LEDs or T5's

[nanafish]

I am going back to having JUST seahorses. I am in the process of looking for the right tank. I am not sure if I want to go with LEDs or T5's. Has anyone placed LEDs over their tanks with C horses? Any pros or cons with either outside of price??

 

[funkejj]

We have LED's over our horse tank and have had no issues. Price for it was cheaper than t-5's plus no bulb changes, and longer life of the fixture.

 

[tjdouglas]

I have LEDs on mine and love them

 

[jhoff]

I just finished my 34 gallon solana drilled and plumed will be getting a new 20" razor led won't have to worry about heat...

 

[mcgrawjt]

In my opinion... it's a little more up front but pays off in the end. No bulb changes and a little more energy efficient. I have an LED strip over my seahorse tank and I can control the dimming of the white and blue's individually. This way I can make it a comfortable lighting level for the horses. I also time the lights with the blues on first and off last and a lunar light before and after them in an attempt to graduate light up and down.

As you will research or may already know, seahorses do not need intense lighting. Some LED's can be intense, I would suggest a dimmable one if you can swing it.

Good luck which ever way you go.

John

 

[nanafish]

LEDS vs T5's

LEDS vs T5's

In my opinion... it's a little more up front but pays off in the end. No bulb changes and a little more energy efficient. I have an LED strip over my seahorse tank and I can control the dimming of the white and blue's individually. This way I can make it a comfortable lighting level for the horses. I also time the lights with the blues on first and off last and a lunar light before and after them in an attempt to graduate light up and down.

As you will research or may already know, seahorses do not need intense lighting. Some LED's can be intense, I would suggest a dimmable one if you can swing it.

Good luck which ever way you go.

John

Did you make your set-up from scratch or did you purchase a system? I am leaning towards the LEDs but I am in no way an electrician. I probably could follow a diagram provided there are some extremely helpful and detailed instructions and possibly something relatively easy to put together.
I found a tank- it is 36L x 18d x 21.5h. I would like to plant some tall greenery in there for the horses to play in. So I would definitly need something to permit growth.

 

[mcgrawjt]

Did you make your set-up from scratch or did you purchase a system? I am leaning towards the LEDs but I am in no way an electrician. I probably could follow a diagram provided there are some extremely helpful and detailed instructions and possibly something relatively easy to put together.
I found a tank- it is 36L x 18d x 21.5h. I would like to plant some tall greenery in there for the horses to play in. So I would definitly need something to permit growth.

I purchased a system. My seahorse tank is only a 30gal and I am only housing one pair. It is an Ecoxotic Panorama Marine series 24" strip. I got it for around $200. It is expensive for a 24" strip but the lighting is nice and the intensity for white and blue is individually controllable.

If you have the patience there are numerous threads in the hardware and diy forums here on how to make your own LED system and apparently it can be done relatively cheap.

You should be able to get good growth for plants, others are having good results with even SPS under LED's. Personally in my reef tank I am still MH and VHO. I will wait a little longer for LED technology to progress before I switch over my reef.

Good luck.

John

 

[SantaMonica]

Ecoxotic Panorama Marine

Just got a 48" one myself. Probably going to get a second.

 

[pledosophy]

I like my LEDs more then I liked my T5's