LED vs. MH

[Dasani]

If you have the right LED combo, I like the looks of LEDs more than halides. I think if you can get the LEDs set right, they are better than halides.

These are under an AI Sol blue (not my tank)

 

[Stpatrick]

If you have the right LED combo, I like the looks of LEDs more than halides. I think if you can get the LEDs set right, they are better than halides.

These are under an AI Sol blue (not my tank)

Ok... That hot. Can you find out what the %s or white, blue and royal blue they have them set on? I am battling hard and still cant get that color.

 

[Dasani]

Here is a link to the guys thread on nano-reef. It will tell you everything you want to know
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=286110

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Glad to see Bill Reefledlights) chime in. I saw this thread a few days ago and just had a cance to go through all the pages.

My tank is lit by all DIY and the kits came from Reefledlights, I have been running solely LED for nearly a year and anyone who has seen my tank thought it was MH (its an inwall so you cant see what runs it) until they go in the tank room and see the LEDs.

I had ran MH for years and made the switch after running a DIY build over one half of a 150 for 8 months while the other half was a 250 Radium.

I liked the look of the LED more than the radium and my fixture is 60 3 watt LEDs with 3:2 ratio of royal blue to white. My corals pop, and grow great.

I wont bash any "specific" company but I will say I have yet to see ANY off the shelf fixture that can top my DIY builds, they "might" be able to match them, but I doubt it :sure:

Here is an old crappy pic of my tank from a point and shoot camera that does no justice, the tank is 72x48x27 and I switched to LED and will never look back-never, I think those that have had poor experiances are due to the fixture, whether that be AI, Radion, whatever, like I said I yet to see any off the shelf unit that can top what you can DIY with quality components.

Not all LEDs are equal, just as a radium is different from a Hamilton and a Plusrite- You buy cheap, you get cheap, and sometimes expensive is "cheap" hense the DIY

 

[JOSE CASAS]

Do you have a build thread for your DIY fixture? ^^^^

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Do you have a build thread for your DIY fixture? ^^^^

Not for the fixtures, I just followed the info on Reefledlights and bugged Bill with any additional questions-the tank has 264 3 watt crees

 

[JOSE CASAS]

Ok thanks ^^^^

 

[Rskillz]

Hey guys, I wanted to chime in because I've ran 100% LEDs on my home tank for about 10 months now. They came from Bill at ReefLed. I have a 180 gallon with 180 3w crees. 108 3w royal blue, 36 3w cree cool white, and 36 3w cree warm white. I run them on a neptune apex.

So far I've been very happy. My SPS looks better than ever. Here are a few pics of my tank, judge for yourself =) 10 months of nothing but LEDs.

 

[Reefled]

I don't agree with 1Watt leds won't not be as 3Watt leds , because the hotest place of led is the bottom of led, howevery you touch the 1W and 3w of lighting, most of light is very hot on the surface, that because they didn't solve the heat problems well.....

 

[CJO]

What?

CJ

 

[redtop03]

With the right mix of LEDs you can achieve the same results but you have to DIY. This allows you to specifically choose the LEDs that have the desired spectrum spectrum.


Bill

+1 IMO,this is the trick to achieve the desired growth and color

IMO,until something better comes along,LEDs are the future in all lighting,like it or not....whether they are better or not is always gonna be debated,but the power hungry halides will eventually be phased out,as will the flouresent bulbs,they're just not "green" and our country is on a kick to eliminate all inefficient lighting....

I still use 4x250w 14k phoenix with 4x54w T5 ATI blue plus over my 360g tank and love the look,coral growth is fine too....the heat and power consumption is what I hate.....I will eventually switch to all LEDs but I will go with the DIY approach and add in the reds,greens,UV,multi blue,and multi white for a more complete full spectrum output as Bill suggests

 

[kuyatwo]

Mh and fluorescent bulbs will always be around, look at vho bulbs they are still around plus all that manufacturers have to do is lower the price of the bulbs.

Especially for big tanks 300+ gallons it is cheaper to go mh than LEDs it would take years to break even with LEDs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Reef Pets]

I recommend not purchasing LED's under the assumption that it will save you money in the long run because the bulbs last for 10 years or whatever the projected time it. What are the chances that you will have the same fixture for 10 years anyhow? You will not find many mixed results or reviews on Metal Halides and that is simply because they work and they will grow any type of coral. On the other hand you will find that many of not most people have had bad results from LED's. Even by reading this thread you will notice that most of the people that purchased LED's have went back to the lighting source they had previous to LED's. In my opinion, why waste the money on trying something that may or may not work when you know for a fact that Metal Halides will ALWAYS get the job done and done properly.

The other factor is heat from Metal Halides which cost more money to keep the tank cool in the summer. Well, half of the people on here live in northern states where in the winter time Metal Halides are cheaper to run because they help keep the water warm 6 months out of the year compared to running hundreds of watts of heaters during the cooler or cold months.

 

[redtop03]

I've been running Mhs for over 4 years now and I'm not knocking their ability,they will grow coral as good as any light on the market,but in the last 3 years alone I've already spent over $1200 in bulb replacements,if you add in the power consumption the lights have used,the power the AC has used to keep the heat down,the replacing RO/DI filters I've went through because of excessive evaporation due to fans running continuesly to combat the heat,the excessive water I've used just to make RO/DI water,I could have easily paid for an awesome LED fixture to fit my tank...I fail to see where LEDs aren't cheaper to operate,even if they have to be replaced every 4 or 5 years

 

[adhd_nerd]

I recently switched to led from 3 400w radiums + t5s. My build was through the wall with no "fish room" behind the tank. The mh were heating up both rooms too much for me to really enjoy the tank.

I replaced with 8 ai blues and some DIY for some of the missing spectrum. Clearly the ROI is a long time. However, the temps in the rooms are much cooler and can enjoy the tank much more knowing that I use less of everything.

Corals haven't suffered as a result of the light switch.

 

[ReefLEDLights]

Mh and fluorescent bulbs will always be around, look at vho bulbs they are still around plus all that manufacturers have to do is lower the price of the bulbs.

Especially for big tanks 300+ gallons it is cheaper to go mh than LEDs it would take years to break even with LEDs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a 570 gal and switched three years ago. Back then the LEDs were $6 ea now they are $4 ea and brighter. My electrical went from 25.4A down to 12.3A and I have more light. Based on Chicago Electricity rates and bulb replacement the payback for me is 5 years. This is not factoring in summer AC. I did notice my summer AC is a bout $100 less per month so the real payback is much sooner.

MH and T5 will be available unless government outlaws them like the 100watt incandescent. I'm sure they will be much less available in the future like 110watt VHO are now.

One thing for MH, if you need to heat an aquaculture facility in the winter the payback may be less of an incentive. That said its normally cheaper to heat with gas than electricity.

Bill