meter. It is like playing Russian Roulette with there corals and that is how many get into trouble.
Mikefromaz
New member
Alton...what ypu say is true. Tha best part of LEDs is the competition among manufacturers. Perhaps they will get smart and start providing charts on how to use their products with vsrious scenerios. Sooner or later some marketing person will convince his/her boss that such info would be a great sales motivator. It could be as simple as a "species guide" CD thrown into the shipping carton. Im sure it will happen but like a lit with hobby it goes a lit slower than we would like.
I think the solution is even simpler for a lot of the LED issues. Stop making all these options!
Imagine if all car manufacturers stopped making anything but formula 1 racing cars. Or if Chanel stopped making cologne and just made $150 000 ++ made to order dresses. People would think they had gone insane.
That is basically what most producers of LED reef lights are doing. They are making flag ship, signature items for enthusiasts....and nothing else.
Scorpius
Stick Head
That's why I like Kessil. You can either make it blue or white. You then adjust intensity. No adjusting of of the other colors since I would have no idea how to adjust them anyways. :lmao:
Similar threads
