Help me decide. Stay with LED or go T5

[saltyfilmfolks]

I switched to LEDs when I set up my new tank after being out of the hobby for over a year and I think if you are in it to grow coral faster T5s are the way to go but be prepared to drop at least $100-$200 a year on bulbs. Don't get me wrong my LEDs are growing things great but I will say T5s did seem to have an advantage in that aspest. On the other hand I don't have to worry about buying bulbs, a higher electric bill, or wishing I could change the color of my tank within seconds. There are advantages either way you want to look at.

Agreed.
Devils advocate here for a moment. How many people chance their bulbs yearly? And one would ask why. Are they using a meter of ANY sort to determine when to change their bulbs.
Tube fixtures are not created equal either heat venting is actually pretty important to tube longevity.
Second, All Leds are not created equal. Many provide Very good spectrum others not. Intensity as well.
Being able to ramp and control is not the end all. If you dont have a meter of any sort. because, well what are you controlling really? Besides aesthetics.

Came back across this tonight as I was trying to find really ANY info on what baseline LUX to start my metal halide at. Try it.
I love LOVE Love Dana Riddle But come on.
No not par because I can change my par with a purple Tshirt. and I dont want to get wet right now and I already know the spectrum of the globe.

In summary Leds provide a basic and controllable digital style spectrum wave, with individual columned peaks that can be mixed to clumsily a spectral curve and works pretty well. More you spend better the results
T5 is known analog spectral curve and fills in those gaps or can be used as a standalone as it has for years.
I use both. Led Mixes color, ramps up. then 4 to 6 of t5 ramp down to awesome blue at night. Fade out. Save money great spectrum. I even have a 18' 420nm t5 comes on 1hr in and out for my Fiji sunrise/sunset.
Works great.

But really, N & P atO)PPM alk and kalk at 3to1 ratio with magniesium to avoid precipitation and understanding the difference between organic and in organic carbon molecules?
and I need HIGH light for my coral
. what the heck is High? 10 or 10,000? I do own a dozen meters.

I did find 25w 50w & 75w DC Metal halides. Yes DC. Looks like a kessel. Dirty Parking lot color though. Dang.

So yea marketing is lying to us. Popular sells, cool sells, and savings sell. Find the balance of what you like, what works best for your animals what you can afford and what Looks freakin cool.

BTW in the 90's everyone went solid state on all the amps. Digital pedals effects looping etc. Eventually they put tubes back in the amps AND kept the solid state effects too.
Eddie Van's Peavy 5150 stack was the first.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

And its 3000 Lux at the bottom of a 20in tank for sps. I think. Help appreciated.

 

[LostInTheDark]

I'm more interested in a fixture that will last. My Ocean Revive Led fixtures don't last 18 months before dimming then burning out. On my local forum they take it as part of tank maintenance to fix the burnt out bulbs, drivers and fans every few months

 

[PedroYoung]

I had an aqua illumination Sol blue LED fixture for 6 yrs with no issues. Would still be using them if the house didn't burn down. I have also never heard of any issues with the Ecotech Radion fixtures. In this hobby, on the hardware side you often get what you pay for. Now livestock, that can be another story...........
That said, I am looking into T5/ LED hybrids now for the next tank.

 

[KingTriton]

T5 + Reefbrite mounted onto the T5 fixture

 

[fbodykiller]

ATI fixture with reef bar pro LEDs strips retrofitted inside

Do you have pics of this?

 

[VTek]

Before its suggested, $500 fixtures are not really an option.

This confuses me. Of course you know lighting isn't cheap, especially for the size of your tank. T5s should be replaced yearly which will be hundreds of dollars/yr. A good LED fixture (as ecotech XR pros) will be fairly costly to begin with, and will most likely need a few units.

 

[jetmaker]

I have a coralife 2x 20k halides and 2x 96 watt t5 you can get em fairly cheap on eBay and do great.

 

[Electrobes]

I went the LED route via RapidLED for about a year and a half before I upgraded tanks (Before that was pure metal halide). Corals grew quite well and never had a dimming issue but I admit the colors of the corals were odd... Very different than when I had the halide.

I switched to T5's (Bought a used TEK, than went to ATI purely for coverage... The TEK worked just fine but was 6 bulb when I wanted the coverage of an 8 bulb fixture) for my upgrade and I am truly happy with the switch. Maintenance-wise it does cost more (I change bulbs every 10 months blindly) but I find it with worth it to me.

I bought a Sunpower, while I find LEDs a very valid route for lighting, I just like T5's only better right now I don't think having the LEDs that the Powermodule comes with does not validate it added cost to the fixture.

I should add, I specifically did avoid the dimmable T5's.. I don't think it's necessary and again, not worth the added cost.

 

[gus6464]

For that large of a tank T5 all the way. You are going to have to spend some serious cash to get the same cover T5 will give you with LED. If you want to go hybrid blue and violet LEDs are the only ones worth a dang. Cover the rest of the spectrum with T5.

This is my custom ATI Powermodule

It has 2 rows of T5 taken out and replaced with 30 LEDs per row. Each row consists of:
20 Luxeon T Royal Blue
5 SEMILed violet
5 Luxeon ES Cool Blue

My bulbs are:
2 ATI Coral+
2 ATI True Actinic
1 ATI Purple+
1 ATI Aquablue Special

Next year I am upgrading to a 36x48x20 peninsula and doing another custom light with:
12x 36" T5
3x rows of the same blue LED strips with 48 LEDs per row

 

[LostInTheDark]

^^^ That looks like a perfect setup. Where do you keep the drivers for the Leds?

 

[Pete polyp]

For that large of a tank T5 all the way. You are going to have to spend some serious cash to get the same cover T5 will give you with LED. If you want to go hybrid blue and violet LEDs are the only ones worth a ****. Cover the rest of the spectrum with T5.

This is my custom ATI Powermodule

It has 2 rows of T5 taken out and replaced with 30 LEDs per row. Each row consists of:
20 Luxeon T Royal Blue
5 SEMILed violet
5 Luxeon ES Cool Blue

My bulbs are:
2 ATI Coral+
2 ATI True Actinic
1 ATI Purple+
1 ATI Aquablue Special

Next year I am upgrading to a 36x48x20 peninsula and doing another custom light with:
12x 36" T5
3x rows of the same blue LED strips with 48 LEDs per row

What's the benefit of replacing 2 bulbs with led?

 

[dh350twin]

What's the benefit of replacing 2 bulbs with led?

Shimmer?

 

[gus6464]

What's the benefit of replacing 2 bulbs with led?

More light. Those 2 strips can output as much light as 4 ati blue+. Instead of using half my slots with them I now only need 2. It also does add a bit of shimmer but not much.

My photoperiod is 3 hour ramp up blue led, then all the T5 bulbs fire on for 6 hours, then blue led ramps down for 3 more hours.

 

[gus6464]

^^^ That looks like a perfect setup. Where do you keep the drivers for the Leds?

I have a separate box with a custom board that has the LED drivers, Apex adapter, and fan controller.

The meanwell LDD are the drivers, the SCW is a dc-dc converter that takes the 48V from my power supply and converts to 12V to power the apex board and the fans on my ATI. I have a single meanwell waterproof power supply connected to the board.

The board also allows me to control the speed of the fans on the ATI with the Apex.

 

[dh350twin]

Here is my newest set up. And loving it

Sorry hard to take good pics

 

[hybridazn]

There is nothing wrong with leds. But if you go cheaper you get what you pay for. The ones you have and a few otherseconds have seen their fair share of problems long term. Fixtures such as ecotech, AI and so on have a great track record but of course you pay for that quality. Imo the best way and most cost efficient way to do led and keep quality up is still diy.

 

[LostInTheDark]

The ones you have and a few otherseconds have seen their fair share of problems long term.

Yeah. Learned that the hard way. They grew everything great for about a year then it all went down hill. I just took a new frag and put it on a shelf in my fuge lit by T5s and it is growing nicely. In the tank under LEDs it just dwindled away.

 

[reef4beer]

I love my AI Leds supplemented with 2 t5 bulbs, change my bulbs at the year mark regardless of quality just to avoid any mishap.

I've been running my AI's for almost 5 years and still as bright even by running them 13 hours a day.

I have great growth and I have colors popping everywhere, nothing better then getting home from work and finding the blue leds on making colors pop.

 

[dewboy1127]

It depends on how many hours per day and how hot the fixture is. I change mine once a year. There's a noticeable difference in brightness when I switch but overall the health of the corals don't diminish at the 1 year mark. Then again I use more bulbs than recommended. I always put as many t5 bulbs over a tank that will fit.

How do you go about that?do you retrofit your own or what?