Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

[mhucasey]

I agree on the Kessils by themselves, it looks like a strobe light to me. Reefbrites for the Royal Blue kick should work well

 

[BigCountry74]

Yeah, normally I would recommend Radions for LED but if its just supplemental lighting you are looking for what about some Reefbrite strips? I plan on getting one of those myself. I too am severely limited on space in my canopy.

X2

I cannot fathom dumping all that money into a kessel or ecotech if it were only to be used for supplemental, does not make much sense

 

[Tweaked]

Loooove the ReefBrites! Have them on both our tanks.

Here is just the strips running... Horrible phone pic, but man do these things pump out the blue!

 

[fq600]

Kessils drive me nuts, can't stand them. The shimmer is so overdone it's like a rave.
I have MH supplemented with T5.
For me, the blue led strip would just be for a little extra pop when the halides are off morning and evening.
And the reefbrite is a direct bolt-on for my Hamilton fixture.

It can be if you have a lot of random moments at the surface. I have my pumps on wave mode and the shimmer is very natural looking. The kessils put out some serious par also.

 

[Scorpius]

It can be if you have a lot of random moments at the surface. I have my pumps on wave mode and the shimmer is very natural looking. The kessils put out some serious par also.

Agreed. I guess we should tell the sun to stop being a single point light source while we're at it too. :lol:

 

[fq600]

Agreed. I guess we should tell the sun to stop being a single point light source while we're at it too. [emoji38]

Lol. Good luck with that!

 

[ReefCowboy]

I was seriously considering some kessils as supplemental lighting for my MH. I might still do that.

I think Kessils are the best option for accent, because of the nice shimmer they provide. I've had the reefbrites before but if you are not concerned about the higher cost(multiple units?) of the Kessil, I agree it is a nicer choice

 

[d2mini]

Gablett already has MH which IMHO offers plenty of pleasing shimmer.

T5 would offer more light spread, less shadows and allow for a step or two of dusk/dawn. That would be my first step in supplementing. Better for the coral to have that light wrap. The kessils aren't going to add anything advantageous IMHO.

 

[gdwats1]

I too believe that the output of MH is superior to any LED setup. I've gotten much "beefier" coral growth under mh. The natural light curve and flooding intensity just isn't there. Even my lfs ended up adding T5 to suppliment the spectrum from their Kessils. Back to me and t5/cf for me soon.

 

[gdwats1]

Mh & t5

 

[jminick2]

how long can I expect my coloration to improve on my acros after switching from radions to MHs I have noticed the MH are much brighter

 

[d2mini]

how long can I expect my coloration to improve on my acros after switching from radions to MHs I have noticed the MH are much brighter

It depends on the coral. I saw big improved growth and color on some acros within a matter of weeks just because they were actually getting a decent amount of light now, when there just wasn't enough light reaching them before from not running enough leds.

Some acros starting showing color and PE underneath now that light was wrapping around them.

Some other acros just changed color. Not necessarily better (a matter of personal opinion) but just different.

So it just depends. But you should start seeing some positive changes fairly quickly.

 

[jminick2]

It depends on the coral. I saw big improved growth and color on some acros within a matter of weeks just because they were actually getting a decent amount of light now, when there just wasn't enough light reaching them before from not running enough leds.

Some acros starting showing color and PE underneath now that light was wrapping around them.

Some other acros just changed color. Not necessarily better (a matter of personal opinion) but just different.

So it just depends. But you should start seeing some positive changes fairly quickly.

I'm excited. thanks.

 

[power boat jim]

how long can I expect my coloration to improve on my acros after switching from radions to MHs I have noticed the MH are much brighter

Since putting the MH with the Radions there has been a small color improvement on many corals.Some have started to bleach a little though. the growth rate has picked up a good bit on just about all of them. Dont expect to see a huge color improvement everywhere from the halides over the Radions. The Radions are a very good light.

 

[Coelli]

Agreed. I guess we should tell the sun to stop being a single point light source while we're at it too. :lol:

Haha... Thank you.

 

[Coelli]

I was at Unique Corals a few months ago for a local meet and one of their propagation tanks had been entirely switched over to Kessils. I asked the owner what he thought of them and he raved about them, and brought me into his office to look at the tank in there which was also Kessil-lit. It made me feel even better about my choice to go with them for my tank. I think if you have the budget for them and want to go entirely LED, they are probably your best bet. I've definitely seen an improvement in my SPS since switching from an older blue/white LED combo.

 

[d2mini]

Agreed. I guess we should tell the sun to stop being a single point light source while we're at it too. :lol:

Lol. Good luck with that!

Haha... Thank you.

Do you realize how silly this sun comparison is when talking about our tanks?
I just brought a multi branch sps coral outside (no joke) and it was completely lit up, every single part of it with no shadows, better than my tank with multiple MH and T5.

 

[Coelli]

Do you realize how silly this sun comparison is when talking about our tanks?
I just brought a multi branch sps coral outside (no joke) and it was completely lit up, every single part of it with no shadows, better than my tank with multiple MH and T5.

Pretty sure that single-point light source comment was in regards to the complaints about shimmer. Lighten up (pun intended).

 

[d2mini]

Pretty sure that single-point light source comment was in regards to the complaints about shimmer. Lighten up (pun intended).

point being, the sun is not a comparison to a kessil. No matter how you are comparing it. MH is closer to the sun than a kessil.

 

[SPotter]

I was at Unique Corals a few months ago for a local meet and one of their propagation tanks had been entirely switched over to Kessils. I asked the owner what he thought of them and he raved about them, and brought me into his office to look at the tank in there which was also Kessil-lit. It made me feel even better about my choice to go with them for my tank. I think if you have the budget for them and want to go entirely LED, they are probably your best bet. I've definitely seen an improvement in my SPS since switching from an older blue/white LED combo.

I am in contact with the guys at Unique fairly regularly and ALL of their sps raceways are 400w Radiums. Some of the lps tanks have leds and t5's but for their sps tanks....its all mh. You can also take a look at this link.....

http://uniquecorals.com/coral/sps.html