Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides
- Thread starter Goldcoastreefs
- Start date
d2mini
Premium Member
The commercial combo fixtures available like those from ATI are the opposite.
T5 is the majority of the lightning and the LEDs are supplemental.
DavidinGA
Active member
Ya, I should have mentioned I would go diy retro t5 additions not an all in one unit....
Wazzel
New member
Have you looked at spectral plots of the commonly used LEDs? The Cree whites are full spectrum. They look like crap on their own since that have a green/yellow preference and a blue spike. The colored ones on the other hand only cover narrow bands of color. Not understanding that probably causes problems and is another reason why running the white channel low is a bad idea for an LED unit. Know your equipment people.
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shred5
Premium Member
If you read My other posts in this thread I mention that. People tend to like the royal blue too much...
jminick2
New member
So if 1 guy can do it everyone can.
Wazzel
New member
Kind of a long thread to go back and reread everything. Glad I am not the only one picking those things up. It often seems like people forget white is full spectrum light.
[PEDANT}
No they are not. They are still missing big chunks of spectrum. The only lighting source that I am aware of that is truely full spectrum (think the sun) is the Iwasaki 6500k.
Whites are broad spectrum. What most people seem to prefer for their reef tanks is missing almost all of the spectrum above 500nm save a big spike at 550nm and smaller spikes in the 600nm to 700nm range.
Full spectrum in the reefing world is a misnomer.
[/PEDANT]
d2mini
Premium Member
Anything is possible.
But apparently it's VERY difficult and/or cost prohibitive.
So I would not say "everyone". If that was the case, this thread wouldn't exist.
jminick2
New member
Probably so I'm an led guy at the moment, but threads like this have me awfully curious. Especially never having tried MH.Anything is possible.
But apparently it's VERY difficult and/or cost prohibitive.
So I would not say "everyone". If that was the case, this thread wouldn't exist.
d2mini
Premium Member
I wouldn't mind seeing this for comparison sake.
I have to admit, as much as I like MH, my lfs has a tank with the ATI fixture right next to a tank with the GHL Mitras, and the ATI tank blows away the Mitras tank in appearance. The mitras tank is so dull looking in comparison. So i'd like to see the ATI fixture next to another fixture where the T5 just supplementing with mostly LED. Would be interesting.
d2mini
Premium Member
Just to be clear, I wasn't talking about the coral in the tanks, I'm just talking about what the tanks looked like overall. The ATI tank is so much brighter, crisper, more wow factor. The mitras tank just looked flat and dull in comparison. You'd probably have to be there to see what I'm talking about.
If we are talking about the coral, i'd bet money that the ATI tank would grow coral better than the Mitras tank or a tank with mostly led and t5 supplementing.
If we are talking about the coral, i'd bet money that the ATI tank would grow coral better than the Mitras tank or a tank with mostly led and t5 supplementing.
Wazzel
New member
Just to be clear, I wasn't talking about the coral in the tanks, I'm just talking about what the tanks looked like overall. The ATI tank is so much brighter, crisper, more wow factor. The mitras tank just looked flat and dull in comparison. You'd probably have to be there to see what I'm talking about.
If we are talking about the coral, i'd bet money that the ATI tank would grow coral better than the Mitras tank or a tank with mostly led and t5 supplementing.
Could be how they are operated. I am the only person I know of running one of high ends LED units near full power, 95% calculated if you are curious. It is in the ball park of a 250 mh when at the max power of my photo period.
Wazzel
New member
@d2mini what would you consider good growth rate to be for this acro in 6 months. Mine has grown quite a bit from this point but I'm skeptical as to if it's growing as fast as it can be under my leds.... MH make me wonder if it could be twice as big now......
It really depends. I have had some take off as soon as I put in my tank and other that took several months to get going. Not really a universal answer for that question. There is no guarantee a different light system would yield different results. It is just on part of the equation.
power boat jim
Well-known member
A good rule to live by in this hobby is if it aint broke dont fix it. If you have had good growth and color, a switch to halide wont present you with any miracles. There are many other factors beside light that determine growth and color.
Pretty much the reason why I dropped my LEDs and went back to metal halides.
Got my halides back up and running and oh what a difference. Tank looks so bright. These lumenbright pendants can be mounted so high heat is way less of an issue. Some corals are already starting to look better and color back up. I think the main difference for me was LEDs would grow some coral and others just sucked. With metal halide I could grow anything and the color was second to none. Excited to see what the coming months bring.
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