Replace T5's or buy LED's?

[majorbonr]

Hello!

So i need to replace my T5 bulbs. Should I just put out some more money and buy an LED set-up? I have both types of lighting already, but my LEDs are a 14k spectrum and my t5's are mostly 6k with 1 actinic bulb. So I can't really compare the looks because my t5 bulb combo is not for color, it's set up for growth. I want a 20k look.

I'd like to hear from reefers who have both to compare and reefers who have seen both side by side.

Which set up is going to have more pop! I want my corals to look they're best, and I want the light's to bring out all their capabilties!

Let's hear what everone has to say! Thanks in advanced guys!!!

 

[solitude127]

You get shimmer with LEDs. That's 1 thing I wish my T5s had. If LED's ever came down in price, I'd probably jump ship on my T5s. But for the they're too expensive for me.

 

[NVTE]

for 20K look, you can use 2 ATI Blue Plus.
LED look nice but for I don't see many reefers success growing/keeping coral's coloration for long.
You can use both. LED for look and T5 for growth.

At the end, my vote is for replacement T5

 

[Spssteven]

LEDs all the way.
Great growth and awesome color with them.
If you want a diy setup I could build you one, if you needed.

 

[tahiriqbal]

I think you could do some serious damage to your corals if jumped from 6500K to 14000K spectrum over a very short period. Your LEDs are fixed @ 14K spectrum and I assume they can not dimmed, with this you can not slowley acclimatise which in turn could be quite harmful. By they way what type of LED setup do you have in mind? Are they powerful enough to suit and meet reef aquarium setup?

 

[Spssteven]

LEDs are not fixed at 14 k
They are 3 watt LEDs
You can add a dimmer if you wish
They are very reef ready able to grow sps.

 

[laverda]

I figure the pay back on my LEDs will be less then 2 years. That is not taking in to consideration the replacement cost of T5 bulbs.

 

[RandyFolds]

I think you could do some serious damage to your corals if jumped from 6500K to 14000K spectrum over a very short period. Your LEDs are fixed @ 14K spectrum and I assume they can not dimmed, with this you can not slowley acclimatise which in turn could be quite harmful. By they way what type of LED setup do you have in mind? Are they powerful enough to suit and meet reef aquarium setup?

6.5k to 14K damaging corals? Try again. Full sun is around 5700K. We pull corals off reefs and stick them under our 20K lights all day with no trouble. The point of higher Kelvin value bulbs is to simulate the attenuation of sunlight at depth.

 

[majorbonr]

Thanks for all your opinions!

I don't like that T5's create so much heat, I may need a chiller for the summer. The LED's could probably run around 80-82 degrees during the hotter days in summer without a chiller, that's sounds soo good to me!

I don't need massive amounts of par because I'm doing mostly LPS and Z/P's. I don't even run a skimmer on either of my tanks, so SPS would hate my tanks.

Are there any LFS with both LED and T5 display tanks? That's what I need to do.

 

[majorbonr]

LEDs all the way.
Great growth and awesome color with them.
If you want a diy setup I could build you one, if you needed.

Thanks for the offer! you can buy a whole set-up pretty cheap nowadays. I'll let you know if I decide to go that route.

 

[majorbonr]

for 20K look, you can use 2 ATI Blue Plus.
LED look nice but for I don't see many reefers success growing/keeping coral's coloration for long.
You can use both. LED for look and T5 for growth.

At the end, my vote is for replacement T5

Hey Daniel!

The colors fading would all depend on where you leave your corals right? I'd assume if reefers aren't able to keep the colors of their corals is more due to the LED's have more light intensity? I've seen from a par meter 2ft. underneath a 60w LED pendant and a 150w MH side by side. the MH was about 250-320 par if I recall correctly, and the 60w LED pendant read at 520 par!! The pendant was only 60 bulbs, 1 watt per bulb. Imagine how much more intense a 3 watt bulb set-up would be! So maybe that's why reefers usuing LED's are not able to keep colors from bleaching.

As for growing, my corals grow BANANA'S!!! I have a couple SPS, they've grown really well. My acans grow fast too. The hollywood stunner chalice you sold me has gone form 1.5" all around , to 3.5" all around in about 3 months! My Z/P's grow like weeds! I started out with 1 red hornet a month ago, I have 7 now. I started out with 3 blue hornets a month ago, I have 12 now. I bought 3 polyps of purple hornets from Rort(Bobby) 6 weeks ago, I have 12 now. He had the PH's on a frag rack at the top of his T5 tank for 6 months, he started out with 1 and had 3 after 6 months. I can go on and on about how explosive the growth has been with just a stock 28g JBJ LED tank and no skimmer, but i'll save you the boredom.

It's funny, I called Reef Hot Spot to see if the carried LED's today, and they told me they're experience with LED's has been slower growth than what they're use to. I almost can't believe that?!? Go figure.

So are you just keeping your main DT? Or are you planning to build another tank? Thanks for your feedback!!

 

[NVTE]

Hey Daniel!

The colors fading would all depend on where you leave your corals right? I'd assume if reefers aren't able to keep the colors of their corals is more due to the LED's have more light intensity? I've seen from a par meter 2ft. underneath a 60w LED pendant and a 150w MH side by side. the MH was about 250-320 par if I recall correctly, and the 60w LED pendant read at 520 par!! The pendant was only 60 bulbs, 1 watt per bulb. Imagine how much more intense a 3 watt bulb set-up would be! So maybe that's why reefers usuing LED's are not able to keep colors from bleaching.

As for growing, my corals grow BANANA'S!!! I have a couple SPS, they've grown really well. My acans grow fast too. The hollywood stunner chalice you sold me has gone form 1.5" all around , to 3.5" all around in about 3 months! My Z/P's grow like weeds! I started out with 1 red hornet a month ago, I have 7 now. I started out with 3 blue hornets a month ago, I have 12 now. I bought 3 polyps of purple hornets from Rort(Bobby) 6 weeks ago, I have 12 now. He had the PH's on a frag rack at the top of his T5 tank for 6 months, he started out with 1 and had 3 after 6 months. I can go on and on about how explosive the growth has been with just a stock 28g JBJ LED tank and no skimmer, but i'll save you the boredom.

It's funny, I called Reef Hot Spot to see if the carried LED's today, and they told me they're experience with LED's has been slower growth than what they're use to. I almost can't believe that?!? Go figure.

So are you just keeping your main DT? Or are you planning to build another tank? Thanks for your feedback!!

Did you just use LED or combination of LED & T5? If it is just LED then it is good to hear that LED work great for you. If it is combination, you might give T5 some credit, because 6K light, corals grow like weed under it.

As a corals coloration, I was preferred more about SPS which requires good amount of lights and water parameters. I heard/tested LED's par (High PAR), but when I searched for tank that had just LED on it, and their results were not like what I expecting.Beside PAR reading, I felt like LED is missing something that T5 or Metal Halide has. That is just me?

Yes, I still keep my DT tank. I just break down my frag tank.

 

[majorbonr]

^^^ The crazy growth is from a stock JBJ LED hood, no t5's or MH's. Just LED's.

 

[b16drag]

...LED is missing something that T5 or Metal Halide has...

This is what reefers said about T5's 2-3 years ago. :fun5:

 

[RandyFolds]

^^No, just the amateurs. The issue here is that LEDs by definition, are only emitting a single wavelength of light per/diode. Incandescent, Arc, and Fluorescent all emit light across a band of the spectrum, with specific peaks in amplitude according to the manufacturing of the bulb.

So to create an LED fixture with a spectrum relative to sunlight, you would need to have a vast number of TYPES of LEDs, each emitting a single wavelength and as a whole approximating sunlight, not just this 3w white 1w blue business that I see everywhere. It just isn't natural.

I have grown dope a long time. I have watched hundreds of people try to do it under LED, and every grow has been what I would call a failure. Yes, something is produced, no, it is not high quality. Now, the market and profit margins for marijuana are orders of magnitude higher than that of coral, and thus, it can be extrapolated that more money is spent on research and development in the field. They haven't figured out LED with a profit motivator, I tend to doubt any of these aquarium companies has either.

 

[yvonne r]

You asked about a LFS that has LED and T-5 display tanks, Tats Tropical Illusion in Thousand Oaks has both.

 

[tahiriqbal]

6.5k to 14K damaging corals? Try again. Full sun is around 5700K. We pull corals off reefs and stick them under our 20K lights all day with no trouble. The point of higher Kelvin value bulbs is to simulate the attenuation of sunlight at depth.

So, are you saying that you wouldn't do any damage to, lets say corals collected from only few feet depth and then sticking them straight under 20K bulb? Surely corals from this depth would not be absorbing 20K light hence could cause some coral bleaching. Please correct me if I am wrong as I am learning too...

 

[RandyFolds]

So, are you saying that you wouldn't do any damage to, lets say corals collected from only few feet depth and then sticking them straight under 20K bulb? Surely corals from this depth would not be absorbing 20K light hence could cause some coral bleaching. Please correct me if I am wrong as I am learning too...

None at all if the intensity is matched.

Bleaching is a stress response that can be induced by lighting changes, but in the vast majority of examples, it is due to the intensity vs. the spectra.

If the light becomes too intense, photosynthesis occurs more quickly than the end products can be transported away from the site, leading to the buildup of toxic superoxides, and the potential for bleaching and death.

As far as the spectra are concerned, corals (or zooanthelae, rather) only absorb usable light at very VERY specific wavelengths. The light actually generated at these wavelengths are the "PAR", Photosynthetically Active Radiation.

Regardless of whether your bulbs are 6.5K or 20K, the coral still only uses those specific wavelengths. Granted, a 6.5K bulb has a different PAR output than a 20K, but again, we are brought back to an issue of intensity and not spectra.