No love for MH?

[Jay Norris]

If you cant see the disco ball/static effect of undiffused LED, you're probably just used to it or cant see it. The Radion housing and the mount are flimsy plastic. It cant hold the weight of the nit and bends forward so the fixture is pointing at the back wall slightly.

What ae you talking about, have you ever used the Radion G4 lights, the last thing they are is flimsy as you say, one more thing I don't use Radions, my LED lights are the Mitra lights, which may be the best LED lights made as of now, and they grow corals as well as any M/H light made. The Mitra lights have no disco ball effect that I or anyone else can see. They use parabolic reflectors very similar to the parabolic reflectors I had on all my M/H lights before I decided to change over to LED's, and I am very glad I did.

 

[Jay Norris]

Those are nice units.
https://premiumaquatics.com/products/ghl-mitras-lx-6200hv-black.html

Yes they are , and I have the LX7206 models for my system, they are a little expensive but they are worth it for me.

 

[DSC reef]

@Jay Norris it seems that everyone with an opposing opinion gets a rebuttle from you. I love conversation but these threads always turn into this. I'm glad you love your led lights and I actually like them myself with amazing tanks I've seen. I also love halides and choose to go that route after my wife and I thought long and hard about cost and look. I love discussion don't get me wrong and it's what makes this forum great but it eventually turns into a defending of one light source when all are good and if your happy then that's what matters. Everyone light your tanks how you want and happy reefing

 

[kles]

We all just need to understand that it's not what looks good to us it's all about what grows healthy corals ! I love led love mh love t5 that's why I use all 3 for there effect but doing reefing over 30 years best growth and color always been mh yes cost to run and bulb replacement but I cant see my self spending 400-700 ea led and needing 4 for my tank i can run mh for many years for what cost for led . Yes I have led but ai sols cost me 150 for 2 and controller. I csnt argue that led dont grow sps I know they do but iv got a ai hydra over my frag tank and my mh led t5 over my main tank have identical frags the main tank grows 3 times faster across the board. Both the frag tank and main tank run off same sump calcium reactor return pump heater uv media reactor everything so same exact water and main tank whoops the frag tank butt my 3 times .yes I do say mh is the reason. So for me proof is in front of me day in and out

 

[Jay Norris]

@Jay Norris it seems that everyone with an opposing opinion gets a rebuttle from you. I love conversation but these threads always turn into this. I'm glad you love your led lights and I actually like them myself with amazing tanks I've seen. I also love halides and choose to go that route after my wife and I thought long and hard about cost and look. I love discussion don't get me wrong and it's what makes this forum great but it eventually turns into a defending of one light source when all are good and if your happy then that's what matters. Everyone light your tanks how you want and happy reefing[/QUOTEHi, sorry if that is what you draw from these discussions, all I am doing is stating facts, not trying to change other people minds on what type of lights to use, I also loved my M/H lights for the 30 or so years I used them, and I hope you have the same success I had,with your M/H lights. For me it was time to move on, electricity it took to run my chiller nd the A/C needed to cool my fish room was no longer worth it to me, since the LED technology caught up to the M/H technology.

 

[DSC reef]

No worries. Those mitras are leds I've yet to see in person and with parabolic reflectors I bet they look nice. I like the look of kessils, are they similar?

 

[Jay Norris]

We all just need to understand that it's not what looks good to us it's all about what grows healthy corals ! I love led love mh love t5 that's why I use all 3 for there effect but doing reefing over 30 years best growth and color always been mh yes cost to run and bulb replacement but I cant see my self spending 400-700 ea led and needing 4 for my tank i can run mh for many years for what cost for led . Yes I have led but ai sols cost me 150 for 2 and controller. I csnt argue that led dont grow sps I know they do but iv got a ai hydra over my frag tank and my mh led t5 over my main tank have identical frags the main tank grows 3 times faster across the board. Both the frag tank and main tank run off same sump calcium reactor return pump heater uv media reactor everything so same exact water and main tank whoops the frag tank *** my 3 times .yes I do say mh is the reason. So for me proof is in front of me day in and out

Hi, the problem with LED fixtures is they are not all the same, quality wise or with their spectrum and PAR readings, this is where M/H lights and T5 lights have a very big advantage as the bulb made by the better light manufactures are pretty much the same, and another advantage M/H, T5 fixtures have is they are plug and play, as LED lights take time to adjust the lights to the correct PAR, and Spectrum needed to grow corals. Yes the cost difference between M/H lights and high end LED lights is quit different, but if you are paying high electric bills, due to the fact you need to run a chiller, and an A/C for your fish room, it will take a lot less time to make up the difference. Enjoy you M/H's they are a great way to light a tank, they are just not my light choice any more.

 

[Jay Norris]

No worries. Those mitras are leds I've yet to see in person and with parabolic reflectors I bet they look nice. I like the look of kessils, are they similar?

They are similar in the fact they are both Led lights that can grow corals, as I am not very familiar with the Kessils.

 

[Dragonreef202]

I have a old Hamilton fixture one side 250 w and the other side 150w. I haven't used it because I haven't built a canonpy to hold the lights. Plus I need to find some good ballasts for them as well.

 

[naterealbig]

Mh's aren't "exactly" free from narrow bands..
http://php.scripts.psu.edu/users/s/b/sbj4/aquarium/articles/MetalHalideLamps2.htm

Though, yes, blended better..

Hi Oreo, thank you for the plots, and agreed - perhaps I'm not conveying my thoughts accurately. Really what I was trying to point out was that if you isolated the LED's you would be limited to a very narrow frequency within the light spectrum, as illustrated below. [*edit] My assumption is that not every LED covers a wide enough band to overlap the next - as illustrated in the chart.

Although now that I am looking at it, it seems for the most part you are pretty covered across the spectrum, assuming you have a full assortment of LED colors, such as the Radion or Orphek (I don't think the Radion has yellow). I believe I have perused this article before, and it was a good refresher - it was written by Dr. Joshi, no? I have read many of his writings on lighting (especially the metal halide analyses that he did a while back! ).

By-the-by, any thoughts on the IR LED's that Orphek has added to their Atlantik V4 fixture?

 

[naterealbig]

Believe me the Mitra’s, Orpheus, and Radions all produce a full spectrum light display, just like my previous M/H T5 combo. I did a lot of research on LED lighting before I would risk losing all my SPS corals due to inferior lighting. You do know there are a lot of very successful SPS tanks that are only lit by LED’s.

See my post above.....

And of course! Some of my favorite tanks are driven by LED's exclusively..... I'm 1.5 hrs from WWC, and I have seen their tanks many a time.... Several posts back I mentioned that my Giesemann Infinity was intended to be a temporary solution until I purchased the three Orpheks I was planning on using for my new setup. After firing up the halides though, I remembered why I had always loved them so much! One of the main reasons I switched to LED initially, was that a couple years back I was pretty certain that MH was completely on it's way out, and I didn't want to go through the hassle of bending over backwards trying to source bulbs or ballast components - or even worse - settling for a bulb combination I didn't truly like. After a lot of research on new efficiency standards that were implemented a couple years back, along with the Minamata Mercury Convention coming in 2020, I decided that halides may still be around for a few years yet. I, like you, have spent hours (and hours, and hours) reading on (all types of) lighting, looking at pictures, and processing data, information, and experiences. My hope selfishly, is that some of the folks reading through the thread give HID a shot - it's a great solution, and nothing better to keep a product lingering than consistent demand .

 

[oreo54]

Hi Oreo, thank you for the plots, and agreed - perhaps I'm not conveying my thoughts accurately. Really what I was trying to point out was that if you isolated the LED's you would be limited to a very narrow frequency within the light spectrum, as illustrated below. [*edit] My assumption is that not every LED covers a wide enough band to overlap the next - as illustrated in the chart.

Personally, it's cheap whites that are an issue.. and the fact that many are really mostly blue anyways (high K whites.)
"Modern" high CRI whites address a lot of problems..
unfortunately the add RGB approach isn't quite ideal but common (greens do "smear" across the spectrum more than most diodes..)
Lately it's been more adding low k whites..

Low k t5..

Although now that I am looking at it, it seems for the most part you are pretty covered across the spectrum, assuming you have a full assortment of LED colors, such as the Radion or Orphek (I don't think the Radion has yellow). I believe I have perused this article before, and it was a good refresher - it was written by Dr. Joshi, no? I have read many of his writings on lighting (especially the metal halide analyses that he did a while back! ).

By-the-by, any thoughts on the IR LED's that Orphek has added to their Atlantik V4 fixture?

No clue..

 

[Jay Norris]

See my post above.....

And of course! Some of my favorite tanks are driven by LED's exclusively..... I'm 1.5 hrs from WWC, and I have seen their tanks many a time.... Several posts back I mentioned that my Giesemann Infinity was intended to be a temporary solution until I purchased the three Orpheks I was planning on using for my new setup. After firing up the halides though, I remembered why I had always loved them so much! One of the main reasons I switched to LED initially, was that a couple years back I was pretty I agree with you 100%certain that MH was completely on it's way out, and I didn't want to go through the hassle of bending over backwards trying to source bulbs or ballast components - or even worse - settling for a bulb combination I didn't truly like. After a lot of research on new efficiency standards that were implemented a couple years back, along with the Minamata Mercury Convention coming in 2020, I decided that halides may still be around for a few years yet. I, like you, have spent hours (and hours, and hours) reading on (all types of) lighting, looking at pictures, and processing data, information, and experiences. My hope selfishly, is that some of the folks reading through the thread give HID a shot - it's a great solution, and nothing better to keep a product lingering than consistent demand .

Hi, I agree with you 100%, M/H lights are very good, but in my situation they were not the best choice for me any more.

 

[naterealbig]

Hi, I agree with you 100%, M/H lights are very good, but in my situation they were not the best choice for me any more.

Yep, makes sense - they definitely are not for every situation. After I had decided on the Orpheks, I was excited at the prospect of not having to do additional planning for heat management..... Although, the tank is running < 78.5 now without having added a fan to the sump yet (and no chiller).

The Mitras was one of the fixtures I forgot in my list of what I consider a quality LED. I remember when these came out a year or so ago, and I loved the idea of the reflectors. Before diffusers coming into the picture, I remember thinking that the LED with reflector would solve one of my gripes with LED at the time. Would love to see some pics.

 

[naterealbig]

And while everyone is at it, let's back up some of this jaw-jackin' with some pics of your display.... [emoji12]

Lighting type, bulb combo/wattage, schedule would all be go info to know.

 

[Bronx19]

What ae you talking about, have you ever used the Radion G4 lights, the last thing they are is flimsy as you say, one more thing I don't use Radions, my LED lights are the Mitra lights, which may be the best LED lights made as of now, and they grow corals as well as any M/H light made. The Mitra lights have no disco ball effect that I or anyone else can see. They use parabolic reflectors very similar to the parabolic reflectors I had on all my M/H lights before I decided to change over to LED's, and I am very glad I did.

You seem to be under the impression I'm attacking you. You don't need to defend your purchase. I look at G4 lights all the time, they are one of the worst culprits for disco ball. Terrible.

Watch BRS video on G4 disco, 19:12.

 

[A. grandis]

There is a big difference between looking good and looking healthy.
Looking good is totally relative and dependable on your personal opinion.
I believe to define the health of your corals and clams you need to compare to what they look in the ocean.
That is what also defines lighting over a reef tank IMO.
The light source you choose definitely have a tremendous impact to show results in the long run.
I would say that if the light source you choose does make your corals to get very close to what they should look in their natural environment you are doing great. That is my point of view.
But if you think you can have them just fine and looking great that's your deal.
Everyone has their goals and definitions. That's why there is huge controversy when talking about different types of lights.

 

[DSC reef]

And while everyone is at it, let's back up some of this jaw-jackin' with some pics of your display.... [emoji12]

Lighting type, bulb combo/wattage, schedule would all be go info to know.

A few pics from our 75 that had halides and T5

 

[Jacked Reefer]

And while everyone is at it, let's back up some of this jaw-jackin' with some pics of your display.... [emoji12]

Lighting type, bulb combo/wattage, schedule would all be go info to know.

My 10 gallon under my new halide 150w

Coloration of the corals has improved drastically since I switched from leds

 

[naterealbig]

A few pics from our 75 that had halides and T5

Man, beautiful tank @DSC reef ! Colors are certainly on point, nice Trachy, and that Blue Squamosa is stunning - how big is it in the pic?