Are LEDs really better?
- Thread starter diamondreef
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WesF
Well-Known Member
What lighting did you use in 2009? Those pics are nice.
EDIT: ok so the old pics were MH and you have been running LEDs for a few months? Give it time you will be back.
. It took about a year of trying with LED before I stopped humoring myself and hung the halides back up.
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Liquid360
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Not everyone lol.. just those you know. I've seen some halide tanks that leave something to be desired. Perhaps lights aren't the reason. There are very good LEDs out there.
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WesF
Well-Known Member
Like what? Radions? Seen those. No thanks
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
You may not believe it, but the vast majority of people running LEDs over their tanks are using those generic 120w fixtures from China, that use garbage, god-awful, ultra-low-CRI (50-60, if that), ultra-high kelvin knockoff whites, and low-output royals in a 1:1 ratio. These fixtures cost about $150 each. People buy them thinking that they're a great deal and a good LED fixture to replace their $600+ T5 or halide setup. They are incredibly wrong.
If you do not start off with a neutral white (4-5000K), high CRI (80 or higher), name-brand (Bridgelux, Luxeon, Cree, Citizen) white LED, and name-brand, high output royals, your light will look bland, and your corals will have two colors - actinic grey and green.
If you do not start off with a neutral white (4-5000K), high CRI (80 or higher), name-brand (Bridgelux, Luxeon, Cree, Citizen) white LED, and name-brand, high output royals, your light will look bland, and your corals will have two colors - actinic grey and green.
cymaster007
Ex-Socal Resident
If money & heat were not an issue I would use halides.
I use and enjoy my LED's because I do not want to pay for the high electric bill, constantly switching out Radium bulbs, and the chiller/house AC running constantly in the summer.
Someone needs to invent a cool running halide bulb!
I use and enjoy my LED's because I do not want to pay for the high electric bill, constantly switching out Radium bulbs, and the chiller/house AC running constantly in the summer.
Someone needs to invent a cool running halide bulb!
WesF
Well-Known Member
Switching from MH to LEDs has been the best thing I've done for my tank.
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Do you have any SPS in there?
When i tried LED some corsls looked really nice and "popped" but Acropora coloration is what bothered me the most. I could never get them to look as nice as they did under my MH. I suspect alot of the people who really like LED are more into LPS collecting? I am admittedly very picky. I wasn't a big fan of T5 for the same reason.
Here is my tank
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Liquid360
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Yes I've got some millepora, bonsai acro, misc acro... all doing very well! The bonsai was near death when I got it about to be tossed. It's now showing its green again after a month. Also recently got a chalice frag thats doing much better. I still have my halides and if I believed for a moment they'd be doing better under them I'd pull them back out quite happily.
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Liquid360
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Very very nice tank! I simply believe the benefits of LEDs are greater than that of MH.
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Do you have any SPS in there?
When i tried LED some corsls looked really nice and "popped" but Acropora coloration is what bothered me the most. I could never get them to look as nice as they did under my MH. I suspect alot of the people who really like LED are more into LPS collecting? I am admittedly very picky. I wasn't a big fan of T5 for the same reason.
Here is my tank
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Mrfresh
Valuable Member
I love my LEDs, just don't be cheap it's what keep ur corals alive spend the money on some nice ones
I have ran MH t5s and LEDs... I will never go back to either one... LEDs all the way
Ai Vega blues
I have ran MH t5s and LEDs... I will never go back to either one... LEDs all the way
Ai Vega blues
reefinghabit78
New Member
i have personally run 250 watt german hqi halides on a 125 and had excellent color intensity and growth,i am now running an led setup with dimmable l.e.d's,i honestly have not noticed any negative effects from switching over to the l.e.d unit,i see equivalent color spectrum similar shimmering effect,the most important thing about l.e.d is the par or amount of focused light that penetrates the water. l.e.d are disuisingly intense,they focus a huge amount of intensity in a 60 to 90 degree pattern.i am successfully growing delicate s.p.s and l.p.s. I am extremely happy I made the switch to l.e.d's. as a current user I am amazed at how these l.e.d units really work. I will not go back to heavy ballast and expensive bulbs. I don't miss all that extreme heat either. I highly suggest any l.e.d unit.
reefinghabit78
New Member
reefinghabit78
New Member
I purchased a cheap setup leds on ebay for $180 120 watt fully dimmable. check them out Brooklyn_reef_keeper,thats his selling name.i love them.
ruppertb
Valuable Member
I have used pc t5 halide and led. I hated my halides as I got very bad par readings. Maybe it was my balasts. Some corals I had for over a year under MH have grown more in the last 6 months under my diy cree led setup on my 28gal. This includes chalices favias tyree ponape birdsnest and purple tip validia. The sps looks better and has grown faster under leds.
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Sent from my LGL75C using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app
Paparchasa84
Community Member
I completely agree with LEDs. I've only been reef keeping for a year and once I switched over to my Vegas its been like night and day. Everything seems to thrive much better stays open longer and overall seems to be happy. I've got a friend who has a 180 and once I made the switch I talked him into the Vegas and he said by fat the best investment he's made. He's been in the hobby 10 years. There are so many modes to help keep, maintain, and go above what the other lights can do. Just don't be cheap on whatever lights you get.
mcarroll
10K Club member
"Better" is a pretty meaningless term if you don't give any context.
As a result you've seen people say "better" equates to everything from giving your tank an unnatural pink, purple or blue color to using less power.
While true - you can make your tank look silly while saving power - your really have to define what "better" is to you.
Excessive power usage (=heat) and the unforgiving bulb-replacement cycle of t5/MH are their two main downsides. By the same token, the lack of these two "features" is what primarily recommends LED for the job. Any LED system you could buy or make would solve those two problems.
Before LED, so-called 20,000K MH reasonably emulated a deep-water environment and was the premier reef lighting technology and T5 was the premier technology for people who like to play with their lighting. Potential efficiency and effectiveness were about the same in the right hands.
Today in the "LED age" you still see one camp of reefers playing with their light and another camp setting up naturalistic lighting scenarios. Again, potential efficiency and effectiveness are about the same in the right hands.
(You may have noticed that the "right hands" are more important than equipment choices.)
So, the question is: What's important to you?
-Matt
P.S. I replaced my Radium MH system with a blue and white DIY GU10-based LED setup. DIY cost was about the same as one set of replacement halide bulbs. Me and my SPS tank really like it.
