LED or MH

[Werdlone]

Well, this seems to be a one sided thread. Let me stir things up a bit. I recommend the Metal Halide. I still have not seen an sps tank with some long term photos...like a year or more out, with some great growth and color. If you have some pics, please post them. All I see are tanks 3-6 months out at most. I can give you a list a mile long with sps tanks with incredible color and growth with MH setups. I am not anti LED. I think it is definitely the future of reef keeping, but I do not know if they are perfected or fine tuned yet. Figuring out equivalent output for LED to MH is still really not accurate. color temp is still a little off from the light setups I have seen. If you want to be a trailblazer, go for it. If you want a tried and true light setup, with reliable color and results, get the HM setup. My 2 cents.

BTW..I use MH with VHO supplements..when LED gets worked out and the price is right, I will make the change.

 

[jaytizzle]

Werd, you will see pics of my tank in 6 months and then it will be at that year mark. I understand everyone's sentiments about not trusting it because it is new. The only reason that I put the first LED on my nano tank is because I got a great "guinea pig" deal. After 6 months of the SAME growth and BETTER color that I was getting under my MH+T5 I decided that it was legit and pulled the trigger to put them on my 120.

 

[thewackyreefer]

I'm going with a pair of these for my 60g I'm working on right now. Great price, great retailer, great PAR values and it runs 3W LED's.

 

[TopNotchCorals]

FWIW I got my chiller from ebay through premiumaquatics. PA had a bunch of brand new chillers listed on ebay at their store price but had a best offer option, I made a offer and got a steal on a brand new chiller.



No one that spends a bunch of money likes to admit they did not get the right thing. I know when I set my tank up last year I spent $1200 on a 12 bulb sfiligoi T5 fixture. I ran 8 bulb T5 Tek fixture on my old tank and had a ton of success. After a year on running my 12 bulb T5 sfiligoi I feel my growth is slower than I would like it to be, and the spread sucks. My tank is 36" wide though. Would LED be better for me? I know with a 48" x 36" footprint to light up it would be hard to justify the expense. Although I did order an Aquaillumintion for my nano to give LED a shot.

I will definitely be the first to say that I paid $700 on my 24" ATI Powermodule and I am very unhappy:cry:I am not bashing T5's as I have seen many successful tanks being ran on them but the 24" model I don't think packs the par punch that the bigger models do.

 

[TANKSALOT]

I'm going with a pair of these for my 60g I'm working on right now. Great price, great retailer, great PAR values and it runs 3W LED's.

Did you get yours in the first shipment?
Or are you on the next run?

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

 

[thewackyreefer]

Did you get yours in the first shipment?
Or are you on the next run?

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

I have 2 of the black fixtures arriving on Friday. Will shoot some pics over my 40g since the new tank hasn't arrived yet.

 

[TopNotchCorals]

I have 2 of the black fixtures arriving on Friday. Will shoot some pics over my 40g since the new tank hasn't arrived yet.

Are those the ones with the 18k look?

 

[thewackyreefer]

Are those the ones with the 18k look?

Indeed.

 

[TopNotchCorals]

Indeed.

I would love to see some pics of it in action most def.

 

[Maximus]

I'm going to have to agree with WL on this one. Once again, I also have nothing against LED's but I have yet to see a tank that is over 1-2 years old that has been successful with LED's and sps corals. Show me the money, as they say, and I will be the first person to switch. Until then, I cannot recommend LED's over metal halides.