LED's are bad for our Hobby
- Thread starter b7fig
- Start date
Spslvr I used photobucket and just copy and pasted the img link. How long have you been running leds? Did your corals start off as frags under leds or are they mari cultured?
Some look good while others don't so much. Your humis (sp) I know there are blue, green, and I think there is a rainbow I have seen before, yours looks really pale. While your pink lemonade looks pretty nice. Please take no offence.
Some look good while others don't so much. Your humis (sp) I know there are blue, green, and I think there is a rainbow I have seen before, yours looks really pale. While your pink lemonade looks pretty nice. Please take no offence.
kissman
New member
I started out with Power Compact Fluorescents when I had a FOWLR. Then when I wanted to get into corals I got a 6x54w HOT5 Nove Extreme Pro worked great loved it. I did hate replacing the bulbs for $120 a year. When the fans started dying and the legs started breaking again I knew it was time. I had the fixture for about six years. That's longer than most people had them running from what I have read. Can't buy parts for them anymore. I needed a new fixture and I went LED for my 55g. I have nothing against the MH bulbs I just didn't want to buy a Cooling Unit and replace bulbs every year. I have seen some great pics of tanks under all kinds of lights. VHO, T5, LED's, MH's etc..I also don't have the option to hang a fixture. we will see how the LED's do. Only time will tell. I have only had mine for a month
Spslvr
New member
Na no offence taken most of my corals started as frags or small wild colonies, for the most part im happy with leds i got insane growth and good color as you said some species did pale why who knows mabe leds mabe nutrient deficiency not sure, what i will say is that those leds were custom built and when one blew i had no joy from manufacturer so i swapped to gen 3 radions and i have had nothing but trouble i hate them, but leds do work mabe not all brands but they do work.
As for my colors i assure you they are as my iphone sees them no photoshop no nothing they are as the phone grabbed it
As for my colors i assure you they are as my iphone sees them no photoshop no nothing they are as the phone grabbed it
xxxduke62xxx
New member
You can't notice the corals in the first pic because they were tiny frags when I put them in the tank 5 months ago. Thanks this just proved my point that growing sps under LEDs is just as good 
xxxduke62xxx
New member
xxxduke62xxx
New member
Spslvr
New member
Tinkerman i do agree with you to some extent atm im running radions and i hate them my yellows are no longer yellow i have smooth whit patches on some colonies and even bouts of stn but on the other hand under my custom leds my sps thrived and i loved them so based on that i have to say leds do work fwiw yellows under my ols leds were better than any halide ive seen
xxxduke62xxx Sorry I can't see the corals in the first pic your windex filter on your camera blocks them out. Or they were never there who knows. Your newest pics can't tell what color the coral is I think its supposed to be green but looks blue in the pic. Plasma is a new tech where did that end up? I seen a couple tanks that ran that, don't see 80,000 people saying you have to have plasma cause its newer and better than halides, t5, or anything else. Right now I would consider leds to be a fade. They have been out for more than 5 yrs and haven't figured out how to make them plug and play yet. When they make a plug and play led I will think about it if the growth and coloration is there for coral and right now is few and far between.
xxxduke62xxx are they helping the hobby when you get all the newbies to jump on the band wagon with you and they can't get good results and leave the hobby cause they are tired of spending $1000 a yr trying to achieve TOTM colors and can't? Or growth?
xxxduke62xxx are they helping the hobby when you get all the newbies to jump on the band wagon with you and they can't get good results and leave the hobby cause they are tired of spending $1000 a yr trying to achieve TOTM colors and can't? Or growth?
xxxduke62xxx
New member
It's so funny that led guys will never say t5 or halides won't grow and color up yet the t5 MH guys will fight tooth and nail to say LEDs won't work no matter what evidence is shown to them, no matter how fast corals grow. Only issue I have noticed with LEDs is they are a lot harder to take pics of. I've owned MH, t5s and LEDs and I am happy with every one and can grow sps with all 3 and haven't noticed any difference. The hatred that other light guys have is so weird to me. I can post photos all day of growth pics but it will never satisfy mh or t5 guys so no more pics for me. I know what my skills as a reed keeper are and I'm happy where I'm at so no need to prove anything to anyone it won't matter in the end to you guys anyway
kissman
New member
:bounce3: I though this was the pot calling the kettle black! MH's created by God
Wazzel
New member
People sharing information on how to operate a lighting system is helping the hobby, no matter the lighting system. Time to stop bad mouthing "the other camp" and provide information to help new people along. Threads like this make new hobbiest second guess their kit and may drive them to spend more money when they have something that will work.
As long as MH has been around people still ask about ballast, bulbs and reflectors. If we want to be good stewards of the hobby those of us with experience should be sharing that. If we do not know we should point them to people that do and not recommend ripping out working kit.
As long as MH has been around people still ask about ballast, bulbs and reflectors. If we want to be good stewards of the hobby those of us with experience should be sharing that. If we do not know we should point them to people that do and not recommend ripping out working kit.
Redrosetuscan
New member
I haven't yet read the whole thread but I will.
What I will say is I probably agree. Part of the problem with led IMO is the sheer amount of adjustability. Yes it's great to adjust colours to what you want to see but it's deceptive and can cause problems. Also some led especially with lenses are extremely bright direct sources of light.
My first original reef tank was run terribly. Really bad! No testing at all, just flow and metal halide. Lots of it, iirc I had 2x400 and 1 x250 over a 4.5x2x2
Generally things were straightforward. I did have a few cases of rtn. Significantly more than now. But I'd say that was due to me being anal with testing and stability now and not so back then. I know for a fact my alkalinity would have been swinging about as I had a ca reactor I never even tested to set up! I just set it to some recomended drip rate and kept it at that. Madness!
I have had trouble with led. I had hydra 52 and while I had good colour I had no growth, I'm not sure that's entirely the led but I swapped to ati hybrid and haven't looked back. I've learnt that white is dangerous and has to be ran low, my tank does not like high white led! I now have generally superb colour and reasonable growth. I do not know how to improve that apart from waiting.
I would love to stick 4 400w radiums over my tank but excessive heat and electric does concern me a bit.
What I will say is I probably agree. Part of the problem with led IMO is the sheer amount of adjustability. Yes it's great to adjust colours to what you want to see but it's deceptive and can cause problems. Also some led especially with lenses are extremely bright direct sources of light.
My first original reef tank was run terribly. Really bad! No testing at all, just flow and metal halide. Lots of it, iirc I had 2x400 and 1 x250 over a 4.5x2x2
Generally things were straightforward. I did have a few cases of rtn. Significantly more than now. But I'd say that was due to me being anal with testing and stability now and not so back then. I know for a fact my alkalinity would have been swinging about as I had a ca reactor I never even tested to set up! I just set it to some recomended drip rate and kept it at that. Madness!
I have had trouble with led. I had hydra 52 and while I had good colour I had no growth, I'm not sure that's entirely the led but I swapped to ati hybrid and haven't looked back. I've learnt that white is dangerous and has to be ran low, my tank does not like high white led! I now have generally superb colour and reasonable growth. I do not know how to improve that apart from waiting.
I would love to stick 4 400w radiums over my tank but excessive heat and electric does concern me a bit.
brad65ford
New member
Its simple regarding frustration with these LED fixtures. There are so many settings and not knowing which channels, intensity (par) per your tank conditions, length of time to run them is what makes it difficult or over tweaked by owners. I've said it before if your tank isn't consuming alk and cal your not growing corals which means your conditions are not ideal.
I've only grown sps's with LED in the last few years and its surely doable though a little trickier. Sadly one thing you will not see is any of these manufactures showing how to run them per suggested tanks conditions and what type of corals. That would be to in-depth and expose many variables or lack of knowledge from these manufactures... something they don't want. If these manufactures would share their own sps tanks at their testing facilities (which seem not to exist) it would be honestly enjoyable and there would be more money thrown their way. Unfortunately they let the customers show proof of success. One LED fixture I just hated was the Kessil A350W lights since I just could not dial them in for the life of me though others have said to be able to achieve great success growing sps's. Only fixtures that worked well were the Radion and the Maxspect Mazarra's.
I will also go on record saying some tanks are harder to get going (coral grow) then others. I do not know why but it is what it is. I had a tank setup and running for 6 months running only LEDS and sps would grow like made. Then i've had another tank setup running similar LED that wouldn't kick (start consuming alk/cal) for over a year which really sucked (I still blame the kessils LOL).
Whats funny is there are still fixtures out there that only have blue and white channels that grown sps great, but the need to have more and better colors may be what is causing even more confusion for users.
This video will explain that LED do work, just need to know what your doing [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5HJVxfWQ2c[/URL]
I've only grown sps's with LED in the last few years and its surely doable though a little trickier. Sadly one thing you will not see is any of these manufactures showing how to run them per suggested tanks conditions and what type of corals. That would be to in-depth and expose many variables or lack of knowledge from these manufactures... something they don't want. If these manufactures would share their own sps tanks at their testing facilities (which seem not to exist) it would be honestly enjoyable and there would be more money thrown their way. Unfortunately they let the customers show proof of success. One LED fixture I just hated was the Kessil A350W lights since I just could not dial them in for the life of me though others have said to be able to achieve great success growing sps's. Only fixtures that worked well were the Radion and the Maxspect Mazarra's.
I will also go on record saying some tanks are harder to get going (coral grow) then others. I do not know why but it is what it is. I had a tank setup and running for 6 months running only LEDS and sps would grow like made. Then i've had another tank setup running similar LED that wouldn't kick (start consuming alk/cal) for over a year which really sucked (I still blame the kessils LOL).
Whats funny is there are still fixtures out there that only have blue and white channels that grown sps great, but the need to have more and better colors may be what is causing even more confusion for users.
This video will explain that LED do work, just need to know what your doing [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5HJVxfWQ2c[/URL]
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I've used MH for over 2 years, then switched to led, When i got my first PAR38 bulbs they only had cool white and royal blue led's in then.
i found that cool white and royal blue although still kept the coral alive and doing ok was missing a lot of spectrums when combined, now that a fixture like the AI Hydra 52 exist company's and hobbyist realize to get the full potential from Led's they have had to change the original model and add more colored led's.
A lot of people that switch to led's need to realize that if they are using 3 leds these fixtures produce far more PAR than any MH i've owned, you have to lower the intensity a lot for it not to burn/kill corals that aren't used to those PAR levels.
i personally would never run warm or cool white led's above 75% as from experience it leads to corals that don't look proper.
been out of the hobby for awhile but i lit my 200g DD with only PAR38 bulbs when they first came out, they do produce great color and growth but you can't just do that with cool white's and royal blue's you need all the color's that are in a light fixture like the Hydra 52 and you need to be able to control the output of each color to reproduce something that is set it and forget it like MH, but led's take more time to get dialed in properly.
i found that cool white and royal blue although still kept the coral alive and doing ok was missing a lot of spectrums when combined, now that a fixture like the AI Hydra 52 exist company's and hobbyist realize to get the full potential from Led's they have had to change the original model and add more colored led's.
A lot of people that switch to led's need to realize that if they are using 3 leds these fixtures produce far more PAR than any MH i've owned, you have to lower the intensity a lot for it not to burn/kill corals that aren't used to those PAR levels.
i personally would never run warm or cool white led's above 75% as from experience it leads to corals that don't look proper.
been out of the hobby for awhile but i lit my 200g DD with only PAR38 bulbs when they first came out, they do produce great color and growth but you can't just do that with cool white's and royal blue's you need all the color's that are in a light fixture like the Hydra 52 and you need to be able to control the output of each color to reproduce something that is set it and forget it like MH, but led's take more time to get dialed in properly.
brad65ford
New member
I disagree with the statement that whites and blues alone will not produce colorful and great growth. It hasn't be proven that having more colors equals greater growth rate for SPS corals its only in our heads. Correct me if i'm wrong but these system which i'd dream for is all with white and blues AI sol's , some one already posted it. Looks to have good color to me.
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/155-tank-of-the-month
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JammyBirch
Aquaria Engineering
There's a build thread you just have to look for it. Ya the pics probably suck to you, the point i was trying to make was the color looked good on that coral in the LED tank and looked bad under your light. So what's the difference...can look good or bad under either light.
tdb320reef
Active member
Personally I like MH, LED and T5 as a combo light source. The below picture shows an entire 8 foot tank with small frags grown under cheep Chinese leds over 18 months. I would not say they are bad nor would I say they are the best but they defiantly work very well.
JammyBirch
Aquaria Engineering
No i'm a newb...a buddy of mine had a 180 that required a chiller with MH. I've only been in this hobby for 8 months, 2 frag sps. Red cap and deep water acro...
Both look good to me...i'm not attached to equipment either but i'm limited with a 25g cube so LED made sense.
One thing i definetly don't do is bash anything on here, some of these statements on this thread are too funny to not respond too.
