d2mini
Premium Member
Really? What kelvin did you get? We have 5000k in the kitchen which is nice and white and 2700k in other rooms which match the incandescents.
Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides
- Thread starter Goldcoastreefs
- Start date
Really? What kelvin did you get? We have 5000k in the kitchen which is nice and white and 2700k in other rooms which match the incandescents.
Wazzel
New member
Yellow or red?
Wise words....
Khemul
New member
The thing to keep in mind about MH, it's future and development and such is that none of it was really made for this hobby. So it doesn't matter what happens here.
MH will eventually be phased out. A lot of technologies will be. The internal combustion engine is a big one. The home PC another. But we aren't talking 'years' here. We are talking 'decades'. These technologies are effectively dead, but they'll out live many of us.
MH will eventually be phased out. A lot of technologies will be. The internal combustion engine is a big one. The home PC another. But we aren't talking 'years' here. We are talking 'decades'. These technologies are effectively dead, but they'll out live many of us.
Scorpius
Stick Head
I went to Best Buy yesterday and saw that CD's are being phased out. :thumbdown
I am curious...how are you utilizing CD's to light up your tank?
CD's had over a 30 year run, much longer than cassette's and 8 tracks, though irrelevant to reef tank lighting.
dcmartinpc
Member
I mean no disrespect by this at all, so please do not take it that way, but LEDs weren't created and designed for this hobby either. It was an existing technology that was adapted for our needs, just like MH.
Don
On the other hand it is the development that costs, making that bulb is probably not too complicated. I wouldn't count MH out quite yet. Someone living in a cold place will see much fewer advantages with LED for example and it might just be a matter of cost for them.
They both have the possibility to produce great light for a tank. The only thing new that LED brings is not related to coral health or looks, just convenience.
MH, T5, LED, they are all good if you chose well.
Khemul
New member
True. It's a common theme with just about everything in this hobby. Skimmers are probably about the only original piece of technology. And maybe the modern evolution of circulation pumps.
Wazzel
New member
Skimmers maybe, but not pumps. They are just adaptations of existing tech also. Even as cool as a vortec is, the magnetic coupling had been around for a while. They figured out a good way to put it together with a propeller and an electric motor.
Skimmers were made for cleaning up ponds and other heavily polluted waters if I remember right...but I would not swear to that. I just seem to remember something along those lines....
JPMagyar
New member
The Berlin System hasn't changed: Live Rock, a skimmer, and strong lighting and for strong lighting NOTHING beats metal halide for growth and coloration when it comes to acropora. Those of you trying to sound off on this thread about the ultimate demise of metal halide are missing the point in it's entirety. Yes, progress continues and technology improves, but right now, right here, metal halide bulbs kick butt over ANY LED fixture. Has anyone noticed what lighting the TOTMs are using? How many LED tanks have we seen so far? Hmmm? LEDs create ugly growth patterns and poor coloration. If you like the "gee whiz" lighting tricks or are into talking about how little electricity your lights use then by all means stick to LEDs, but if you want a reef second to none then I suggest as this thread says . . . Switch from LEDs to metal halides.
Eric Boerner
Coral Cutter
We tried them all. 2700's in living spaces are still too bright and kinda green. But, they do look better than florescence. 3000's in the bath rooms make your skin turn yellow. Of course, this is coming from an interior designer. I'm sure that 'most' people would be Ok with the color issues. I was, until she pointed it out. Ladies are hard to please when it comes to the perfect mood lighting. :lol:
zoomonster
New member
A little extra heat, a little more power drain but not regretting for a moment going back with MH/T5 for my new build (well as of today lol). Especially in todays market where most stores are on a frag get rich quick craze and "specimens" are now a dime size nub on a piece of concrete having things grow faster is a good thing for a new build with no pre existing stock.
BTW I'm using the Utilitech 3000k 60w eq all over living areas and love them. For 3k a very clean, bright white looking LED light. Even my particularly picky wife likes them. If I could have found one in 6500k I would have used it for my refugium. I ended up going with a Sylvania compact 6500k 100w eq.
BTW I'm using the Utilitech 3000k 60w eq all over living areas and love them. For 3k a very clean, bright white looking LED light. Even my particularly picky wife likes them. If I could have found one in 6500k I would have used it for my refugium. I ended up going with a Sylvania compact 6500k 100w eq.
I wonder if your just making stuff up, or just seeing what you want to see. I saw slight differences in coloration but only one I thought MH really did better. It was the 2nd example and then could only see slight differences with the others. In my "opinion" LED was better on a few but most were even. I'm new and still working on setting up my first tank. So I don't know all the in's and outs of the two camps but looking at the Vivid's experiment I don't see much either way for coloration. The host even states as much.
This statement is what makes me really question your credibility in using this reference as an example. The host says during his talk to not look at the size and only look at color because they didn't start out the same. It also states that quite clearly in the scrolling text. I would definitely like to see a link to a citation or other example where the Vivid experiment used as your example shows better growth under MH vs LED.
It's always interesting to look at what people are actually quoting as basis for their argument to see if it's really what they claim to begin with.
So far my take on reading through most of this thread is that there's a ton of variables and people really don't know a whole lot. T5s and MHs are proven technology and have been the basis and foundation of the hobby for a very long time. But lighting is only one element of a tank.
In looking at different types of LEDs that I would consider using on a tank, there's a ton of different types. A lot of cheap LEDs look like they are just bad to begin with and have no business being on an aquarium. It's not that LEDs are bad, your using bad or wrong LEDs. Also with the really good LEDs that allow you to tune them. Honestly 99% of people probably shouldn't be fine tuning anything unless they are a marine biologist. I see a lot of people claiming that LEDs are bad but they rarely say what brand, configuration, power layout, what they changed from default, etc. Perhaps your LEDs or your settings on them had a spectrum that was beneficial to something not good for your tank that was the problem. Some Algae or bacteria perhaps.
The way I see it is kind of like the computer industry. You have PCs with many different customizable options, You can get a turnkey solution but if you want you can customize and over clock everything even to be detrimental to what you are trying to do. Apples allow for a turn key solution where dumb people can't mess it up, or smart people who don't want the hassle have a turnkey solution guaranteed to work either way without hastle.
LEDs will get better. Are they there yet? I don't honestly know, lots of people are making them work. They definitely seem to have a lot more flexibility and options with way better efficiency. That's a lot of +s as long as it can get the basic job done. I'm probably going to give the TMC ones a go with all the hype. I talked to a gaming buddy in England and he says that brand is huge out there even though they seem to be non existent here in the states. So when I get it going I'll make several videos on my youtube channel documenting it good or bad.
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d2mini
Premium Member
hmmm... that's too bad.
I just got an order yesterday of 2700k's to replace both the clear incandescent bulbs over the vanity (the led bulb glass is white, not clear) and more ceiling cans. Both are pretty much spot on in color temp. Nice and warm. The regular style LEDs over the vanity are definitely brighter. Since I don't really need it that bright, I'll probably install a dimmer. The bulbs are all dimmer compatible. So now instead of running 16 60w bulbs just over our vanities, I'm running 16 9.5w bulbs. Which I guess will be even less if I install dimmers. The floods in the cans seem to be about right as far as brightness.
Loving them for the house. Too bad they suck so bad over our tanks.
Eric Boerner
Coral Cutter
Hey Brian. We should have a grow off. 
When I get my system fired up, lets try an experiment. Since you went back to T5's and I'm converting to LED's, let see what kind of growth we get from a single zoo polyp. Count off new polyps each month for a year. It'd be a little anecdotal, but should be fun.
When I get my system fired up, lets try an experiment. Since you went back to T5's and I'm converting to LED's, let see what kind of growth we get from a single zoo polyp. Count off new polyps each month for a year. It'd be a little anecdotal, but should be fun.
d2mini
Premium Member
Hey Brian. We should have a grow off.
When I get my system fired up, lets try an experiment. Since you went back to T5's and I'm converting to LED's, let see what kind of growth we get from a single zoo polyp. Count off new polyps each month for a year. It'd be a little anecdotal, but should be fun.
Zoas aren't why people go back to mh or t5.
It's almost all about SPS issues.
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