LED vs. ATI Lighting Needed for a 220g?

O

Ostri

New member
Hi everyone I'm building a 68" x 30" x 25" tank. It's 30 inches wide.

I'm still very puzzled about LED and I've been using LED but coral color and growth just aren't that good. I'm thinking about ATI sunpower fixture but I'm really not sure if T5 is a better option.

I keep SPS corals. I looked at ATI 60" Sunpower 8 x 80W fixture. But I'm not sure if that can cover the 68" long, 30" wide aquarium. I've seen some really great colors from people who use T5 bulbs so I'm seriously considering them. But from another point of view it does look like LEDs save more money long term. However I'm not sure if they can last more than a few years though.

What's your opinion? Will appreciate all inputs!!!
 
ATI Hybrid. Best of both world. I have been using it for about a year and have no problem growing any SPS at all. Still the best light money can buy IMO.
 
When you take into consideration where the corals will actually be placed in the aquarium, the 8 bulb should be totally fine.

And I don't know what LED's you're looking at, but I would imagine to have coverage as good as the T5's provide, on that size of tank, your break even is going to be a few years down the road.
 
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Unless you had really bad leds, I wouldn't blame them for growth issues (color maybe... but I don't want in that fight). I know too many friends who have leds and coral growth that is just as good as when they had MH. I'd look elsewhere for an issue that caused poor growth. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
An 8 bulb 60" sunpower would be great, although I would go 10 bulb if they're available. You could add reefbrite LEDs on the front and back for that little extra blue pop if you like. The 60" will easily cover a 68" long tank.
 
I don't buy into everyone's claims of LEDs being the cheaper option. Since you didn't list what brands you were interested in I'll support my opinion with apples to apples product. For LEDs I'll list Radion pros and for T5 I'll list 60" 8bulb ati LED powermodule. To prove my point even further you can substitute this light for 8bulb sunpower with or without reefbrites.

Let's start with LEDs. For a tank that size I don't care what ecotech claims that fixture can't cover a 24x24 area. You need one per 12" is way more realistic. You will need a bare minimum of 5 fixtures. That leaves your front, back and both sides dimly lit as well. So that's $3745 in fixture costs. All high end led companies nickel and dime you for everything. There are 2 accessories you will most likely end up having to buy as well, hanging kits and Reeflink. So 5 hanging kits + Reeflink is $324. At full power this will consume 850w. I know they are never used at full power so we will assume usage at 60%. That's 510w. Bulb replacement is $0. So you spend a total of $4069 for this option.

With the T5 the fixture runs $2375. Bulbs will be $192. You need nothing for accessories. So your total is $2567. Total power can be as high as 1040w. Again nobody runs the LEDs in this at 100%. I'd say 30% is more realistic so that's normal operation at 730w.

Total difference is $1502 higher for LEDS setup. You could buy bulbs for 7.8 years before you reach the price you paid for the LEDs. There are very very few people who will actually keep their LED fixtures that long. By that time they are 1-2 models ahead of what you bought and you have probably upgraded again which sets you even further ahead on total spent vs T5. Power consumption between the 2 is negligible in my opinion.

LEDs can work, but you need a lot more of them then the vendors lead you to believe. They are the latest and greatest and thus will be constantly changing due to advancements. That leads to people feeling the need to upgrade or get left behind. Just think of how many people on here you think you have seen mention that they still have G1 Radions? Hardly any.
 
With a 220g tank shouldn't minimal costs be thrown out? Go with the proven system(ati t5) and if you like the look of LED's then add some.

With that said I think at this point the radian pros are about as close as you can get to full proof led's, so I would kick those around if heat was a major concern.
 
ATI hybrid costs $2375 for the 8 bulb model and you will have a very slick looking fixture with one cable and one control interface.
 
ghostman said:
An 8 bulb 60" sunpower would be great, although I would go 10 bulb if they're available. You could add reefbrite LEDs on the front and back for that little extra blue pop if you like. The 60" will easily cover a 68" long tank.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much! Unfortunately they don't do 10bulbs anymore so I may need to supplement it with LEDs. I checked reefbrite and they have 60" fixtures. How many of them do I need? Reef blue color? Thanks!
 
ClownsRCoo said:
If you go sunpower/ reefbrite option total cost is $1800 and price difference is $2269 or 11.8 yrs bulb replacement
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your input! I read every word and I'm now sure that I want to go witi ATI. But I'm not sure how to choose LEDs from Reefbrite. I want to go with ATI 60" 8x80W fixture and maybe 2 LED add-ons? Should I choose reef blue color front and back? Or 50/50? Thanks again!
 
Since actinics will be your weakest bulbs I would get the actinic reefbrites. That way you get the pop of color and have room for 8 bulbs of high par value bulbs
 
ClownsRCoo said:
Since actinics will be your weakest bulbs I would get the actinic reefbrites. That way you get the pop of color and have room for 8 bulbs of high par value bulbs
Click to expand...

I see what you mean. So blue reefbrites <http://www.reefbrite.com/reefbrite-tech-led/>

and more white/purpleish T5s right?
 
It's all up to you. A very popular combo would be like 4Blue+, 3 coral+, 1 purple+.... Lots of options. I personally like the aqua blue special bulbs instead of coral+ because they are less pink.
 
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