LED vs T5 vs ?

[Waters]

I also run an Aquatic life hybrid with 4 ATI bulbs and two Gen4 Radions.

 

[Stege_saurus]

Over the years (since the mid 80's) I have tried pretty much every lighting system out there, or at least have friends who have.

I switched to 100% LED on all my tanks in 2013 when I upgraded my 60 cube to a standard 120 (SPS dominant) I used AI Sol blues until about a year ago when I upgraded to Radion XR30 Gr4 pros, and used Kessil A360W's on the frag tank (shallow 60 - 4x2x12") I moved the Sol's tot he FT, and now use the Kessils on my QT.

I, for one, love the shimmer of LED's. It is so very much like diving a shallow reef on a sunny day. The only real downside is the shadowing, but with a little overlap and good coral placement that can be minimized. As far as controllability - the kessils will give you something between stark white and too blue. The Sol's are similar but at least IMO, offer a more pleasing palate. The Radions will allow you to get any (realistic reef) spectrum you like with ease and have more than enough power for my 120. They max out at 70% and a par of 250+ on the bottom so my clam is, well, happy as a clam!

I didn't want to have to bother with spectral changes and bulb replacement in any case, so the decision was really an easy one for me.

I don't see any big changes in T5 coming (ever), while with LED the journey is still beginning.

I currently have LEDs, but they are on the cheaper side of the spectrum so they don't support much coral growth. I'm set on upgrading them this year and really like all this info.

Exactly!!!! that's really what I use the LEDs for and the other plus for the LEDs is to help with the color pop when company comes over to look at the tank...

I have a few friends that come over frequently and a couple of them really enjoy looking at the reef. I'm hoping to get it as impressive as some of these reefs on this forum.

 

[Crashnt24]

For the price I recommend a Maxspect Razor R5.

I threw 300w on my 4' tank and I love it. Grows all coral nicely and has a great wireless controller app.

 

[amcvay]

another vote for hybrid here. I've used 2 AI Prime 52's (non HD's) for years, I just recently added a T5 retrofit and added 2 48" ATI Blue Plus bulbs over my 5 foot 150. It's a game changer...much better coverage than LED's alone, you still get that sunrise/sunset/moon effect w/the LED's but you can now dial in your T5 for full sun for a few hours per day to really make it pop. You get the shimmer of the LED's plus the zero shade coverage of the T5's.

 

[Stege_saurus]

I believe I'm set on going hybrid, only question is which should I get first? The T5 hybrid fixture or the LEDs, can't quite do both at the same time right now but by the end of the summer I will have it finished.

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

I believe I'm set on going hybrid, only question is which should I get first? The T5 hybrid fixture or the LEDs, can't quite do both at the same time right now but by the end of the summer I will have it finished.

I would get the T5s and use the cheap LED that you are running right now with it.... then upgrade your LEDs when the bank account lets you.... That's the route that I would take....

 

[vlangel]

I have always used T5s after upgrading from my old VHOs. I like the light intensity and have been able to keep whatever I wanted in my 24" high tank, including a crocea clam.

 

[CarolinaCorals]

My theory on this is since LED’s are trying to find a way to mimic T5’s, then why go with anything else? I am not aware of any part of an LED light beam that exceeds T5 lights. I am going with ATI Sunpower 8 bulb combo. 2 actinic, 4 blue plus, 2 coral plus. ATI also makes a dimmable option. T5 gives a blanket of light at a fraction of the cost of some LED’s (AI, Radion, Kessil). You will have to switch bulbs very 6 months or so, but the cost is still worth it. Most people change lights every few years anyways.

 

[Stege_saurus]

How high from the surface of the water does everyone put their T5s and LEDs?

 

[Amado]

T5 is the devil, changing bulbs is horrible.
The heat t5 produces and the energy it consume. it just doesn’t make sense. At some point you are not going to be able to buy bulbs. I wouldn’t invest in old technology.
so it’s LED only for me. Let’s let T5 die

 

[Mrx7899]

Tried leds on a few tanks they work and grow coral just fine. But I always switch back to t5 I just feel that they are better. I like the way they light the tank growth is better and colors are better.

 

[Mrx7899]

My theory on this is since LED’s are trying to find a way to mimic T5’s, then why go with anything else? I am not aware of any part of an LED light beam that exceeds T5 lights. I am going with ATI Sunpower 8 bulb combo. 2 actinic, 4 blue plus, 2 coral plus. ATI also makes a dimmable option. T5 gives a blanket of light at a fraction of the cost of some LED’s (AI, Radion, Kessil). You will have to switch bulbs very 6 months or so, but the cost is still worth it. Most people change lights every few years anyways.

You can get 12 to 16 month out of bulbs easily

 

[Mrx7899]

T5 is the devil, changing bulbs is horrible.
The heat t5 produces and the energy it consume. it just doesn’t make sense. At some point you are not going to be able to buy bulbs. I wouldn’t invest in old technology.
so it’s LED only for me. Let’s let T5 die

T5s aren't going anywhere. I dont mind the heater it makes my heaters not turn on during the day. I dont really see any energy saves when you see people that have 3 or more led fixture over their tanks just to get coverage that t5s give you.

 

[WallyB]

I can snap some pics tonight for you. it is not dimmable, I don't see the need to be able to dim T5s, plus its really hard on the bulbs and you will have to replace them more often. dimmable T5s are more expensive as well...

Actually if you dim T5's they will last much longer.

The Dimming is the Ballast not the bulb, but there are tradeoffs.

One downside with Dimmable T5 setup is you have to burn in the T5's for 100+ hours at full power, before you can dim them or else then you shorten their life. I hate that part.

The other downside to dimmable is a dimmable ballast at 100% is not less power than an non-Dimmable.

As far as life of T5' s and replacements. All the past knowledge of having to replace every 6-8 months is not true.
Here is proof.


If you hate shimmer get T5's. T5's have no shimmer.

If you love shimmer, then plenty of Led's choices. Kessill shimmers the most.

I like some shimmer part of the day, and no shimmer the rest of the day. So Hybird T5/LED worked best for me.

 

[Rick.45cal]

You’re going to get a lot of strong opinions on this one, I’ve never regretted my ATI powermodule. It grows corals like weeds and they have killer colors!

 

[Lousybreed]

If I had a standard rectangular display I would probably go with an ATI non-dimmable fixture with Reefbrite or Orphek LED bar add-ons for a hybrid setup. The same could be done with the AquaticLife fixtures that are so popular in recent years. I like the ATI (or similar) T5 fixtures with added LED bars because a lot of the grow out systems I have seen, and liked better personally, used this design.

ATI fixtures kick out significantly more par than any other t-5 fixture. I agree the best set up is a non dimmable ATI fixture with some OR2 light bars on both sides.

 

[blstravler]

I went from...

3 Hydra HD 52’s

Then I add hybrid T5 fixture (4 T5’s)

About a month after adding the T5 my growth took off. I than sold my entire set up for an ATI SunPower - not dimmable as its really not needed. My coral grows very quickly now and I have great color and growth.

My PAR distribution is also very even and I have very little shadowing.

I did see someone mention the power bill cost difference - my power bill went down....

Also the reason I went with ATI is you can get all the parts you need online and fix anything on the unit yourself. Not something you can typically do with LED fixtures.

I got my ATI fixture for a steal on eBay 48in 6 bulb for $125 and spent about $75 on parts and bought new bulbs for $150. So all in $350. I sold my old set up for $1700. Which means I had enough left over for 9 years of bulbs.

 

[Lousybreed]

Factor in up front costs and the span of five years there is NO savings with LED fixtures. All the major coral crowded stay away from LED only and they openly admit that you need a lot more LED fixtures to get good coverage. Now don’t be influenced by certain online places that are sponsored by LED light manufacturers

 

[Crustaceon]

I’ve used both and for now, i’m sticking with t5. I might reconsider if there’s a reasonably priced led fixture developed that provides the same coverage, spectral perfomance and pretty much zero-guesswork of a t5 fixture. IMO there currently aren’t any that can mirror t5ho.

 

[DBR_Reef]

ATI fixtures kick out significantly more par than any other t-5 fixture. I agree the best set up is a non dimmable ATI fixture with some OR2 light bars on both sides.

I like ATI fixtures as well, but why do you think they produce more par than other t-5 fixtures? Did you find comparative par measurements? The ballast are the same as anyone else's. I guess the reflectors could be better, but it doesn't seem like they could be so different as to produce significantly more par. Unless you just mean that they often run more bulbs in the same length fixture- cause that certainly makes a huge difference.