Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

Nicely said. The thing that also stuck with me is the theory that MH produce enough usable energy that you can run an ULNS without starvation. What do you think of that idea?
 
Fishmommy said:
Nicely said. The thing that also stuck with me is the theory that MH produce enough usable energy that you can run an ULNS without starvation. What do you think of that idea?
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I think you are absolutely right!

I forget the exact number, but I know there has been extensive research saying that corals derive most of their energy needs from their symbiodinium (zooxanthellae). Logically this implies that if your light source is proven than you are 3/4 of the way home to feeding you corals a healthy diet even in an ULNS. I know LEDs can do this as well; the problem is simply knowing which combination of individual LEDs, intensity, height, and duration is enough. There are simply too many choices for the average beginner to have certainty in what to do when choosing LEDs not to mention the inherent design flaws in terms of spread from which most LEDs on the market today suffer.
 
Joe, read your story. Looks like you dodged a bullet. Its hard to believe after all this time we still make those mistakes. Just so you dont feel alone I dropped a 1hr old Radion into the tank last week. Whats worse is the zinc oxide they use in the light leaked into the tank.

So I sent the light in to be fixed, in the meantime I sold all my AIs so I had to use an old MH to fill in where the Radion was supposed to be. Now after hanging the halide I can see I dont have enough Radions to cover the way the MH does so, the MH was installed to be permanent. When I get the Radion back The center will be lit with MH and the two ends with radions. It will look quite nice.

I have changed 90 gallons of water so far and will keep at it for another week or so. This year this tank has taken a beating. The polar vortex cooled it to below 70 in January, That cost me two 8 year old corals. Then alk and pH bounces for the next 7 months have weakened some other corals and this last episode with the lights has done in some of those. I dont know what will happen next. Im watching a couple stn now. I figure I will let it bottom out and then start restocking. Its depressing since this tank looked outstanding a year ago now it looks like crap. Anyway, its a bit off topic but after 147 pages of LED vs MH a little story break might be nice.
 
power boat jim said:
Joe, read your story. Looks like you dodged a bullet. Its hard to believe after all this time we still make those mistakes. Just so you dont feel alone I dropped a 1hr old Radion into the tank last week. Whats worse is the zinc oxide they use in the light leaked into the tank.

So I sent the light in to be fixed, in the meantime I sold all my AIs so I had to use an old MH to fill in where the Radion was supposed to be. Now after hanging the halide I can see I dont have enough Radions to cover the way the MH does so, the MH was installed to be permanent. When I get the Radion back The center will be lit with MH and the two ends with radions. It will look quite nice.

I have changed 90 gallons of water so far and will keep at it for another week or so. This year this tank has taken a beating. The polar vortex cooled it to below 70 in January, That cost me two 8 year old corals. Then alk and pH bounces for the next 7 months have weakened some other corals and this last episode with the lights has done in some of those. I dont know what will happen next. Im watching a couple stn now. I figure I will let it bottom out and then start restocking. Its depressing since this tank looked outstanding a year ago now it looks like crap. Anyway, its a bit off topic but after 147 pages of LED vs MH a little story break might be nice.
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Oh man! I am so sorry to hear about the Radion and the tank troubles. This hobby can be insanely frustrating sometimes. This doesn't make your troubles any easier, but I did the same thing about 4 years ago. I was setting up a new 24 inch ATI fixture and dropped it partially into my 180 . . . while it was on . . . :hmm4: . . . Believe it or not it's still working fine on my daughters 38 Nuvo today. Anyways, I feel your pain.
 
Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

Comedy Fish said:
Can you post a pic?
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3 x 250w radiums, 4 x 54w Aquablue plus and 4 x 54w geisemann pure actinic

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1419107096.239742.jpg
 
JPMagyar said:
Thanks guys! Jim, if you haven't already you should read the story from last week that I posted on my thread:

A Day in the Life of an Addicted Aquarist

It's actually funny once you're able to look back on it . . .

Anyways, I just want to add for anyone following along on this thread that lighting makes a difference, but it's only one piece of the puzzle. Perseverance is probably more important than anything else. You need to solve each problem one step at a time and lighting can not fix any problems. You need good lighting to succeed, but there are so many other parameters that have to be perfect and really I think that is where the hard work lies. BUT, that's why I'm such a jerk about LEDs and why I push so hard in favor of T5 or MH. Having a successful reef requires so much work, why make it harder than you need by experimenting with a light source that is so complex. 250 or 400 watt Radiums come in one form and produce one type of light. You can't change their intensity or color. You can't make them dim for sunrise and sunset, but you sure as heck can be certain that they grow excellent coral and make them really colorful. Using metal halides leaves you free to focus on all those other issues that are so hard to pin down: nitrate, phosphate, algae control, pests, salinity stability, alkalinity stability, temperature stability, etc. etc. There's just so much work to do in keeping a successful reef, I hate to see folks spend so much time trying to make their lighting "just right" when that is probably the easiest part of the equation and for sure the only one that has multiple "set it and forget it" solutions.
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Couldn't agree more!
 
Ok....I'm going to add another pendant on my tank and just found out that the Galaxy 250w-400w select a watt ballast has been discontinued. I run radiums on the hqi setting on the Galaxy and think I've narrowed my options down to this....purchase a luxcore select a watt or switch them all over to Hamilton 250w ballasts. Thoughts?
 
SPotter said:
Ok....I'm going to add another pendant on my tank and just found out that the Galaxy 250w-400w select a watt ballast has been discontinued. I run radiums on the hqi setting on the Galaxy and think I've narrowed my options down to this....purchase a luxcore select a watt or switch them all over to Hamilton 250w ballasts. Thoughts?
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Check out the new ReefBrite MH250 watt running at 262 watts ballast.
 
SPotter said:
Ok....I'm going to add another pendant on my tank and just found out that the Galaxy 250w-400w select a watt ballast has been discontinued. I run radiums on the hqi setting on the Galaxy and think I've narrowed my options down to this....purchase a luxcore select a watt or switch them all over to Hamilton 250w ballasts. Thoughts?
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Why are you adding another pendant? I have 4 pendants above my 82" tank (I know yours is longer), running 250W radiums in Luminmax Elite reflectors on Galaxy select a watt ballasts and I'm feeling like I'm getting too much light on my corals -- 450 par at the top of the reef, 200+ at the sand bed. The reflectors are about 1.5" apart and hung 18" above water line. I just switched the ballasts to the regular 250 setting and reduced my photoperiod down to 5.5 hours in an effort to try to get the polyp extension that I do in my connected frag tank with T5s. If that doesn't work, I am considering removing one pendant and increasing the photoperiod.
 
acesq said:
Why are you adding another pendant? I have 4 pendants above my 82" tank (I know yours is longer), running 250W radiums in Luminmax Elite reflectors on Galaxy select a watt ballasts and I'm feeling like I'm getting too much light on my corals -- 450 par at the top of the reef, 200+ at the sand bed. The reflectors are about 1.5" apart and hung 18" above water line. I just switched the ballasts to the regular 250 setting and reduced my photoperiod down to 5.5 hours in an effort to try to get the polyp extension that I do in my connected frag tank with T5s. If that doesn't work, I am considering removing one pendant and increasing the photoperiod.
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I'm using the Hamilton Cozumel reflectors and they Dow a really great job of spreading the light out but my par values directly under my bulbs at the bottom of the tank are much lower than the readings I get as I move left/right or front/back with the par meter. I'm not keeping much in the way of softies or Lps in the tank so I want even par across the bottom. I just ordered the 4th pendant and this will have each of them side by side with little to no gap in between them. I will take par readings before and after.
 
nice Cebu sun. may I ask about the fan flow, 1 side push 1 side pull or both pull or both push... hot air that is...? thanks
 
d2mini said:
Welcome back! :thumbsup:

welcome-back-kotter-615x329.jpg
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Lmao! Welcome back Kotter! Thanks D2, and congrats on getting your tank back online!

@bdsage It is a push/pull flow... For some apparent reason the room doesn't seem that much warmer.. This fixture is nice...
 
Like I just turned on the light switch, way brighter than my led's.... glad to be back...




Full tank shot of this brightness you talk about.
 
Guys Im jumping in on this I had LEDS running little over a year, never was happy with the color or growth and had couple clams not make it , just from lack of light. The ramping up of the LED systems were nice but if the tank is suffering not worth it.

Waiting on 3 new Phoenix bulbs and couple new T5s that will be here next week. Renewed my interest back into the tank.


GLAD TO HAVE THEM BACK ON MY TANK!!!!
 
Local LFS keeps telling me I won't be able to buy MH parts or bulbs soon, so go ahead and get LED.

That's OK - I got a sack full o' bulbs that'll last me a couple years that I bought on sale...

But I think MH's death call is a little premature.
 
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