LED's are bad for our Hobby

[chercm]

Whilst not the best aquarium in the world LED's work for me (Hydra 52's) .
Despite the fact that i have no problem with LED's the other issue that needs discussing is that MH/T5 although still great light sources have a bit of a finite life span now so like it or lump it we have to move forward.

My tank under 52's

really nice tank , could you share the light map for the hydra52?

 

[madweazl]

These are the first and last sentences of your post I responded to.




You don't see how they were pretty direct and pretty judgmental?

It's obvious the OP became frustrated. He's not the first and won't be the last. I have quite a few LED over my tank and have switched out some as well.

My last tank was running for just shy of 10 years. A 110 tall. Not even sure they make that any more So I too have experience. Back then it was fluorescent and MH and I really didn't have to think about the lights other than how high above the tank they needed to be. I'm not so confident with LED and to make matters more difficult, light measurements don't help much either.

So the OP isn't alone in his questioning the viability or utility of LED. And to state his lack of ability was the reason for his discouragement was way off especially if you don't know the OPs experience.

We post here to share info, learn from one another and to sometimes vent. We generally don't expect to be attacked, though it's common knowledge it happens from time to time :twitch:

The thread wasnt about him, it was about the "hobby" and the effect LEDs have had on it. Thus, my post was direct at hobbyists and how lack of experience and ignorance are the root cause vice new technology that hits the streets.

 

[1MP3R1AL]

Not a dig, but Im sure the worst tank would luminescent as good as yours does under that lighting profile. Id like to see this tank under bright MH's.

Whilst not the best aquarium in the world LED's work for me (Hydra 52's) .
Despite the fact that i have no problem with LED's the other issue that needs discussing is that MH/T5 although still great light sources have a bit of a finite life span now so like it or lump it we have to move forward.

My tank under 52's

 

[NanoreefFever]

I think there are positives and negatives to all sources of light. I have used T5, PC's, MH, and am currently using LEDs. There is a learning curve to all these but more with LED's due to the controllability and high intensity from a small source. I can say I love my LED's, get good growth! Its all preference. They all grow corals.

 

[mermin]

I am using one 3 year old AI nano over my 30g mixed reef and I'm getting great growth and color. I think stability in water chemistry is the most important factor in good growth. Light levels vary daily on the reefs, but chemistry and temperature stay within a narrow range. It is important for us to limit power usage to keep the hobby sustainable

 

[Funkateer_1]

The secret to keeping a reef is not screwing with it all the time. With all the new GFO, probiotics, and doo dads we dump in our tank its why we have such a hard time keeping delicate animals

LEDs can work, but I don't like them... to much shimmering and shadowing and causes dark tissue. Supplementing with T5's seems to help eliminating the dark zones. As someone who works in the industry and around LEDs 9 hours a day they give me a headache.

My tank is a zeolite filtered and halide lit. Very little carbon and no phosphate remover. I get my water from the ocean. I thought I had a slight a raise in PO4 and put a 1tsp of ROWAphos in my overflow. Killed all my 4yr old + acropora in 2 weeks. I screwed with a healthy, stable system.

If anyone is curious what has changed in 20 years keeping its too many redundant products and too many people listening to idiots on forums. Keep it simple and keep it stable.

P.S. Keeping reef tanks for 10 years and been on the forum about that long. My last account was banned ;D

 

[M007]

If you have been around long enough you can recall this kind of complaints about T-5, the ever popular radium lamp and lots of other things. Took some folks some time to work out the proper operating configurations that people use and are successful with now. None of that showed up in the hobby 100% ready for prime time.

Well said :beer:

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Such spirited debate has prompted me to pull my old VHO ballast from the depths of my closet, dust it off, and fire it up

 

[madweazl]

Certainly a lot to be said for keeping it simple.

As for the shadows created by LEDs, that is something I really enjoy (and something that is observed on the reef as well). It provides a nice visual contrast.

 

[JammyBirch]

Newbie here with a nano, so there you have it I definitely don't know what I'm doing... Running LEDS and love them, coral growth is great. I read a lot on here and am most surprised by the loss of corals and problems with experienced tanks. The common thread in those cases is chasing numbers and making massive changes to correct the slightest sign of a problem.

I think us knuckle heads do well because we don't know, or don't think we know, all there is to know about anything. I have low expectations because I'm new and don't have a feel for what to expect. I think patience is the key. My corals did nothing for months, just recently they started to explode. I had no idea, I didn't even measure or dose mag until last week...lol

I think a blanket statement about LEDs being the devil, is a little crazy. There are a lot of successes with them or I wouldn't have bought one.

 

[madweazl]

Such spirited debate has prompted me to pull my old VHO ballast from the depths of my closet, dust it off, and fire it up

When I posted about the IceCap it reminded me that I had started with a SunSeeker. I was on a budget and picked it up (knowing full well that the IceCap was THE ballast) and regretted it the first day when the cheap harness melted. Four days later I was spending money on the IceCap :lol: Some places you can cut corners and some you cant; I chose poorly.

 

[30g]

LEDs last forever and use very little electricity. My two together at 100% are too strong. I had to figure out to turn the output down and not run them for 12 hours but that was it. After two months of experimenting and $450, my lighting needs are complete.

 

[reef bloke]

Not a dig, but Im sure the worst tank would luminescent as good as yours does under that lighting profile. Id like to see this tank under bright MH's.

Whilst not the best aquarium in the world LED's work for me (Hydra 52's) .
Despite the fact that i have no problem with LED's the other issue that needs discussing is that MH/T5 although still great light sources have a bit of a finite life span now so like it or lump it we have to move forward.

My tank under 52's

Hi

I've actually experimented with a lumen bright reflector with a 20k Giesemann 400 watt 20k lamp for par testing and the colour was very similar, so was the PAR against a single 52 using an Apogee electric sensor. Will the best will in the world I've been in the hobby 20 years and have used halides,t5,t8 etc and I have had just as good a coral colour and growth under my LEDs. The trick is not to over cook the corals with too much light and cause light inhibition. I use my PAR meter for best results and aim for around 500-650 PAR for light demanding acropora.

I'll see if I can find a picture tomorrow with a 20k halide over it.

 

[GatorAlum05]

My tank didn't take off until ecotech and Neptune decided to make 10k, 14k and 20k automatic options. I just blast the tank with 14k and a few hours of 10k each day. The rest is set it and forget it. No complaints.

 

[Perth_reefer]

I kind of agree with this and I have LEDs right now. I have 3 AI sol blues over my 125 and my corals really don't grow. I have a anemone that sits right under the light (literally 3-4 inches away from the light) and has not grown since I got it over 8 months ago. my sps doesn't die, but it doesn't grow...it literally just survives. the only sps that has made any progress is a purple stylo but the color is not the best. the only things that seem to do well in my tank are zoas, but even they aren't exploding.

I am currently in the market to buy a house, and with the house I plan on upgrading to a 180g. I am leaning heavily on selling my 3 Sols and going MH. I don't know anyone personally in this hobby so I can only go by what I read on the forums, but you rarely see MH complaint threads. you constantly see LED problems and I think even more people are having problems and just don't know it. my only concern with MH is the heat and that's really the only thing that's holding me back. this tank has always been the center of the living space and I don't have a chiller now. I really don't want to have one in the house either, so I'm trying to come up with a open canopy design that would let the air cool the lights down.

I had AI Sol Blues on my previous tank and experienced exactly the same. However on my currently system I have AI Hydra 52s and am getting amazing growth. I don't think you can just discount LEDs as not worth the time or money as technology is changing all the time, LED fixtures are becoming better and better, you can customise lighting patterns, and of course they are much cheaper to run. Your AI Sols were not up to the job....I can second that, but don't let it put you off LEDs because there are far superior units out there.

 

[madweazl]

LEDs last forever and use very little electricity. My two together at 100% are too strong. I had to figure out to turn the output down and not run them for 12 hours but that was it. After two months of experimenting and $450, my lighting needs are complete.

The spectrum shifts with LEDs as well, it just takes longer. Some day we'll all have magic solar tubes...

 

[xxxduke62xxx]

Weird I have the old AI sol blues and my coral growth is amazing. I'll post a few pics. All frag pics were taken in October 2014

 

[xxxduke62xxx]

Today

 

[xxxduke62xxx]

Milli

 

[xxxduke62xxx]

Last weeks pic