Sps growth. Mh vs LEDs
- Thread starter ecam
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Chappy
Member
They both work. Some will grow better with halides and some with LEDs. Do you want a higher initial cost or higher maintenance cost? Halides are proven but not much is going to change with them...still hot and last 6 months to a year. LEDs are changing and improving...kind of like computers. In a couple of years you might have an outdated set up want to upgrade.
How's that?
I have all LEDs and love them. My SPS have grown without a problem. Especially from frags.
How's that?
I have all LEDs and love them. My SPS have grown without a problem. Especially from frags.
wayne in norway
New member
When I got a couple hundred par with mh my sps gre really well, with good colors.
When I got a couple hundred par with my t5 my sps grew really well with good colors.
Now I have a couple hundred par from my LEDs my sps are growing really well with good colors.
See a trend?
When I got a couple hundred par with my t5 my sps grew really well with good colors.
Now I have a couple hundred par from my LEDs my sps are growing really well with good colors.
See a trend?
rgfast
New member
My resaults may differ from others but I switched from 1200watts of MH lighting to leds a couple years ago for the same reason most have the HEAT. When I first switched over royal blues and cool whites where the norm as time passed I added more and more diffent spectums of emitters to create a full spectum fixture which included everything from the 420 to the 660 range emitters. SPS corals still slowly lost there pop, I've now gone to a T5/led combo and very happy I did
spider1218
New member
im running both 2 mh175 watt and 64 watts royal blue led for actinic supplement and sun up sun down on a 90gal works great.
joshua.jebe
New member
i am running t5 and MH suplement on my 75 but the biggest difrences i have seen in growth are my frags that i have made and glued 1 to an existing rock in the tank and those glued to plugs or discs. those glued to existing live rock have a significant better growth rate IMO exp. what appears to be in upwards of 30% depending on the coral i have tried it with from monti cap and birdsnest and green slimer .
joshua
joshua
mussel and hate
New member
I'd say find a local reefer with thriving colonies of the corals you wish to keep and mimic his setup. Otherwise, pick the light you like the look of and find what will thrive beneath it.
Halides all the way. Most proven way to grow sps.
mr.maroonsalty
New member
I saw a mixed halide led tank whose growth was taking off under LEDs, and whose corals under the halides weren't. Is it the combination; corals living at the outer edge of light suddenly getting a boost, or the LEDs themselves? I have a large Oceanic glass center brace that I plan at some point to boost the light level under it with an led kit. I also wouldn't mind cutting the electric use from my t12 actinics, and there are so many very nice actinic LEDs that I'm not sure if t12 actinic is still the goldstandard.
In direct, head-to-head comparisons......there is typically no noticeable difference. Some corals respond better to one light or the other, it seems. But not to the degree that anyone is willing to say "MH grows Birdsnest better or LED grows Chalices better" etc.
In one major head-to-head on the internet that lasted 18 months or more before they called it pretty even...they thought that possibly the MH was growing slightly faster...but they could not say that definitively.
There are many people on both sides of the issue. And some have gone to LED only to return to MH. But ask stores what is selling. It is nearly all LED now.
Personally I have both. I ran MH for a while. Then LED for the last year plus. I like everything better about the LEDs. I blew an LED and used MH for a couple weeks until I could get LED up and running again. I did a nice easy transition and nothing really liked the MH lighting. When I went back to the LED, things began to look noticeably better in about 36-48 hours.
Just my 2 cents and personal experience. Many stores now run multiple lights on their tanks. Go to a store running as many different kinds of lights as possible so you can see them side-by-side. Something usually pops out that way where you can decide your preference.
In one major head-to-head on the internet that lasted 18 months or more before they called it pretty even...they thought that possibly the MH was growing slightly faster...but they could not say that definitively.
There are many people on both sides of the issue. And some have gone to LED only to return to MH. But ask stores what is selling. It is nearly all LED now.
Personally I have both. I ran MH for a while. Then LED for the last year plus. I like everything better about the LEDs. I blew an LED and used MH for a couple weeks until I could get LED up and running again. I did a nice easy transition and nothing really liked the MH lighting. When I went back to the LED, things began to look noticeably better in about 36-48 hours.
Just my 2 cents and personal experience. Many stores now run multiple lights on their tanks. Go to a store running as many different kinds of lights as possible so you can see them side-by-side. Something usually pops out that way where you can decide your preference.
joshPensacola
New member
i have radions and they growth is the same or better than my MH i used to run. i no longer need to run a chiller, i no longer replace bulbs, and if i add new corals i can put them where i want in the tank and set my radions to acclimate them over several weeks with no further action required from me.
also the slow turn to deep blues in the evening and to purple for moon is awesome.
also the slow turn to deep blues in the evening and to purple for moon is awesome.
Ron Reefman
Active member
I had 1000w of MH, 160w of t5 and 100w of led on my 180g sps & lps tank for 3+ years and everything in the tank was doing just fine. My chiller worked well and my home A/C worked well.
Eight months ago I switched to 480w (at peak... more like 300-350w over 10-12 hours) of EverGrow leds. My corals have continued to grow every bit as well as before and my chiller and home A/C are happy to have a lot less work to do!
Eight months ago I switched to 480w (at peak... more like 300-350w over 10-12 hours) of EverGrow leds. My corals have continued to grow every bit as well as before and my chiller and home A/C are happy to have a lot less work to do!
BrownParticles
New member
some led's tend to turn sps green or brown or decolors them. Makes me mad.
Tmoriarty
New member
LEDs in the last couple of years have moved towards a mixed spectrum like the radion uses. Colors seem to do better under the mixed spectrum LED's
Allmost
New member
its simple. do you want to experiment ? or do you want a set and forget it type of thing ?
MH has been proven to work, and its well documented about different bulbs and intensities and distance to water and coral and so on.
LED is newer. you have to try rising or lowering it, change intensity, try different colors and so on, to get the same thing, or better.
so ....
MH has been proven to work, and its well documented about different bulbs and intensities and distance to water and coral and so on.
LED is newer. you have to try rising or lowering it, change intensity, try different colors and so on, to get the same thing, or better.
so ....
Poseidons frags
New member
120w leds from ebay that are full spectrum.. have never been happier with the growth and lack of bulb changes!!
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