This is really a beautiful stand and canopy. Outstanding work!I'm all for both! Switched to LED but missed my T5s so I built my own light for my 180.
)
Water Depth Sumulation
You know, with that "dead/no shimmer look" T5's actually do a pretty good deep-water simulation.
Effects like shimmer, shadows and even directionality of light actually disappear at around 50 meters (if I recall correctly). Below that, light is directionless, so there is no "sunrise" or "sunset"...light just fades up in the morning and fades out at night.
I always imagined halides as emulating surface lighting conditions with all the shimmer and stark shadows. (I am still a halide fan even though I don't run em anymore.)
Light and Heat
(@rock_lobster too)
As far as T5 heat vs LED heat.
Heat generated always corresponds 1:1 with power used from the wall. (First law of thermodynamics)
The main difference conferred by LED is the lack of IR light. No IR means no indirect heat generated by the emitter (i.e. waste light) only to be converted directly to heat by the water. This is a double-whammy against halide and T5 efficiency-wise since, vs LED, extra power is used just to create heat and waste light.
Reef LED lights don't have any of that action.
+1
Definitely ideal to see lights first hand if at all possible. You're at a disadvantage buying lights sight unseen. (Not in terms of growing corals, just in terms of your own expectations of the look. We are the picky ones.
Power Use
If you're just comparing light power usage, the difference can be pretty significant, but in reality savings gets shrunk by your heaters kicking on more/for longer to compensate.
You have to do a little work with a Kill-A-Watt meter and the new lights to see what your actual overall $$ saving could be.
Costs
There is still a huge difference in costs between LED and halide/T5 when you add in bulb costs and then figure out the expenses over 5 or 10 years. Even premium-priced LED systems come out on top fairly quick. If you want a little shock, try running the numbers for a basic DIY system vs halide or T5.
Run T5's if you like them. Run MH if you like them. But if you're concerned with "bang for your buck" then your solution has to be LED. (And LED's can do a reasonable job of emulating MH or T5 if set up right...so it doesn't even have to come down to issues of "look".)
A new Cayman/Ballast Combo + Radium 250W will run you $350. Replacement bulbs seem to be $83. 1.5 times per year makes them $124 per year, on average. A ballast for that system will pull around 350W at the wall. At 10 hours per day, that's $153/year.
A comparable LED system could cost about $800. 190W seems like a reasonable estimate for the LED system....it doesn't account for the ballast, but nobody runs all the LED's at 100% and sunrise/sunset makes our estimate very conservative anyway. 190W at 12 hours per day is $100/year.
Year 1
Halide: $544 (= 350+(83*.5)+153)
LED: $900 ( = 800+(83*0)+100)
Year 5
Halide: $1322....or $265 per year
LED: $1300....or $260 per year
Year 10
Halide: $2295....or $230 per year
LED: $1800....or about $180 per year
Again, if you buy or build an LED system for less, then you're even farther ahead, even sooner.
Nice write up I agree with you but to lazy to do the math LOLWater Depth Sumulation
You know, with that "dead/no shimmer look" T5's actually do a pretty good deep-water simulation.
Effects like shimmer, shadows and even directionality of light actually disappear at around 50 meters (if I recall correctly). Below that, light is directionless, so there is no "sunrise" or "sunset"...light just fades up in the morning and fades out at night.
I always imagined halides as emulating surface lighting conditions with all the shimmer and stark shadows. (I am still a halide fan even though I don't run em anymore.)
Light and Heat
(@rock_lobster too)
As far as T5 heat vs LED heat.
Heat generated always corresponds 1:1 with power used from the wall. (First law of thermodynamics)
The main difference conferred by LED is the lack of IR light. No IR means no indirect heat generated by the emitter (i.e. waste light) only to be converted directly to heat by the water. This is a double-whammy against halide and T5 efficiency-wise since, vs LED, extra power is used just to create heat and waste light.
Reef LED lights don't have any of that action.
+1
Definitely ideal to see lights first hand if at all possible. You're at a disadvantage buying lights sight unseen. (Not in terms of growing corals, just in terms of your own expectations of the look. We are the picky ones.
Power Use
If you're just comparing light power usage, the difference can be pretty significant, but in reality savings gets shrunk by your heaters kicking on more/for longer to compensate.
You have to do a little work with a Kill-A-Watt meter and the new lights to see what your actual overall $$ saving could be.
Costs
There is still a huge difference in costs between LED and halide/T5 when you add in bulb costs and then figure out the expenses over 5 or 10 years. Even premium-priced LED systems come out on top fairly quick. If you want a little shock, try running the numbers for a basic DIY system vs halide or T5.
Run T5's if you like them. Run MH if you like them. But if you're concerned with "bang for your buck" then your solution has to be LED. (And LED's can do a reasonable job of emulating MH or T5 if set up right...so it doesn't even have to come down to issues of "look".)
A new Cayman/Ballast Combo + Radium 250W will run you $350. Replacement bulbs seem to be $83. 1.5 times per year makes them $124 per year, on average. A ballast for that system will pull around 350W at the wall. At 10 hours per day, that's $153/year.
A comparable LED system could cost about $800. 190W seems like a reasonable estimate for the LED system....it doesn't account for the ballast, but nobody runs all the LED's at 100% and sunrise/sunset makes our estimate very conservative anyway. 190W at 12 hours per day is $100/year.
Year 1
Halide: $544 (= 350+(83*.5)+153)
LED: $900 ( = 800+(83*0)+100)
Year 5
Halide: $1322....or $265 per year
LED: $1300....or $260 per year
Year 10
Halide: $2295....or $230 per year
LED: $1800....or about $180 per year
Again, if you buy or build an LED system for less, then you're even farther ahead, even sooner.
Recently, there was a post documenting an awesome Euphyllia-dominated tank:True average!
But...where they can grow is much more diverse than what folks think most of the time. Where "most corals grow" truly varies from location to location. Sometimes pretty significantly.
It seems like most T5-lovers are trying to run a surface-light simulation anyway so this is little more than me talking about what I read and hypothesizing out loud.
It's always struck me as odd how (unlike the freshwater side of the hobby) there are hardly and biotope or single-species aquariums on the reef side.
Why not a 30 Meter Biotope? Or a 90 Meter?
