Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

[seamonster124]

Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

No pls don't pm me. I'm done. I simply asked to stop the name calling. Now enjoy the rest of ur day

 

[Wazzel]

I agree, but let's face it, LED's < MH and T5's

I have not had that experience. My results have been approximately equal.

 

[Hamilton Tech]

I agree, that's why I will be ordering this exact light and bulb combo you mention on my 25 gallon cube that I'm currently putting together. One question though, why doesn't Hamilton make all of the fixtures with this sleek design? I realize it would look similar to a Giesemann fixture, but I'm always hearing that some of the reasons more people don't go with halides are that there aren't any nice looking fixtures. Why not a more contemporary design over the somewhat, current bulky design look?

Tooling cost primarily. That would be the biggest factor and right now we already have 8 metal halide reflectors we offer currently which do fairly well. But that could change if we continue to see more and more people switching back to metal halides from LEDs like we have in the past 2 years. There has been a lot.

But even if you feel a particular reflector is not sleek, keep in mind its performance and reliability. We often hear from customers who have been using the same Hamilton ballast and same Hamilton reflector for 10 years, 15 years even 20+ years. Their tanks look awesome. That’s getting your money’s worth when you buy something.

 

[Hamilton Tech]

Ten months of growth under MH and now T5 for the last month . . .

Anyone with a pure LED lit tank got a similar result?


Oh, and I took out several faster growing colonies that grew too big including Red Planet, Pearlyberry, Ponape, Pink Stylo, Northern Lights Granulosa, Cali Tort, and Green Birdsnest. I had to start them over as frags again plus I pull out a dozen or so ricordea and orange zoos about once a month. And, the tiny blue frag next to the Purple Monster is the super slow growing Oregon Tort.

WOW!

Awesome tank Joe.

Great example of growth you get from metal halide lighting.

 

[shred5]

Please stop acting like children, especially the newbs.
I don't want to see this thread locked.
Take it to PM if you can't have an adult discussion without name calling and insults.

Agreed and when people start pointing out punctuation and getting off topic mean they can't debate or lost the debate..

 

[ReefCowboy]

I have not had that experience. My results have been approximately equal.

LOL, i was joking with the comment, since it was reduntant bringing it all back to the leds - mh arguments... Ive seen your tank, you have a success story there indeed....but i think if you were to ever dare to use a MH for 3 months, your tank would look even better. Trust me my tank was doing great with the hydras, but it wasnt what i was getting that was upsetting, but what i was not getting

 

[Maximus]

Tooling cost primarily. That would be the biggest factor and right now we already have 8 metal halide reflectors we offer currently which do fairly well. But that could change if we continue to see more and more people switching back to metal halides from LEDs like we have in the past 2 years. There has been a lot.

But even if you feel a particular reflector is not sleek, keep in mind its performance and reliability. We often hear from customers who have been using the same Hamilton ballast and same Hamilton reflector for 10 years, 15 years even 20+ years. Their tanks look awesome. That’s getting your money’s worth when you buy something.

Which Hamilton MH ballast would you recommend for a 400w Radium?

 

[RobTheReefer]

If someone decides to ditch 3 Kessil A360W-E's for Halides, let me know. Maybe this should be in another section? Delete if so.

 

[karimwassef]

are there any scientific studies that objectively compared sunlight, MH, LED, and T5s under controlled conditions with controls like common PAR. Also common feeding, filtration, maybe same water even, and frags of the same corals under each?

variables can be different combos of K values and frequencies maybe? different reflectors or lenses?

 

[atreis]

IMO - many of the people that have trouble with LED have established tanks lit by some other type of light, and switch to LED. Switching light systems is a major change to the system, and some corals benefit while others lose out. The same could happen if an aquarium that was established and had always been lit by T5 (or LED) was switched to MH with no other changes. Seems natural to me for such a major change to an established system to result in winners and losers among the inhabitants.

On a totally different note: Have to laugh at the person who writes "r u" in place of "are you" berating someone else for typos.

 

[alton]

If you think about it, in the winter our metal halides run for free? They help heat our homes and keep our tanks warm. Without them our heaters would run much more. I am surprised this thread is still going though, except for a few everyone has been very civilized. Back to the Chevy is so much better than Ford Thread

 

[Wazzel]

LOL, i was joking with the comment, since it was reduntant bringing it all back to the leds - mh arguments... Ive seen your tank, you have a success story there indeed....but i think if you were to ever dare to use a MH for 3 months, your tank would look even better. Trust me my tank was doing great with the hydras, but it wasnt what i was getting that was upsetting, but what i was not getting

I think it would look different, not better. I have run both MH and LED so I am not just saying stuff. Most of the really successful tanks have been run with Mh so people have made that a standard for appearance, even tho it is just arbitrary. You can not get a Mh looking tank from LED.

If a person wants a Mh looking tank use Mh, it is a great choice in lighting. Do not discount the other options and their ability to grow corals well and provide a nice looking tank, even if it is a little bit different in appearance.

 

[RVANANO]

Ugg, I was hoping this thread would make my decision easier but just the opposite. I am running 3- 250w DE MH Hamilton fixtures with Geisemann megachrome 13k's and 8- 54w 60" T5's. It's time for bulb changes and I have been considering 2- AP700's or 3- Radion Pro G3's over my 270DD tank (and keeping the T5's). I don't feel like I am getting enough color pop and/or growth. I have tried changing my light cycles and wondering if I went the wrong way. I actually shortened the MH photo period because I was having an algae issue which seemed to be related to the Marco rocks.

I have my lighting schedule such that 2 T5's cut on at 8am, then another 2 at 9, the next 2 at 10 and then the last 2 at 11am. Then the first MH cuts on around 1, the next at 1 30 and the last at 2. They start to cut off around 6:30, 7 and 7:30. Then my T5's start cutting off around 9:30-10:30 (2 at a time in 30 min increments).

 

[d2mini]

Brandon, don't do it. Trust me. Things will only get worse.
I'm wondering if you actually need 400's for your tank depth instead of 250? If i remember correctly your coral is all pretty low.
How high off the water are your MH? 7 hours is a good photo period for MH.
And no, that is not the cause of your algae.

 

[RVANANO]

Almost all my SPS is at the middle or higher. I want to say the fixture is about 14" from the water. I will double check and report back. My bulbs are definitely past their due date for replacement so perhaps that is contributing. Not looking forward to replacing 3- MH's and 8- T5's right around the holidays.

 

[jdraider75]

Almost all my SPS is at the middle or higher. I want to say the fixture is about 14" from the water. I will double check and report back. My bulbs are definitely past their due date for replacement so perhaps that is contributing. Not looking forward to replacing 3- MH's and 8- T5's right around the holidays.

It will be a lot cheaper to change bulbs rather than buy new leds.

 

[RVANANO]

True. Until the next time I have to do it. Then anything further and the LED's actually become cheaper. Not even taking the power bills into consideration.

 

[RobTheReefer]

It will be a lot cheaper to change bulbs rather than buy new leds.

Yes, assuming that he never buys replacement bulbs again.

 

[mhucasey]

True. Until the next time I have to do it. Then anything further and the LED's actually become cheaper. Not even taking the power bills into consideration.

As soon as I see more people actually keeping the same LEDs for more than 2 years, I'll believe that. Even the majority of the die-hard proponents of LED here have upgraded at least once well before the mythical 5 or ten year lifetime of the fixtures. I suspect you would do the same if you switched...

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Almost all my SPS is at the middle or higher. I want to say the fixture is about 14" from the water. I will double check and report back. My bulbs are definitely past their due date for replacement so perhaps that is contributing. Not looking forward to replacing 3- MH's and 8- T5's right around the holidays.

I'm not sure how old your mh bulbs are but from what I remember from an article I read years ago when I was using mh is that it's best to replace bulbs around the 9 month mark because they've lost the most par by then and there is very little change in par loss over the next 6 to 9 months. You might also try lowering your mh fixtures slowly to around 10" off the water.