Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

I think the argument here is not whether you can have growth and good colors with led on certain corals, but whether you can have the same growth and color as halides for all corals.

So yes there is more than one way to skin a cat, but there are different types of cats...and so far there's only one knife that works the best for all cats :)
 
JPMagyar said:
How 'bout some pics . . .



100 and 89 pages in folks can't produce pictures of tanks grown from frag to full TOTM quality under LEDs. Yes, I know y'all throw up some pics for me, but I'll tell you right now I won't agree they match T5/LED pics because first and foremost photographs under LED light are terrible, but more importantly because no one makes LEDs that match the growth and color ability of T5 or MH. I'll post before and after pictures of my tank soon, and they will be a mere year apart and will blow any LED tank out of the water.

I love the fact that LED folks continue to flood this thread, but none have TOTM worthy pics.

Go look at Lunar's tank, and read his comments on LED's. He's the best coral grower on RC hands down, and he won't touch LEDs. Does that tell you something? If not then you are simply stubborn. It's been said over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over. . . well you get the point . . .

yes, LEDs can make a "nice" tank, but they do not AS YET match the color and growth of T5/MH tanks.
Click to expand...

I wish that we could jump ahead 2 years, so we could see some people change their tune.

My tank is only a few months old, so there is no FTS to show coral growth and color. I will post one coral below though to show it's progress so far. I have no doubt that there will be many more TOTM winners running LED's over the next couple of years. I can only hope that mine can get to that point one day, but it is YEARS from reaching that point.

Here is one of my corals (the pics were taken using different phones, so colors look very different, but you can see the growth):

July 20 (about 2 weeks after we got it)



Sept. 7 (2 months after purchase

 
Aqualund said:
I think the argument here is not whether you can have growth and good colors with led on certain corals, but whether you can have the same growth and color as halides for all corals.

So yes there is more than one way to skin a cat, but there are different types of cats...and so far there's only one knife that works the best for all cats :)
Click to expand...

No, LED's do not grow and color ALL corals the same as MH.... it grows and colors some corals BETTER than MH, and MH grows and colors some better than LED's. The bottom line is, THERE IS ONLY ONE PERFECT LIGHT SOURCE, THE SUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Use what works for you, let others use what works for them, and lets all get back to loving our hobby.
 
JPMagyar said:
How 'bout some pics . . .



100 and 89 pages in folks can't produce pictures of tanks grown from frag to full TOTM quality under LEDs. Yes, I know y'all throw up some pics for me, but I'll tell you right now I won't agree they match T5/LED pics because first and foremost photographs under LED light are terrible, but more importantly because no one makes LEDs that match the growth and color ability of T5 or MH. I'll post before and after pictures of my tank soon, and they will be a mere year apart and will blow any LED tank out of the water.

I love the fact that LED folks continue to flood this thread, but none have TOTM worthy pics.

Go look at Lunar's tank, and read his comments on LED's. He's the best coral grower on RC hands down, and he won't touch LEDs. Does that tell you something? If not then you are simply stubborn. It's been said over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over. . . well you get the point . . .

yes, LEDs can make a "nice" tank, but they do not AS YET match the color and growth of T5/MH tanks.
Click to expand...

Show me the best coral grower on RC. Let's see some acro's!
 
lpsouth1978 said:
No, LED's do not grow and color ALL corals the same as MH.... it grows and colors some corals BETTER than MH, and MH grows and colors some better than LED's. The bottom line is, THERE IS ONLY ONE PERFECT LIGHT SOURCE, THE SUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Use what works for you, let others use what works for them, and lets all get back to loving our hobby.
Click to expand...

You forget that this is RC, where everyone has to have the best equipment and anyone who disagrees is wrong regardless of whether it can be proven or not :celeb1:
 
I am an LED advocate but I don't believe LEDS are the "best", just that they work but with trade offs.

In exchange for not having the very best (MH) you don't have to deal with heat, bulb rotations, lack of control etc.

On the other hand for the die hard, the heat is dealt with, the power bill is a non-issue, the extra control is a gimmick, and rotating bulbs is just one more thing you can do to spend time with your tank. Plus you can add LEDs for extra control.

I really wish we could all just agree that both have their place. The reef junkie prefers full on MH/T5 maybe even WITH leds.

The casual reefer who is busy will gladly take what LEDS can do for corals and its limitations in trade for the benefits.

Most of the argument seems to be among reef junkie LED fans saying LEDS is superior and that failure to work them is always user error. While I think user error and bad luck are factors in some failures, I hardly think its been or ever will be established that LEDS are superior.

I think one of two things will happen....either LEDS will continue to evolve until they are better and the argument is solved....or LEDS are about peaked already and eventually we will all have to agree that both will work with different limitations and you choose according to your priorities.
 
DavidinGA said:
Show me the best coral grower on RC. Let's see some acro's!
Click to expand...

Some Acros loved by the gentle rays of T5s:

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Those T5HO pics are about as good as it gets. No denying that. Having previously used T5HO, MH, and now LED...I believe each to have their merits and shortcomings.

The real issue here is obvious. Nobody seems to care at all about anything except designer "name brand" acros, in regards to this thread and any other like it. The small minority of people on here who are extremely brand conscious in regards to acros and generally seem to refer to all other corals as irrelevant in regards to the lighting debate. Which is fine. I do love seeing the recent TOTM winner being largely acro free. Nice change of pace even though acros are also my favorite
 
Bpb said:
Those T5HO pics are about as good as it gets. No denying that. Having previously used T5HO, MH, and now LED...I believe each to have their merits and shortcomings.

The real issue here is obvious. Nobody seems to care at all about anything except designer "name brand" acros, in regards to this thread and any other like it. The small minority of people on here who are extremely brand conscious in regards to acros and generally seem to refer to all other corals as irrelevant in regards to the lighting debate. Which is fine. I do love seeing the recent TOTM winner being largely acro free. Nice change of pace even though acros are also my favorite
Click to expand...

I don't care about a "named" Acropora, other than the advantage that you know what it will look like when it colors up. The extreme branding is bad for our hobby IMO. I only care about the color and growth form.

I will say this thread is largely populated by people who want to the very best color and growth for SPS corals, primarily Acropora. Those are the most demanding corals and the pinnacle of reef keeping. People have been successfully keeping LPS and soft corals for 25+ years and those corals are very tolerant of less than ideal lighting. It is likely the thread wouldn't have the life it does if we weren't talking about Acroporas...
 
mhucasey said:
I don't care about a "named" Acropora, other than the advantage that you know what it will look like when it colors up. The extreme branding is bad for our hobby IMO. I only care about the color and growth form.
Click to expand...

Completely agree with regard to my tank or any tank. This is exactly what I look at when growing out my tank or what attracts me to other people's reefs.
To answer the thread title, yes, I switched back to halides for no other reason than the controllability factor. I cannot resist constantly tinkering with settings on led's much to the dismay of my corals. That's really the only reason I switched back.
 
Last edited:
I would still go so far as to say this thread is simply for acropora only. Not primarily, but only. As myself and others were essentially told our posting of montipora growth under metal halides was irrelevant to the discussion
 
I plan on using LEDs and T5s together over my larger tank when I get it (200+). I like the intensity of color I get from LEDs, but know that corals won't grow as fast with LEDs from what I've heard.
 
lifeoffaith said:
I plan on using LEDs and T5s together over my larger tank when I get it (200+). I like the intensity of color I get from LEDs, but know that corals won't grow as fast with LEDs from what I've heard.
Click to expand...

Not true across the board. My growth is as good with LED as what I had with MH. Generalizations just do not work in this debate.
 
Wazzel said:
Not true across the board. My growth is as good with LED as what I had with MH. Generalizations just do not work in this debate.
Click to expand...

talk about generalization!!!! could you explain how your growth was as good with LED as it was with MH? weight, growth rates, parameters, etc, etc.... or was it...hey, "stuff" still growing the same with LEDs, I think?:idea:
 
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