LED vs. metal Halide

[hkgar]

You'll get varying opinions on it and honestly this topic has been debated several times in the lighting forum. :deadhorse1:

I still love MH and T5 myself. I don't think LED's are the total solution yet, but I think in 5 years they will be even better than what we see today. I think you'll see a lot more hybrid types of lighting in the next few years.Yes, there are some hybrids out there but they are very expensive. I think LED's require more tweaking to get the proper spectrum to where corals are happy and thrive.

I think some people think they should be able to just hang a light over the tank and turn the dial and everything will be 100% okay. However, don't think you'll see a mass exodus of people going back to MH or T5 or a combo. Yes, some people are going back but on a large scale, I would guess more people are using LED's currently vs MH or T5. Again I have no facts but this is purely just a guess by reading the forums currently. I'm not sure you could accurately gauge how many people use a certain lighting tech.

I did a poll thread on the types of lighting used The results are at the beginning of this thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2580432

 

[rjjr1963]

I jut bought the AI Prime HD and like the features but not sure if this will be as good as the old MH lights.

Are LED's catching on or do they still have a long way to go?

I just got my Primes yesterday and was wondering how to set them up with color and intensity. I couldn't find any information from Aqua Illuminations. My google search revealed this website with a bunch of users settings. Unfortunately they are mostly the non-HD versions but it gives an idea of some starting points.

So far I love the lights. They look great on the tank and are much less obtrusive than the tank top units I had before. I'm using two of them on a 40 breeder and it seems like it's plenty of light.