d2mini
Premium Member
Thanks, guys.
Lost several SPS during my recent tank issue but now everything else is coloring back up. That big purple monti on the right is still suffering a little though. But that's ok, they grow quick!
Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides
- Thread starter Goldcoastreefs
- Start date
Thanks, guys.
Lost several SPS during my recent tank issue but now everything else is coloring back up. That big purple monti on the right is still suffering a little though. But that's ok, they grow quick!
SPotter
Active member
Thanks, guys.
Lost several SPS during my recent tank issue but now everything else is coloring back up. That big purple monti on the right is still suffering a little though. But that's ok, they grow quick!
Amazing Dennis! I had an led fixture on my last tank and had nothing but problems. Here's the new tank with just the MH's on. Hopefully in a few months I'll be able pigs some pics with corals in there!
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Big E
Premium Member
Why turn back when the last two TOTM were LEDs
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for LEDs--
"For the first 5 years that I maintained this system I ran 6 400 watt metal halide lights over the main display. I loved them. My coral loved them. My fish loved them. My wife and my electric company hated them. My chiller ran 24/7 and our ac worked overtime to keep the house cool with the lights all running full time. About two years ago, I decided to build some LED fixtures. I used several different blue LEDs and several whites. The lights were plenty bright but I lost most of my reds underneath these homemade lights. The corals were much more finicky under these lights and after a year or so I tried an imported low cost fixture just to see what would happen. While these new LED didn't give me the full spectrum that the old halides did, I liked them much more than the homemade units. I have since replaced all the homemade units with various low cost imported units. The color, both actual and perceived, isn't as pleasing to me as I could get with halides but the electricity saving is substantial."
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/150-tank-of-the-month
I was at that talk and "just fine" was not the take-away that I got. He didn't say anything about color, but his growth was slower under LED and that there was no efficiency (like some have said on here for years) and that he needed 3 panels to even get close to what one halide did for him.
Like normal, he gave no recommendations, just his observations and some data.
The talk should be available online soon.
Like normal, he gave no recommendations, just his observations and some data.
The talk should be available online soon.
ReefCowboy
New member
Funny, because there is a video about experimenting leds(american reef i think) in which the tank experimented leds and long term things looked like crap compared to MH and Sanjay appears in the video not knowing why leds werent delivering results... He said things like "larger mouth corals doing worse than small mouth corals" under leds....
Sanjay has to support leds, the industry these days is 50% hooked on the led hype, and innovations...if he comes saying MH are still the way to go is like saying we should all go back to projection TV's instead of plasmas and leds.
I have leds because i have an lps tank, just dont have the time to keep the sps tank i once had. My corals reflect nice colors with leds, but not as great as they did with t5s.
If i was starting a whole new system for sps, investing money on equipment, wouldnt even think about leds, would go all in MH+t5s.
If one complains about electric bills being that much higher and not affordable with MH's, maybe they arent ready for the expensive hobby reef tanks are(and even less contemplate SPS!)
power boat jim
Well-known member
The argument saying that those of us running LEDs to save money should not be in the hobby or have an sps tank is about as silly as saying, if you dont have time to take care of an sps tank you may not be ready for this time consuming hobby. Judging what others do on their given budget has little to do with their commitment, knowledge or ability to take care of the animals in their tank no matter what equipment they use.
d2mini
Premium Member
Thank you.
I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, but that states it very well.
ReefCowboy
New member
I apreciate the comment, and apologize for a poor comparison perhaps.
I am supporting the thread of leds not honoring the promises given, and funny how so many here were advocating the exact oposite when they first purchased their radions. I remember a few here criticizing t5 and MH EXACTLY and mainly because of the electric bill they once burned cash on, not happening with the leds(or so they thought).
These same guys today back loving and advocating MH should also have thought of giving time to a new system, since as with anything else, time and experience would tell...
My intent with the bad comparison of the affordability of the hobby was that one looking for a few bucks saved on their electric bill (as main reason for the switch)ended up facing much greater losses with pale, frustrated sps tanks.
Im not trying to be a critic to anyone here in specific either, please.
power boat jim
Well-known member
Thanks for the clarification. Your point stated that way is really pretty good advice regarding any change you make to a reef system. That being,am I willing to be patient enough to see it through? and am I willing to suffer the consequences if this fails?
Triggerfish
Active member
I just started thinking about swithing back to MH. i have 2 of the chinese leds on a 110 and growth is way slow on SPS and LPS. love the colors though.
not up to getting expensive LED to experiment with either.
not up to getting expensive LED to experiment with either.
Triggerfish
Active member
ya..when i go back to halides i will keep one of the leds in the center and just run the blues and also when halides are off i can still get the dimmer lighting i like later at night. i get good spread with this light with no lenses. never thought i would have the desire to switch back but
that's the plan.
that's the plan.
tmc1313
Active member
I switched back because with led's I could never get everything to look good at the same time. Some SPS did really well, while others held color, but had little to no growth. Some SPS just never colored back up for me. That being said, could it have been partly my fault, sure. I never gave longer than 6 months with led's without changing something. Led's are so adjustable it was hard for me to resist changing a color percentage here and there. This is why FOR ME halides are the way to go. You choose a bulb and it is what it is. It's taken some time, but since switching back 2-1/2 months ago I finally have everything coloring up, growing and looking good (all at the same time). It's nice seeing everything with good color, polyp extension and growing tips again. I do still run two reefbrite actinic strips on either side of the halide for some added color.
DavidinGA
Active member
I tend to believe stability in lighting goes a long ways. With leds people tend to constantly change up the time and power levels and the corals never have a chance to get in the "groove".
With MH is the complete opposite. You pick a bulb and set a time and the corals have at least a year of stability until it's time for a new bulb.
With MH is the complete opposite. You pick a bulb and set a time and the corals have at least a year of stability until it's time for a new bulb.
SPotter
Active member
Agree 1000%. I thought the dimming was a great feature on my led fixture but in the end I couldn't dial it in. Just give me on and off and I'm happy! I love my 20k's now!
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