Led vs T5
- Thread starter EddieV0008
- Start date
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EddieV0008
Community Member
Any pics U can share with me on your tank?
LostInTheDark
Active Member
I just dumped my LEDs and went ATI 8x80 over a 225. Tank looks great, Corals all responded with better color and growth. I'm sorry I wasted my time and money on LEDs and wish I just stayed T5 from the beginning.
craigslist?
EddieV0008
Community Member
nothing on craigs list on my area
I'm glad to hear how happy most are with their T5s because I was thinking about going with leds. guess I'll stick with whats working
EddieV0008
Community Member
I started with the radion pros and believe me they are great plug and play they do it all but I wasn't happy with the color spectrum. I tried a used t5 fixture and wow the colors made my tank look nice. Plus my corals are growing slow with the LED want to try T5
got ya keep checking--in the past 2 weeks there have been several T5 setups pop up in my area when there was nothing at least worth
i wonder if you just don't have enough LEDs. Either way I'm a firm believer in more light is better. It seems like the led manufacturers under recommend the amount of lights you'll need for good growth. I've talked to a few people on here that have over done it as far as the manufacturer recommends and they've had great luck with LEDs. Also, people have highly recommended the cheap Chinese LEDs on eBay vs the high priced lights (that are made in China) that most end up with. You can get 300watts for under $200 and people swear by them. Just something to consider.
Diesel
ME=1, CANCER=0.
I ran for years T bulbs from the first every T12 and T8's till the latest T5's, than I had a period I was testing the radions for Ecotech for 3.5 years and I had great results but I was missing the T5 look so I went back.
My Corals are in love with the Hybrid.
Must say that Ecotech felt the punch that many long time hobbyist went back to T5's, as results they launched the Coral Lab.
It's a awesome program and some good results is already rolling out of this.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ecotech-marine-launches-coral-lab-project.232235/#post-2764769
mcarroll
10K Club member
I have lots of great pics of my almost-three-year-old daughter.
But since she was born (how many years did I say???) the tank is on the very-very-very-back burner....so I don't have anything fancy to photograph at this point. (Not that that was ever a main point.) I also take pretty lousy photographs. LOL
I have posted a few recently though just to show what the lights look like. (Will see if I can scare them up....wish it was easier to find and re-use old photos I've posted here!!! Why isn't there a listing in my profile somewhere?)
You can look at this thread for some pics of other people's gu10 builds in the mean time...it's where I stole the design. (Ignore deviations from the standar
http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/267432-gu10-led-build-thread-chinese-ebay-lights/
If you can find any examples of the Orbit Marine Pro (ideally in-person!), that's one of the commercial fixtures I'd look at. It's very similar in design to my gu10 fixture, but a much more svelt form-factor and with slightly wider (60º vs 30º) lenses, and probably fuller-color.
EddieV0008
Community Member
I had the radion 30 pro with the wide angle pucks it was enough to reach out my 3ft wide tank i could of maybe used an extra XR15 and it would of worked but when i tried the t5s on my tank i saw colors on my corals that i never seen with my led radions. Well in any case if i decide to go back to LEDs i can sell the t5s again
mcarroll
10K Club member
Not sure of the relevancy...looked at the PDF and it looks like pure marketing fluff. ("They use Reflow (sic) pumps, but they're switching to Vectra's soon!") That's a paraphrase, but the typo is a direct quote.
I did only scan the PDF - was there some useful data I missed?If you look at the number of fixtures on the tank pic from @Diesel above, you can see how to succeed with these fixtures without their coral lab - use $4000-$5000 worth of lights! Same goes for their flow pumps, more or less. Their marketing seems to reliably track with pricing, but outstrips real-life performance for a lot of folks... Not a fan.
You'd have been best off with two or three smaller lights, if you wanted to stick with the "shoebox" form. Like three AI Primes, or two or three XR15's....
Diesel
ME=1, CANCER=0.
Not sure of the relevancy...looked at the PDF and it looks like pure marketing fluff. ("They use Reflow (sic) pumps, but they're switching to Vectra's soon!") That's a paraphrase, but the typo is a direct quote.
If you look at the number of fixtures on the tank pic from @Diesel above, you can see how to succeed with these fixtures without their coral lab - use $4000-$5000 worth of lights! Same goes for their flow pumps, more or less. Their marketing seems to reliably track with pricing, but outstrips real-life performance for a lot of folks... Not a fan.
You'd have been best off with two or three smaller lights, if you wanted to stick with the "shoebox" form. Like three AI Primes, or two or three XR15's....
I'm sorry for you but you're missing a lot.
Point is it's working.
EddieV0008
Community Member
if i go with the 8 bulb ATI, I have lots of zoas as I am a big fan of zoos. What would be the best bulb colors to get for POP on the zoas and off course growth? I don't mind it being in the bluer spectrum color
Diesel
ME=1, CANCER=0.
That's a good question but nobody has the right answer for you.
Here's some valuable info that many reefers follow to the right combo for them.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/which-ati-bulb-combination-should-i-choose.205103/
Clayalaleona
Well-Known Member
http://ecotechmarine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Ecotech_CoralLab_WP1.pdf
I'm sure someone posted this already but if no one has here you goooo
I'm sure someone posted this already but if no one has here you goooo
