Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

Anyone have a suggestion for supplementing 250 radium 20k bulbs (on eballast) with LED? So far thinking about a DIY with purple/blue LEDs from rapid led. I've also considered something like the BML 20k so I can have the whites to do more of a sunrise sunset thing around the radium photoperiod.
 
not to stray from the subject, and I have only scanned this thread here and there over the time it has been up, but the comparison with lighting seems to be based mainly on coloration of the corals. Over the years I have had vho to power compacts to mh to t5, and now have a t5/led combo, and have found the coloration more based on the water chemistry and bio load than the lighting. Not to say it doesn't influence it, but not nearly as much. Recently I had my water pump which drives my skimmer, carbon, gfo and refugium break down, and didn't get it fixed for over a month. I watched the colors in my sps gain color, and then lose it again when I got it working again. My green slimmer went from light green almost yellowish to green, my red planet gained green in the base, etc, and I never changed my lights. Since then I have removed my gfo, and run my skimmer much drier, and trying to add more fish to the tank. Use whatever lighting you want, most any will work.
 
Johnseye---

"No offense, but they look pastel to me. Why bother with supplemental LED otherwise? "


:lol::lol: Any coral in my tank that is light colored would look the same in a halide tank.

If you want to get more pop in orange, green, yellow, 450- 470 blue leds will add to that, but they will also dim the pop on reds, purples and blue acros.

They aren't going to darken the corals..............lots of blue leds will dim the tank and make the overall look less bright.

That has nothing to do with the skin of corals being pastel...........what you're talking about is nothing but ambience in the tank.

I'm not going to go any further with this as your just interested in winning an argument. If you just don't care for the look of T5 lighting that's fine...............many people don't.

I run Blue+ & coral+ alternating.
 
Last edited:
C3hutson said:
Anyone have a suggestion for supplementing 250 radium 20k bulbs (on eballast) with LED? So far thinking about a DIY with purple/blue LEDs from rapid led. I've also considered something like the BML 20k so I can have the whites to do more of a sunrise sunset thing around the radium photoperiod.
Click to expand...

I run 2 BML 14K lights along with my 250w MH.
 
Big E said:
Johnseye---

"No offense, but they look pastel to me. Why bother with supplemental LED otherwise? "


:lol::lol: Any coral in my tank that is light colored would look the same in a halide tank.

If you want to get more pop in orange, green, yellow, 450- 470 blue leds will add to that, but they will also dim the pop on reds, purples and blue acros.

They aren't going to darken the corals..............lots of blue leds will dim the tank and make the overall look less bright.

That has nothing to do with the skin of corals being pastel...........what you're talking about is nothing but ambience in the tank.

I'm not going to go any further with this as your just interested in winning an argument. If you just don't care for the look of T5 lighting that's fine...............many people don't.

I run Blue+ & coral+ alternating.
Click to expand...


Not sure why so aggro. I'm really not trying to win an argument, it's your tone that's been defensive argumentative. I use all 3 forms of lighting and have seen their effects. If you think any coral in your tank would look the same under MH as T5s then great. Enjoy. Or, put some MH lights above it and see the difference. I happen to think MH brings out pigmentation of corals more than T5s and that LEDs are more customizable to a specific spectrum that accentuates florescence. I'm not attacking T5s and this is clearly my opinion. Who knows, maybe it's just my eyes. :hmm5:

Also, I was being complimentary towards your husbandry efforts. You're clearly doing things right given the look of your corals. :thumbsup:
 
Johnseye said:
Not sure why so aggro. I'm really not trying to win an argument, it's your tone that's been defensive argumentative. I use all 3 forms of lighting and have seen their effects. If you think any coral in your tank would look the same under MH as T5s then great. Enjoy. Or, put some MH lights above it and see the difference. I happen to think MH brings out pigmentation of corals more than T5s and that LEDs are more customizable to a specific spectrum that accentuates florescence. I'm not attacking T5s and this is clearly my opinion. Who knows, maybe it's just my eyes. :hmm5:

Also, I was being complimentary towards your husbandry efforts. You're clearly doing things right given the look of your corals. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

But you are missing the larger discussion that has to do with LED coverage, different colors showing up under LED's, some acro species not being able to tolerate LED at all, or never looking healthy, the issues with hot spots, etc etc. There's a lot of good information here and in other threads about LED's, how to get them to work, how to get that certain look with or without LED's, and so on.

I run a T5 tank with BML supplementation and an all LED lit tank. I would have sworn 3 weeks ago that I could not duplicate the brilliant green of a slimer under LED in a T5 lit tank, and then I did due to improving chemistry. I've been doing this for just 4 years and there's a crap ton I do not know yet. That's part of the fun.
 
markalot said:
But you are missing the larger discussion that has to do with LED coverage, different colors showing up under LED's, some acro species not being able to tolerate LED at all, or never looking healthy, the issues with hot spots, etc etc. There's a lot of good information here and in other threads about LED's, how to get them to work, how to get that certain look with or without LED's, and so on.

I run a T5 tank with BML supplementation and an all LED lit tank. I would have sworn 3 weeks ago that I could not duplicate the brilliant green of a slimer under LED in a T5 lit tank, and then I did due to improving chemistry. I've been doing this for just 4 years and there's a crap ton I do not know yet. That's part of the fun.
Click to expand...

If I missed the larger discussion about LEDs I apologize. I was really only commenting on one particular pastel looking tank lit with T5s, what pictures I've seen of others tanks with T5s and my own experience with T5s. Obviously myself and others are doing something wrong since excellent coloration is possible with T5s through other husbandry efforts. If that's the case then it could be said for LEDs as well, which I think was your point. I still think, as made clear by this entire thread, that it's easier with halides.
 
Tweaked said:
Absolutely would have to pry my halides from my hands, but I don't care to see them on. In fact, my lighting schedule keeps halides off when I'm home, and the weekend completely. I use the T5s and 2 blue reefbrites at those times for CRAZY pop. That's why I seek out the more colorful coral, to see it pop. Like discussed, we all have our preference, but all lighting technologies work, and work WELL!
Click to expand...

haha, i'm the opposite. Love it when all 3 types of lighting are on during midday!
Super bright and more "natural" looking to me, whatever that means. ;)
 
Tweaked said:
Absolutely would have to pry my halides from my hands, but I don't care to see them on. In fact, my lighting schedule keeps halides off when I'm home, and the weekend completely. I use the T5s and 2 blue reefbrites at those times for CRAZY pop. That's why I seek out the more colorful coral, to see it pop. Like discussed, we all have our preference, but all lighting technologies work, and work WELL!
Click to expand...

Are you using like 6K bulbs or something?
 
Big E said:
I've been running a T5 only setup for 5 years and I don't have pastel colors like lunar's tank. He chooses to run a pastel color like system......it has nothing to do with the T5 lighting causing this.

I'm specifically addressing your "pastel" comments as being false.

left%20side%20scape_zpsq9iqbsrv.jpg


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2197142&page=12

There are hundreds of T5 tanks all over the web that don't have pastel colors.
Click to expand...


Those are some deep colors, look at that purple monster. I think the pale and pastel is a misconception with t5's due to the fact that most popular ULNS systems uses t5.
 
Big E said:
I've been running a T5 only setup for 5 years and I don't have pastel colors like lunar's tank. He chooses to run a pastel color like system......it has nothing to do with the T5 lighting causing this.

I'm specifically addressing your "pastel" comments as being false.

left%20side%20scape_zpsq9iqbsrv.jpg


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2197142&page=12

There are hundreds of T5 tanks all over the web that don't have pastel colors.
Click to expand...

I completely agree.
 
jonwright said:
Why run ulns and t5 and not Mh?
Click to expand...

From the look of things is because T5's allow for more tweak in colors. For example, a 10 bulb ATI has endless options in bulb combos and they can blend differently base on placement of bulbs in that fixture in contrast to 3-5 metal halide bulbs. I'm a big fan of MH by the way, with that said it could just all be simply a trend.
 
Last edited:
jonwright said:
Why run ulns and t5 and not Mh?
Click to expand...

A lot of UNLS systems like Zeovit are in EU and they use more t-5 lighting.
Why probably the same reason allot of people do. It is in between a MH and led.

They produces less heat because less watts are required than MH. They use less power than MH. They light more evenly and dont have a hot spot. You dont have where the corals also grow toward the light like you see with some MH. They also produce better colors in some sps like MH because they produce some UV unlike leds.

They are basically in between, they produce better color in some sps than led but not as good as MH. They are more energy efficient than MH but not as energy efficient than leds.

Disadvantage is lots of bulbs to change and no glitter lines.

There are advantages and disadvantages to all 3 lighting.
 
Well 7 years or so of reefing and Im back on T5 and Halide and couldnt be happier, Im done with leds as anything but for dusk dawn stuff, some people can get LED to work I struggle to ever make it work as a main light source. My tanks on LED do well for about a year, then things slowly drop off, colors drop off. Evidence of how good T5 and halide is growth and colors in two weeks. Ive never had the reverse.

Im gunna take a few years off tinkering with LEDs and wait and see what they bring us.
 
Mr. Brooks said:
Could you be more specific about the type of LED's you were running? Try to give us the whole story, complete picture.
Click to expand...

DIY XRE Cree LEDs blue white back in the day, then t5 then halide then too hot so went back to led, then sunlight , which was insane, but had to move tank, so back to led now halide and T5 , my view it goes sun then T5 , then halide then led.

Sunlight was nuts and I miss it

Top down on my sunlight tank

d46e008ca48accd8a2b04c6377e6f542_zpspljaex8b.jpg


And my led vs sunlight birds nest frags, sunlight on the right shows insane health. Sunlight frag was half the led size when they were fragged.


db999a4fdb8e4edb72206b77d5ed949d_zpsc793dfd9.jpg


These are just my experiences, others will have had success with led, I just can't ever make it work, but mines all DIY , maybe a sol or radion would have been different

My sunlit tank thread. Makes me want to go back http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2455900&page=3
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
LED fixture lighting help (replacing old T5 HO)
Replies
5
Views
411
griss
griss
C
Maxspect jump led issue
Replies
0
Views
102
Cruzersmith
C
L
Equipment help
Replies
8
Views
99
lilredwuck
L
M
Can't find 60"VHO Actinics anymore... LED recommendations
2
Replies
23
Views
894
griss
griss
P
MP10mqd with old controller?
Replies
9
Views
587
phreeflow
P
Back
Top