I have a 65 rr with a t5 dimmable fixture . I have friends that run led and some that run t5. I personally believe t5 are better, producing better coral color and health . What are u guys running and what are your thoughts ?
First, if you really believe T5's are better, that should be the end of the discussion. Right?
If you're fine with the expense and like the colors, etc....what's the problem?
When you start the question with such a strong stance, I'm not sure where you're really coming from. Are you having second thoughts about your stance on T5's? I have to assume....so correct me if that's wrong.
If you truly believe what you said, then I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping with T5's.
Otherwise, keep reading.
Apples and Oranges
I obviously don't know what your friends run or what LED's you've seen so far, but the LED systems most folks set up aren't very comparable with a T5 system in the first place....they're a lot more comparable to a halide-only system.
I would pretty much forget all those lights and all those tanks.
If I were in your shoes coming from a T5 lighting system and I was looking for "comparable" LED systems. I'd be searching out folks that use nothing but LED strips to light their tanks. See what they're doing and how it's getting done.
Current USA, GHL Lightbar2's, as well as bars by Hamilton and ReefBrite would be good search points...although I suspect most folks use those last two as supplements, so you may have to do some digging to find people using them as primaries. Even lots of DIY designs have a more all-over lighting design that would be more comparable to T5.
Find tanks lit with those kinds of LED's that also have a look you like.....then try to see some lights like those in-person. Maybe even buy or build a single smaller unit to test – like for a frag tank or refugium or something. (Or just to re-sell...whatever works.)
Note My Sig
"Better" is a subjective term. I don't know of any evidence that one color pattern for a coral indicates any difference in health from another color pattern. In most cases, the colors we're talking about are simply protective adaptations to the local light, nutrient, flow and chemistry conditions. Colors do not indicate a state of health per se, nor do they indicate that the light they are growing under is better or worse than some other light.
You might dig this link:
The in situ light microenvironment of corals
What is "better"?
If you're spending your time comparing with other peoples' tanks, then you'll always be able to find someone that'll make your tank/methods seem inadequate or whose tank seems "better". In reality, it's just different – and probably in more ways than are apparent.
If you can actually look at someone else's tank and understand
all of the differences and still want "different", that's OK, but don't switch thinking it's "better" unless you were killing corals before and you are not killing them with the new lights. That would be just about the only universal "better".
A post I made in a thread you might find interesting where someone was thinking in the other direction from you:
Can't decide whether to abandon LEDs
What I Think
Once adapted, corals seem able to thrive under a wide variety of lights and independent of the colors they display. At most, I would say corals seem to be indifferent to the color of light they receive. An interesting experiment is to set up two tanks that share water but have different lights. (This is how my system is set up.
)
What About Cost?
I don't know if you feel like you need more motivataion one way or the other, but have you compounded the costs of your T5 system and compared those costs to some of the LED systems you've looked at?
If you've never done that, be advised that your eyeballs might pop out when you add up all the costs.
I don't know your exact numbers, so just as an example:
- Four years' worth of $20 bulbs for a 6-bulb T5 fixture at 9-month replacement intervals is over $700....over $1400 by 8 years.
- Four years worth of power at 250-watts, 8 hours per day at 12¢/kWh is another $350......over $700 by year 8.
- In 8 years, assuming you got the fixture for free (right???) you'll have spent over $2100 getting it up and keeping it running.
I don't think comparing my 160-watt Razor is completely unfair, so let's look at it's numbers:
- Replacement costs are $0. This also means there's no recycling runs needed for proper bulb disposal anymore.
- Four years of power at 160-watts, 12 hours a day (though this isn't really true thanks to dimming), 12¢/kWh is about $330....not even $700 by year 8.
- $700 is your total running cost for a comparable commercial system.
Just for more perspective on costs: I can and have built $100 DIY fixtures that can light the same tank.
Also, I paid about $500 for my Razor....about what you can pay for an ATI T5 fixture. Up front costs can be a wash, so I'd focus on the running costs, myself. They may or may not be important for you, but they do constitute one of the major differences between LED and T5/halide.
