Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

I am planning a hooded standard 75 gallon reef tank and this is my current plan:
2 250 watt metal halide's
4 t5ho
10 cree royal blue led's
4 moonlight led's
Opinions?
 
no need for the royal blues as you won't be able to see their effect when the halides are on. I've got something similar on my 60 cube. 2 x 150, 1 x 250, and an AI Sol Nano. I just use the Nano for the lunar cycle.
 
MedRed said:
no need for the royal blues as you won't be able to see their effect when the halides are on. I've got something similar on my 60 cube. 2 x 150, 1 x 250, and an AI Sol Nano. I just use the Nano for the lunar cycle.
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Oh, no no no no no no no. :)

Your tank will (IMHO) look best under the royal blues. Bring them on before the halides and after. There is nothing (IMHO) more beautiful than a reef lit by actinic light at night. If you want your corals to look like those photoshopped pictures you see on the web, keep the royal blues. :)
 
kevin_austin said:
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.
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For my U120 (D120) fixture over my 37 gallon reef (24" tall), I ended up having to bring the whites down to about 35% and the blues down to about 45%. The corals just didn't like anything higher (with the 90 degree optics).

So, I'm lighting my reef with around 40 watts of light. I just can't wrap my head around it.
 
kevin_austin said:
Oh, no no no no no no no. :)

Your tank will (IMHO) look best under the royal blues. Bring them on before the halides and after. There is nothing (IMHO) more beautiful than a reef lit by actinic light at night. If you want your corals to look like those photoshopped pictures you see on the web, keep the royal blues. :)
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Thank you for your advise! I guess it cant hurt to retrofit a few led's :)
 
kevin_austin said:
Oh, no no no no no no no. :)

Your tank will (IMHO) look best under the royal blues. Bring them on before the halides and after. There is nothing (IMHO) more beautiful than a reef lit by actinic light at night. If you want your corals to look like those photoshopped pictures you see on the web, keep the royal blues. :)
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He can do that with the moonlights. 4 will be plenty powerful enough.
 
kevin_austin said:
I don't think he'll want moonlights powerful enough to keep his corals open at night. I would definitely go for the royal blues, enough to keep the corals open.
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the purpose of the royal blues is the color they bring out. most moonlights are royal blues. More than likely, at least two of his 4 T5's will be on when the halides go off. Two T5's are still enough to drown 10 Royal blues. The moonlights kick on for night viewing and 4 on a 75 will be plenty powerful enough to give the desired lighting effect. How long are you suggesting he should extend his light cycle?
 
MedRed said:
the purpose of the royal blues is the color they bring out. most moonlights are royal blues. More than likely, at least two of his 4 T5's will be on when the halides go off. The moonlights kick on for night viewing and 4 on a 75 will be plenty powerful enough to give the desired lighting effect. How long are you suggesting he should extend his light cycle?
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You are the one suggesting that he extend his light cycle. You are doing this buy suggesting that he have powerful enough moonlights to keep his coral polyps open for viewing.

I suggest not extending his lighting cycle. Rather, I suggest that his first lights on and last lights off are the royal blue LEDs, which will provide him with viewing pleasure. :)

Now, if you want to respond, please drop the logical fallacies and straw man arguments and try again. :)
 
I'm not suggesting anything about leaving coral polyps open. I'm suggesting being able to look at the tank in a low light setting.
 
My suggestion was to end his lighting cycle (before moonlights come on), with the royal blues, enough to keep polyps open. That is the favorite part of my viewing cycle.

The suggestion wasn't to extend the cycle, just to make the most out of his viewing experience.

Let's just chalk it up to a misunderstanding. :)
 
ReefingWerewolf said:
I am so confused right now...
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I'm thinking of using Mag-Lite LED flashlights to light my tank. The ability to choose narrow optics or wide beam optics with a twist of the light is amazing. How many flashlights should I use? Maybe duct tape them together? How am I going to mount them above the tank? Its a 40 gal breeder. Do you think it will work? D batteries are expensive so I only want to use C batteries. Duracell is where it's at. :lmao:
 
ReefingWerewolf said:
I am so confused right now...
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I think there are a couple of things going on.

Moonlights: I think most reefers will agree, and please correct me if I'm wrong, you want to have very little light coming from you moonlights. Enough to see a little, but not enough to open up your polyps. So, just use very weak moonlights.

For lighting cycle, some reefers have programmable fixtures where they can increase and decrease their various light sources in small increments. I don't have programmable fixtures, so I need to control each light source with timers. I bring my blue lights on first. I then bring on my other lights (mixed white). I then shut the others and then the blues off. This gives me a nice chance to view my corals at night in a great blue lighting (before the moonlights come on).
 
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Scorpius said:
I'm thinking of using Mag-Lite LED flashlights to light my tank. The ability to choose narrow optics or wide beam optics with a twist of the light is amazing. How many flashlights should I use? Maybe duct tape them together? How am I going to mount them above the tank? Its a 40 gal breeder. Do you think it will work? D batteries are expensive so I only want to use C batteries. Duracell is where it's at. :lmao:
Click to expand...

You know, even though that is funny, it might not be a bad idea. In particular, an LED flashlight on a gooseneck with a DC adapter might make a very nice moonlight and would look pretty cool.
 
So I am in the process of planning out my 75 gallon reef tank. (keep in mind nothing is set in stone this is purely planning) and here is what I am thinking for lighting.

two 250 watt metal halide's that run from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm
four t5ho tht run from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm and two t5ho that run from 6:15 to 6:15
6 retrofitted cree royal blue led's that run from 6:10 am to 6:10 pm
4 moonlight led's that run from 6:10 pm to 6:10 am

I hope to find a cheap 75 gallon drilled aquarium on creaglist during the next few months and find some used metal halides and t5's to retrofit into the hood.

I am not sure on my budget yet but I am trying to keep it cost effective, so craigslist here I come!
 
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