MH/T5 or T5/LED for SPS

dwair · Dec 12, 2014

Come on SPS Peeps. I'm building a 180 6x2x2 SPS Tank. Been racking my brain trying to decide which to go for. I'm a little worried about the heat for the MH/T5, but it will be hanging and no canopy and I can get some Tunze fans to blow across the top of the tank if needed. So hoping I wouldn't need a chiller.

IF those are the best. So which do you think is better?

A Good 3x250W Radium MH/T5 (with 4 ATI bulbs)

OR

ATI 8 Bulb T5 with Reefbrite XHO Blue LED Strips on Both sides.

Strictly SPS.

Looking for great growth and color.

reefndude · Dec 12, 2014

I like the t5/led combo. Seen many great sps tanks with that set up

JBNY · Dec 12, 2014

I would go for MH and LED, those reefbrites give fantastic blue supplementation to a MH setup.

ptreef · Dec 12, 2014

Both will and can work. weigh your options..

up front costs, electricity, heat, canopy, etc.....

MH & t-5 is my vote. best light and coverage.

ptreef · Dec 12, 2014

Oh, and i have noticed better growth with my MH & t-s opposed to full spectrum led's same tied system.
Colors great on both. MH & T-5 appear brighter to the eyes too!

hatfielj · Dec 12, 2014

I'm running reefbrite LEDs and 20K Radiums. Love the overall look. Best of all, I only need to run my MH like 3 hours a day. The rest of the day I get to enjoy the blue supplement. I'm also going to add 2 T5 bulbs to it so that I get the best of both worlds.
Coral coloration is excellent

hatfielj · Dec 12, 2014

For what its worth, if I were to set up a tank that size, I would run what WWC runs...All T5 and LED actinic. You can buy a 6 bulb T5 set up and add 2-4 reef brite LEDs. One T5 bulb can be white if you'd like, but it appears corals do really well under this set up (just look at their pictures of their 630 display). Jason Fox runs all t5 and blue LEDs too on a couple of his systems.

Vmacisback · Dec 12, 2014

I just took down my 8 bulb 8x54w powermodule and replaced it with a Giesemann spectra which runs 2x250 radiums and 4x54w t5 supplemented with a blue reef brite. I can already tell the different with the MH compared to just t5 and LED combo. SPS is starting to encrust like wildfire and color is dark and rich as it was with MH. Its only been a could weeks but I am very happy going back to mh so far especially supplemented with LED and t5.

dwair · Dec 13, 2014

Yea I was thinking about the spectra

ryshark · Dec 13, 2014

I had to make this same decision 6-months ago and I chose the MH/T5 combo. I chose this because I found lots of people saying something similar to what Vmacisback wrote(going back to MH).

dwair · Dec 13, 2014

And are you happy?

ColaAddict · Dec 13, 2014

My journey started with Metal Halide, then I replaced with LED's, then replaced with T5's, then back to LED's, then back to T5's. Now I am ready to go back to using Radiums because my tank was happiest with halide. I loved LED's but I hated the small spread (falls advertising with spread as you would need at least double the recommended fixture to cover aquarium adequately if you stock a lot of corals), so cost and energy savings aren't really saving me anything. I loved T5's but I couldn't get colors right for me and couldn't stand experimenting/buying different bulbs. Radium gives perfect colors and SPS are most happiest with Radiums. I might supplement with reefbrite blue LEDs for dusk/dawn, or blue T5's.

ryshark · Dec 13, 2014

dwair said:
And are you happy?

Yeah, I have no regrets. I'm only using 175w Halides now, but I have select-a-watt ballasts so I can switch to Radiums for my next bulb if I want.

eg8r210 · Dec 13, 2014

hatfielj said:
For what its worth, if I were to set up a tank that size, I would run what WWC runs...All T5 and LED actinic. You can buy a 6 bulb T5 set up and add 2-4 reef brite LEDs. One T5 bulb can be white if you'd like, but it appears corals do really well under this set up (just look at their pictures of their 630 display). Jason Fox runs all t5 and blue LEDs too on a couple of his systems.

WWC is running MH and LED on their SPS show tank. If I remember correctly they are using Radiums on Galaxy Ballasts and Reefbrite LED.

wangspeed · Dec 13, 2014

Hatfielj is right. WWC switched to T5 plus LED. They said no matter what schedule the MH were on, it was having a negative impact on the chalices.

hatfielj · Dec 13, 2014

I've noticed that when I increase the length of time the halides are on, my chalices are not happy. I just reduced my halides to 3 hours a day and my chalices are seeming much happier. I'm still curious to know what would happen if I turned my halides off completely for awhile.

dwair · Dec 13, 2014

Well, I don't plan on keeping chalices....As I said, SPS only Lol.

phillrodrigo · Dec 13, 2014

I don't think you can go wrong either way. Without a doubt I would run blue led. If it wasn't for blue led no one would want led they wouldn't t buy a white led then run t5 with athinics for the blue the white led are crap. Something about the glow from blue led is awesome. I like a nice white look I believe it's 140 it's just so nice. I'm not a huge fan of tons of blue all day long it's nice for alittle bit. Final answer is halides with lots of blue led

Ike · Dec 13, 2014

If color and growth are the most important factor for you, go with radiums and supplement with ATI T5's. I'd suggest one of the variable watt electronic ballasts with "hqi" or higher wattage settings. That way if you ever want to take 400w radiums for a spin you can.

dwair · Dec 13, 2014

Ike said:
If color and growth are the most important factor for you, go with radiums and supplement with ATI T5's. I'd suggest one of the variable watt electronic ballasts with "hqi" or higher wattage settings. That way if you ever want to take 400w radiums for a spin you can.

I would think 400w Radiums on a 6ft 180 would be to much? I was going to go with 3x 250W Radiums.

I was thinking the 72" Hamilton Cebu Sun 3x250W MH with 4 -80W T5's. Get M80 Hamilton Ballasts and run 20k Radiums with 4 ATI Bulbs.