DavidinGA
Active member
Can't go wrong with either a ATI B+ or C+ depending on the the look your after. B+ will obviously be blue. Coral plus gives a crisp white look imo. I prefer to run them in pairs myself (2 b+ and 2c+ tubes).
Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides
- Thread starter Goldcoastreefs
- Start date
SkullV
They Got My Number
Do you have any full tank shots available? I'm interested to see how the shading in your tank looks with that much LED and substantially less T5. I've been interested recently in LED as supplement with T5 as main lighting vs T5 as supplement with LED as main lighting.
Aqualund
New member
I would say a whole lot more spectrum, because were talking about excitation emissions that could occur at any place along the visible spectrum, and some even outside of that, whereas LEDS are discrete emissions within a narrow band of 5-10nm for each diode bin. It is still hotly debated how important this spectral variety is. Where leds fall short in spectral variety and coverage, T5 can pick up the slack.
As an avid coral grower of all types, I definitively say that for a majority of Acropora, nothing matches color and growth of MH or T5. And my personal opinion is that it is because of spread and spectral variety outside of what current LEDs can offer.
karimwassef
Active member
does anyone run all 3 ? MH, T5, LED?
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Tom (tdb320reef) does, and he may have the most insanely colorful reef out there. Overdriven T5s and Radiums are the center of that system.
I'm interested in spectral variety, and spectral banding. In halides and T5 u get distinct banding, however these bands must still be fatter and covering a lot more than led ? I'd love to see true spectral output from all three types without the soothing graphs 
In theory lots of different led bins in the one unit would do the trick, if then bands are wide enough.
In theory lots of different led bins in the one unit would do the trick, if then bands are wide enough.
Wazzel
New member
That is why LED units need to have a broad spectrum white in the mix. it will fill in the gaps between the narrow bands of colored diodes. RBG LED units are not suitable for corals since they lack the gap coverage.
Aqualund
New member
Only to a point. Since whites are Blue emitters with a phospher coating, their ability to replicate spectral variety below 455nm is none. And since most of their emission is in the blue/green/yellow area, it is very hard to replicate the 660nm peak that halides or t5's give without washing the whole plot with very strong green and yellow.
Maybe...you can get a prism on a Halide or T5 and see that their "bands" are like 40nm wide or more. Leds are between 5nm and 10nm wide, and most of them reside at a specific output frequency without a band.
CHSUB
"Certified Hobby Expert"
not sure any of "you" LEDs guys have any clue what your talking about? not that i do either; however, there are LED units that have no "broad spectrum white in the mix" and seem to grow sps' fairly well!!! imo, it is all guess work and has been so since the beginning, LEDs makers are throwing crap together and crossing their fingers; hoping that the hype catches on until they think of something better. When are Radion gen 4 Superpros due out? are yours preordered?
DavidinGA
Active member
FishyFishy69
New member
I just built my new canopy. Has 3 X 250 MH, 4 X Rapid LED Par 38's and 8 X 39W T5's.
I haven't put it over the tank yet, but I will post pics when completed. :spin2:
oreo57
Well-known member
naaahh.. getting 660nm ect. is quite easy. It ia just a choice of phosphors (and cost).
Look at "full spectrum" LED's. Royal blue/660nm centric phosphors. Very broad red spectrum, little yellow/green. Magenta colored light.
"guessing" that any phoshor available to a t5 is available to a led. Only real differnce is the UV-ish mercury emission lines....
Spectral plot of the sun on/in the ocean (this shows why us old timers always had such great success with the 6500k Iwasaki years ago)
Spectral plot of a Radion (first one in the article which is why I chose it), Radium 20k, and Ushio 14k. You can see where the "gaps" are being filled by the MH compared to the LED - when you compare them both to the sun.
Spectral plot of a Radion (first one in the article which is why I chose it), Radium 20k, and Ushio 14k. You can see where the "gaps" are being filled by the MH compared to the LED - when you compare them both to the sun.
Wazzel
New member
If you don't know how do you know I don't? Honestly I am a hobbyist, not a light researcher. I know what I have read in the hobby publications and other technical publications regarding the use of LEDs over reef tanks. The results of my tank indicate I have some sort of clue. Unless someone has actual credentials in the field I do not consider they have significantly more or less knowledge than I do.
I am not getting any new units. I started with a hydra 52 2 years ago and it is still going fine. I picked up a used unit about a year ago to deal with shading in the 60 cube and 2 more used for my upgrade. The 52 is more than adequate for my needs and I am not a tech chaser.
oreo57
Well-known member
oreo57
Well-known member
Spectral plot of the sun on/in the ocean (this shows why us old timers always had such great success with the 6500k Iwasaki years ago)
Spectral plot of a Radion (first one in the article which is why I chose it), Radium 20k, and Ushio 14k. You can see where the "gaps" are being filled by the MH compared to the LED - when you compare them both to the sun.
Next hot topic.. Who is going to switch from MH to sulfur Plasma ............
for those that keep babbling about "led's aren't continuous ieher.. a sample W/ real numbers:
Granted this is a special broad spectrum LED though..
RAW data is available here, see spreadsheet:
http://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=2692
Last edited:
lpsouth1978
New member
Yes, in that photo it looks like total booty! That is why I have attached a more representative photo of it.
I agree, and I am working on the compensation of RAW photos. This is the same photo, just with better Lightroom and Photoshop adjustments. It is a steep learning curve to adjust the photos, when you have never used either program until 3 days ago.
LED Side
This would be true if we were not converting LED light using phosphors. White LEDs have a similarly broad spectrum as T5. Many High CRI LEDs are available which offer good distribution across the visible spectrum.
JPMagyar
New member
Mark (Wazzel) & RC et. al,
Please accept my apologies for the rant and personal comments. There is never any excuse for bad behavior either on the internet or in person. This is not an excuse, but the truth is I had been drinking and have been stressing lately over my parents as I am at the stage in life where both my parents are going through dementia, and I am the responsible child coordinating their transfer to a home.
Anyways, that is NOT an excuse for my bad behavior and personal comments against your coral.
I am sorry and apologize.
I am human and I can and do make mistakes, but I promise to try and be a better "netizen" from now on and not repeat that same mistake.
Joe Peck
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