Light options, pick for me please

H

Hellion179

New member
I have a 150g 6' tank. I was given a Hamilton Cebu fixture(3x250w MH, 4x80w T5HO). The thing runs super super hot and I have the tank setup in my living room. The tank is not stocked right now. The bulbs in there are two years old, so I will have to purchase all new stuff(probably over 400$ when it's all said and done right?)

I can run the fixture above...or buy 3x of the Reefbreeder(or other chinese brands) LED fixtures and run that.

The LEDS will be cooler and save me on electricity costs..but they're probably not as good quality as the fixture I have now.

I plan on an SPS dominated tank.

What would you do? And buying a 2k$ new fixture isn't an option right now, so lets leave it at one or the other for now please.
 
Hellion: your Hamilton fixture is a nice one, I would be concerned about the heat that the MH will throw off. Will the light be on a tank with a canopy or open? Open will provide a lot more cooling, but if it is closed (canopy) do you have fans in the canopy above those that are on the fixture?

LEDs are great for me but I don't have an SPS dominated tank - mine is LPS and I only have two pieces of SPS and no issues. I have the AI Sol Blue and it is fine - no issues and in AZ i am always concerned with heat, but my tank only get to about 79 and that has more to do with the house temp than the tank water temp and the lights. Perhaps someone with SPS experience can chime in - but I would be leaning towards keeping the Hamilton and getting new bulbs.

A wild thought is that you could forgo the MH's and use the T5HOs for supplement and use a couple of LED fixtures - just a thought.
 
It doesn't have a conopy, but I'm more concerned with the heat it'll put out in the house. The previous owner had it about 4" from the water and was able to keep the tank at a stable temp with just a fan.

I'm going from experience with a single 250w pendant..the room was always so hot...If this was an extra room I wouldn't worry, but it's the place where we spend 90% of our time.

Thanks, and looking forward to others responses.
 
Check out Build My LED. They are in Austin TX. The owner was very helpful when I was researching my purchase.

I purchased a 48" long Custom Reef Spectrum. It is controllable via my Neptune System APEX unit.
 
Retro some led clusters where the halides go. That fixture is a nice one though. I would use it about 15" above your tank and only run the halide for 7-8 hours a day. Run a fan across the underside to dissipate the heat. That fixture will grow anything.
 
dbdisok said:
Check out Build My LED. They are in Austin TX. The owner was very helpful when I was researching my purchase.

I purchased a 48" long Custom Reef Spectrum. It is controllable via my Neptune System APEX unit.
Click to expand...

X2

They also have a 3 year warranty, with a 30 day money back guarantee. Check out the forum on their website. They just came out with 6' strips.

I like LED strips as compared to the cluster LED fixtures personally. You can mount the strips directly on the tank. I don't like the way you have to hang the clustered led fixtures. I want to look at the tank, not everything that supports it. It helps to have a canopy, but those are a pain to remove when you have to go into the tank, for me anyways.
 
If I'm not mistaken ill need two 72" strips right? That's almost a thousand dollars, at which point I'm past the amount I am comfortable spending at this time.
 
I would go about trying the halides out and see for myself and go from there. It really depends on a lot of factors - room size, AC, efficient windows, ventilation if possible.

If its acceptable, buy new Phoenix bulbs etc. and use it.

I really would look at the people pushing certain LEDs, if they can back up (prove, long term) a true SPS tank with their LEDs or not.
 
Go Blue!: what do you think a good height would be? All the MH lights I have experience with were pendants and the height was needed to reduce spot lighting.

I'm going to try to fab up a conduit light stand tomorrow. At least get shopping. Having a height to go off would be great. I want to keep it as low as possible, it's along a staircase so ill have the support sticking up some. Eyesores suck.
 
I wish I had the experience with a long term tank, but my reefbreeder value LEDs have been growing coral for me for about 6 months and the colors on my collection are great! I do understand that LEDs are too new and they do not have a long term track record but It seems they have come a long way and there are options out their worth trying...especially the less expensive brands to start...

When I mean colors... I don't mean how the led light makes the coral pop...I mean the actual coral flesh under normal daylight looks to me as healthy.... Especially when I compare how my corals look versus the local lfs, and even a friend with halides and the frags ive shared...
 
Hellion179 said:
Go Blue!: what do you think a good height would be? All the MH lights I have experience with were pendants and the height was needed to reduce spot lighting.

I'm going to try to fab up a conduit light stand tomorrow. At least get shopping. Having a height to go off would be great. I want to keep it as low as possible, it's along a staircase so ill have the support sticking up some. Eyesores suck.
Click to expand...

They have legs that mount to the tank that aren't very high at all, so I'm sure the fans should help, maybe adding another would help though.
 
I have a dimmable 120 watt Chinese fixture about my 50 cube right now and it's awesome! My huge purple stylo colony has amazing color and I got it in very poor shape. It doesn't put out much heat at all, and the fans can only be heard if you put your ear next to them. I actually just put in my order today for my new 100 (60") gallon build and I'm ordering 2 fixtures similar to it, only difference is they're full spectrum, having red, green leds as well. It will run about $400 for 2 but you'll need 3 for 72" so it's a little over but well worth it!
 
Hellion179, I live in SW Florida (similar to Texas... hot and A/C costs), I have a 6' 180g DT (similar to yours), I just switched from a 4 bulb 250W MH to 2 EverGrow IT2080's (RB Photon32) and here are the salient points. My A/C runs less and is more effective. My electric bill went down $30/month (less power to the lights, less A/C time and less chiller time). I have an sps & lps dominant tank and over the last 6 months my sps have grown just as much as they ever did under 1000 watts of MH (with 160W of t5 as well). I have seen the EG IT2080's for sale online for $430 each, delivered. I got my pair for under $700 in a big group buy back in November of 2012. It was a hard decision for me in November, but I'm totally happy about it now with 6 months of 20/20 hindsight! :thumbsup:
 
Hey Ron, you ever going to post those before & after pics of your SPS growth/coloring you said you "could".
You are one of the main supporters for these LEDs, lets see your SPS.

6 months is enough time right?
 
What's up Mike? You don't believe I'm growing sps & lps under Chinese leds? I have 2 friends with 220g and 240g with the same leds and just as much or more sps than I have. I said it before and I'll say it again, so I hope you hear it this time. I don't have any quality 'before' pictures. Here is my tank as of today after being under leds for almost 6 months.



This is the tank from about Nov, barely a month before I got the leds, so it was still MH. Look close, see the growth?


This hanging frag was less than 1" long, broken at one end and a couple of tiny bumps at the growing end in mid December. Today it is just over 4" in diameter.


Two months ago it was only 3" in diameter.
 
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