Other LEDs
- Thread starter mallorieGgator
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themcnertney
Valuable Member
Aquaillumination for the win
mcarroll
10K Club member
Great brands, or great lights? (Those are distinct ideas.)
Ecotech has to have the best brand going.....immense hype. Most companies would kill for that.
"Great lights" is a different equation that has more to do with your tastes, your tank and your wallet than it has to do with the brand of any company.
You can DIY some killer lights, for example. It's not even difficult.
Maxspect, Current USA, GHL, Orphek, and China are most of the other well-known brands, for what that's worth. There are innumerable smaller players like Marineland, Finnex, Wavepoint, etc, etc, etc. Depending on your scenario, any of them could be just fine for you.
2¢
Ecotech has to have the best brand going.....immense hype. Most companies would kill for that.
"Great lights" is a different equation that has more to do with your tastes, your tank and your wallet than it has to do with the brand of any company.
You can DIY some killer lights, for example. It's not even difficult.
Maxspect, Current USA, GHL, Orphek, and China are most of the other well-known brands, for what that's worth. There are innumerable smaller players like Marineland, Finnex, Wavepoint, etc, etc, etc. Depending on your scenario, any of them could be just fine for you.
2¢
GHL Mitras - each fixture has 6 pucks to reduce shadowing not only from side to side but front to back as well. It also doesn't use lenses that produce hotspots, but reflectors. IMO these fixtures are in a different league than other mass produced commercial fixtures.
For custom fixtures and retrofits, I'm a Nanobox Reef guy.
For custom fixtures and retrofits, I'm a Nanobox Reef guy.
OP
OP
Great quality lights. I am really considering t5s still because I just love the growth and color I've always gotten. But considering leds to partner with my t5s. But I don't want to spend a ton on the leds since they'll be supplemental for shimmer really.
ludnix
Valuable Member
I'm really loving the features of the AI HydraHD's at their price point. Unless you're doing black box china fixtures, the LEDs are pretty much all the same high-quality diodes from CREE, so between the major brands I really don't think the differences are in the lighting as much as the company's support and manufacturing quality.
I also think LED+T5 is the one the best lighting solutions possible. If it weren't for electrical consumption issues and aesthetics of my tank I would do the same. I think LED are a fantastic replacement for MH and will only continue to get better, but T5 really provide the spread of light gets your corals growing in what would otherwise be in shade under MH or LED.
I also think LED+T5 is the one the best lighting solutions possible. If it weren't for electrical consumption issues and aesthetics of my tank I would do the same. I think LED are a fantastic replacement for MH and will only continue to get better, but T5 really provide the spread of light gets your corals growing in what would otherwise be in shade under MH or LED.
If you have an ATI or similar T5 fixture, Dave from Nanobox can retrofit his LED pucks into your fixture for a seamless look. That's what I plan on him doing for my TEK Elite T5 fixture when I get around to upgrading tanks.
mcarroll
10K Club member
What size tank are you thinking about?
Great Quality?
I can build a DIY LED fixture like the ones I've been using for about the cost of a new set of T5 or halide bulbs. (Around $50 for a three foot tank....about $200 for a large, six foot tank.) So spending $500+ is certainly OK and lots of fun, but hardly necessary. It depends on your goals, etc, that I mentioned before.
I would never consider spending close $500 to add shimmer to a functional T5 system.
T5's Now?
I'm not sure if you're already using T5's, but it sounds like you may be. It also sounds like it's working out well.
I would hold out and keep using T5's until you feel like switching to LED altogether.
Nothing Now?
If you're building from scratch, then I wouldn't even consider T5 or halide because you can buy or build an LED workalike to either one.
Virtually all the popular fixtures are trying really, really, really hard to emulate a halide bulb, so that seems pretty much to be how people think about LED's.
However, LED strips are functionally the same as T5 bulbs. The light field is very dispersed.
So if you're building new but you loved an old T5 setup, consider LED strips.
Consider strips like those from Hamilton Technology, Current USA and GHL just for starters. They can certainly be combined with some spotlights for effect, but you might not need spotlights at all.
Great Quality?
I can build a DIY LED fixture like the ones I've been using for about the cost of a new set of T5 or halide bulbs. (Around $50 for a three foot tank....about $200 for a large, six foot tank.) So spending $500+ is certainly OK and lots of fun, but hardly necessary. It depends on your goals, etc, that I mentioned before.
I would never consider spending close $500 to add shimmer to a functional T5 system.
T5's Now?
I'm not sure if you're already using T5's, but it sounds like you may be. It also sounds like it's working out well.
I would hold out and keep using T5's until you feel like switching to LED altogether.
Nothing Now?
If you're building from scratch, then I wouldn't even consider T5 or halide because you can buy or build an LED workalike to either one.
Virtually all the popular fixtures are trying really, really, really hard to emulate a halide bulb, so that seems pretty much to be how people think about LED's.
However, LED strips are functionally the same as T5 bulbs. The light field is very dispersed.
So if you're building new but you loved an old T5 setup, consider LED strips.
Consider strips like those from Hamilton Technology, Current USA and GHL just for starters. They can certainly be combined with some spotlights for effect, but you might not need spotlights at all.
OP
OP
What size tank are you thinking about?
Great Quality?
I can build a DIY LED fixture like the ones I've been using for about the cost of a new set of T5 or halide bulbs. (Around $50 for a three foot tank....about $200 for a large, six foot tank.) So spending $500+ is certainly OK and lots of fun, but hardly necessary. It depends on your goals, etc, that I mentioned before.
I would never consider spending close $500 to add shimmer to a functional T5 system.
T5's Now?
I'm not sure if you're already using T5's, but it sounds like you may be. It also sounds like it's working out well.
I would hold out and keep using T5's until you feel like switching to LED altogether.
Nothing Now?
If you're building from scratch, then I wouldn't even consider T5 or halide because you can buy or build an LED workalike to either one.
Virtually all the popular fixtures are trying really, really, really hard to emulate a halide bulb, so that seems pretty much to be how people think about LED's.
However, LED strips are functionally the same as T5 bulbs. The light field is very dispersed.
So if you're building new but you loved an old T5 setup, consider LED strips.
Consider strips like those from Hamilton Technology, Current USA and GHL just for starters. They can certainly be combined with some spotlights for effect, but you might not need spotlights at all.
Thanks! I was saying I didn't want to spend $500+ lol! I think that's crazy for just added shimmer. I don't have my tank up yet but I've had great success previously with t5s. I am planning on an ATI fixture for the new tank.
kingston.buck
Community Member
I've got a NanoBox ati hybrid and love it. Best of both worlds awesome even coverage from the t5 bulbs, able to adjust spectrum plus ramp up and down and moonlights
Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
You will find that most LED strip fixtures will be washed out by most T5 fixtures. In other words, very little shimmer do to the light spread of the T5's and lack of watts/par of the LED's. The led strips are best used as supplement for dusk to dawn effect.
mcarroll
10K Club member
If the operating costs (which haven't changed) don't scare you from getting back into T5's, then I don't really see much point to the LED's. Much like other forms of lighting, T5's are fine by themselves. So if you like T5's, run them. If you like something different, then run that instead.
(Hybrid systems really have not had much reason for being, in my opinion, since the 20,000K halide bulb came out. 20,000K halide bulbs – especially the Radium – obviated the old 6500K halide+fluorescent actinic "hybrid" setup that had more or less become the standard up to that point.)
BTW, aiming a pump at the water surface may give you all the shimmer effect you need....I'd try experimenting with that before adding anymore equipment.
