kenpau
New member
I think the issue with LEDs is the time it takes to grow corals, but they do definitely grow coral.
I’ve run every type of lighting from MH to LED and my preference from an aesthetic point of view is LED, my favourite time to view my system is during ramp down in the evening, everything seems to slow down and calm in the tank. Obviously having a sunrise and sunset is of no benefit to the coral at all but it does maximise my enjoyment of the tank.
At present I’m running two XR15 G4 pros on my 2ft shallow cube, I’m seeing good coral growth and colour but it is slow growth, my previous system ran a Giesemann T5/LED hybrid and if I’m honest I’d go back to this in a heartbeat if it didn’t mean losing about $1000 on replacing my G4’s.
LEDs definitely grow coral but I find the growth much slower, the growth I’ve had under my G4’s in a year I achieved in around 4-5 months under my hybrid, this is probably the reason we see very few fully grown out LED tanks, as reefers we tend to be inherently inpatient, why spend more to wait 5 years to achieve results you can achieve in 2 years for less money.
It all depends on your viewpoint I guess, if you enjoy the sleek design and customisation LED brings, AND you have the patience then LED all the way.
If you want faster results and aren’t fussed on the bells and whistles then MH or T5 will definitely do that for you.
Hybrids are the best of both worlds I guess.
I’ve run every type of lighting from MH to LED and my preference from an aesthetic point of view is LED, my favourite time to view my system is during ramp down in the evening, everything seems to slow down and calm in the tank. Obviously having a sunrise and sunset is of no benefit to the coral at all but it does maximise my enjoyment of the tank.
At present I’m running two XR15 G4 pros on my 2ft shallow cube, I’m seeing good coral growth and colour but it is slow growth, my previous system ran a Giesemann T5/LED hybrid and if I’m honest I’d go back to this in a heartbeat if it didn’t mean losing about $1000 on replacing my G4’s.
LEDs definitely grow coral but I find the growth much slower, the growth I’ve had under my G4’s in a year I achieved in around 4-5 months under my hybrid, this is probably the reason we see very few fully grown out LED tanks, as reefers we tend to be inherently inpatient, why spend more to wait 5 years to achieve results you can achieve in 2 years for less money.
It all depends on your viewpoint I guess, if you enjoy the sleek design and customisation LED brings, AND you have the patience then LED all the way.
If you want faster results and aren’t fussed on the bells and whistles then MH or T5 will definitely do that for you.
Hybrids are the best of both worlds I guess.
