Prices Of Corals & Fish May Keep Me From Returning ?

Definitely. If you decide to come back, there’s definitely deals to be had, just takes even more patience.

Metal halide is still around too. It just depends what bulbs you want. I run halides in my 65 and frag tank still. @griss still runs halides as well and is great at finding bulbs. Single ended are easier than DE to find but both are still available. Just not as readily available as the used to be.
 
The only thing you may run into is halides don’t give that pop of color the LEDs can and many of those corals with the flourescent pop look relatively crappy under halides. But many old school SPS still look great under halides
 
That's not bad. I had a 180 when I was living in Denver but I haven't had a reef tank since I moved to Texas, almost 21 years ago. I still have my Metal Halide light fixture in the attic, but I suppose I would go LED these days.
I'm still running 175w halides. The 175 ballasts are nearly impossible to find but, 250w and 400w seem to be a little easier to find. Bulbs are getting harder and harder to find by the day. As far as manufacturing of reef aquarium MH bulbs, I think only one or two manufacturers out of China are producing them at this time. Iwasaki, Ushio, etc discontinued reef aquarium bulbs over the last couple of years.
 
That's not bad. I had a 180 when I was living in Denver but I haven't had a reef tank since I moved to Texas, almost 21 years ago. I still have my Metal Halide light fixture in the attic, but I suppose I would go LED these days.
What part of TX? I'm in the ft worth area
 
I'm still running 175w halides. The 175 ballasts are nearly impossible to find but, 250w and 400w seem to be a little easier to find. Bulbs are getting harder and harder to find by the day. As far as manufacturing of reef aquarium MH bulbs, I think only one or two manufacturers out of China are producing them at this time. Iwasaki, Ushio, etc discontinued reef aquarium bulbs over the last couple of years.
I was very active on this board many years ago, 20ish. Have been out of the hobby since 2003. I had a 180(which I still have and been toting around for years now place to place). I ran Ushio 175w 10k halides and absolutely loved them. So much has changed in all aspects of this hobby I almost don't know where to start again
 
I was very active on this board many years ago, 20ish. Have been out of the hobby since 2003. I had a 180(which I still have and been toting around for years now place to place). I ran Ushio 175w 10k halides and absolutely loved them. So much has changed in all aspects of this hobby I almost don't know where to start again
Ask questions. Lots of knowledge on here.
 
The only thing you may run into is halides don’t give that pop of color the LEDs can and many of those corals with the flourescent pop look relatively crappy under halides. But many old school SPS still look great under halides
I run ATI T5s (can't justify everything that comes with MH, but Radium 20K might still be my favorite lighting).
Definitely takes some understanding what corals will look good under different lighting. There's a lot of the "ZOMGPinkWaltDisneyBoobs" stuff that looks insane in a picture under heavy blue LEDs, but looks ho-hum under my lights.
 
I run ATI T5s (can't justify everything that comes with MH, but Radium 20K might still be my favorite lighting).
Definitely takes some understanding what corals will look good under different lighting. There's a lot of the "ZOMGPinkWaltDisneyBoobs" stuff that looks insane in a picture under heavy blue LEDs, but looks ho-hum under my lights.
Tell me about it. Online coral sales has been the biggest let down…it’s just trickery. There are a few that show the same coral under different lighting, but most are on par with used car salesmen, and I mean no disrespect to used car salesmen.
 
Tell me about it. Online coral sales has been the biggest let down…it’s just trickery. There are a few that show the same coral under different lighting, but most are on par with used car salesmen, and I mean no disrespect to used car salesmen.
Lighting and also frag/coral size. Don’t get me wrong, the black background pics look nice but then give me a frag plug size or a better reference size. I’ve ordered a few things from various vendors and some the corals are on maybe half to 1 inch frag plugs and the coral is smaller than a pinky nail. Or my biggest issue is Trachys. I’m used nice large colonies and then I order one and it’s 2 inches.
 
Tell me about it. Online coral sales has been the biggest let down…it’s just trickery. There are a few that show the same coral under different lighting, but most are on par with used car salesmen, and I mean no disrespect to used car salesmen.
I wouldn't even call it trickery, at least as far the colors go. I'm sure that with Radion's or Hydra's or whatever, I could pull those colors out too. But a lot of the fine detail, especially the things that have lots of tiny dots of iridescent colors (IDK how to really describe them) just won't show in my tank. Not too worried about, I try to work from a perspective of a grown out tank viewed from a reasonable distance rather than frags viewed through a macro lens.

But the size kills me. I swear, even the frag plugs are smaller now so the tiny frags look bigger relative in size.
 
Very relatable. I bought a 220 about 6 years ago and it"s still dry.I have everything for it but livestock has become too expensive. I may end up getting rid of it all..
 
I’ve never been to Canadia…probably too far to drive for an aquarium but I’m definitely going to get something shorter than 30” height for when I move. We’re selling the house soon.
 
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