Switch out my metal halides.... WHAT???

[stylaster]

On my system which is 312g tank 60" x 60" x 20" I run 4 radion gen1s with the tir lens on them and one arctic revive t247 in the middle. Along the edges of the tank i do have lower light cause of not enough spread. I did run par measurements on those areas and im getting about 80. Which is great for lower light corals such as leptoseris, cyphastreas etc. In the middle of the tank about 4" under water surface im getting around 450 par. Do i have shading on the corals? You bet on the underside most of my acros have dark brown to light brown coloring. Are the colors and the health of the corals better then t5 or halide or other leds? Honestly im not sure, but i can get a coral like pink lemonade and keep it colored up like pictures of it that you find online. I can get them to grow out in huge colonies so i think a lot of it comes down to how you like the look of what lights your running. I started out with 175w metal halide lighting 28 years ago with supplemental t-5 / vho. I never went full florescent lighting cause i never liked the look of the tank without some sort of light ripple effect, just looked to sterile imo. Eventually settled on all led because of the look it had towards metal halide.

 

[maroun.c]

I'm still running MH on my DT as main lights and use Radions for color supplementation and actinic dawn and dusk periods. Before that I had MH and 8 T5s on the tank. I loved MH With T5 and believe tank looked more lit than when I took out the T5s and added leds to the Halides. Growth wasn't affected as I believe MH fit that covered. Got 3 frag tanks and 2 cubes under LED only and I do get colors and growth but wouldn't compare growth to what u get under Halides. My advise woukd be to add T5s to the Halides and experiment with the combination. Only reason to take T5s out for me was that they're not locally available anymore.

 

[Renton777]

AI Sol Blue LEDs 4 Life!

 

[hybridazn]

Oh wow, just caught up lol. Had a busy weekend so I kind of lost track of this thread.

For those who asked in the beginning, my current lighting consists of all 3(mh,t4,led) but what made me think of making the switch is that I've been seeing a lot of really nice all t5 tanks.

Of course this could just be "the grass is always greener" syndrome talking lol.

Pic of current lighting set up

3x Hamilton mh reflectors w/m80 ballasts
2x 36" reefbrite supra t5 retros (ATI blue+)
1x 72" reefbrite xho

 

[hybridazn]

AI Sol Blue LEDs 4 Life!

I thought you were running orpheks?

 

[Renton777]

I thought you were running orpheks?

The Atlantik V3 is on my frag tank. The display tank is still AI Sol Blues (4 life!)

 

[hybridazn]

The Atlantik V3 is on my frag tank. The display tank is still AI Sol Blues (4 life!)

Oooh that's what it is haha. Whoops

Yea it seems the blues were the best ones, too bad they don't make them anymore

 

[Kmsutows]

I only read some of the posts but personally I had t5 on my old setup and hated not having shimmer and having to change out bulbs. I had a 6 bulbs and man that gets expensive.. wouldn't an 8 bulb almost be more money to change them than halides? I currently have LEDs but will be looking to go some type of halide hybrid (probably LEDs for dawn/dusk) once I have the cash.

 

[hybridazn]

I only read some of the posts but personally I had t5 on my old setup and hated not having shimmer and having to change out bulbs. I had a 6 bulbs and man that gets expensive.. wouldn't an 8 bulb almost be more money to change them than halides? I currently have LEDs but will be looking to go some type of halide hybrid (probably LEDs for dawn/dusk) once I have the cash.

Honestly the cost of bulbs doesn't bother me. I already spend $230 a year on halide bulbs, $40 for t5s.

 

[Bpb]

8 x $21 for ati bulbs at $168 total
Or 2 x $90 for Radiums at $180
Or 2 x $15 for Plusrites at $30
Or 8 x 30 for KZ bulbs at $240
Or 2 x $50 for Hammys at $100

Really just depends on your bulb choice. Cost is all over the map

 

[jda]

For anybody worried about bulb costs, I can grow and cut 10-12 frags of just Purple Monster every year at $100 to $150 a pop. ...and that is just one frag. Don't forget that bulbs can more than pay for themselves. If my production of just PM went down 50% with inferior lighting, then the other lights have a negative bottom-line impact. I do not look at a tank like a business this way, but if you are going to on one end, then consider the other end as well, IMO.

 

[jasonwible]

U need to try orphek

 

[Abhishek]

For anybody worried about bulb costs, I can grow and cut 10-12 frags of just Purple Monster every year at $100 to $150 a pop. ...and that is just one frag. Don't forget that bulbs can more than pay for themselves. If my production of just PM went down 50% with inferior lighting, then the other lights have a negative bottom-line impact. I do not look at a tank like a business this way, but if you are going to on one end, then consider the other end as well, IMO.

Doug , when are you gonna send me 1 of the 10 purple monster frags ? Waiting forever for a true one
Please continue . Sorry for the distraction.

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Abhishek]

Well you dont need T5s to color up your acroporas. Not adding fire to the discussion but these are grown exclusively under Geissemann Spectra 17.5 K halides only . Honestly, the 3D effect of and shimmer of halides cannot be matched by T5s. And Geissemann bulbs last for like 2 years according to CoralVue and European reefers using them. Do want to test it out though.

But am just a newbie trying to learn reefing and grow a tank of only acroporas . So please take my experience and advice with a pinch of salt. Everyone here is wayy more experienced but honestly with me - I won't trade my halides for anything else - nothing I mean ! and no supplements necessary too .

Crappy pics , OP can be the judge :-

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[ajm83]

Oh, and the no heat from LEDs means you will run your 300w worth of heaters 24 hours a day instead of just dearing lights out, so saving electricity by using LEDs over your tank is smoke and mirrors...

Just sayin'....

I was fully in agreement with you up to the point you talk about heat. I can only speak for my own T5 unit, but the top of the unit itself got hot, and therefore a significant amount of the heat was going into the room not the tank.

Probably not such an issue over in the States where energy is cheap(er) and you might have A/C, but in England, leccy is expensive and in the summer (yes, all three days of it) having the T5s on made the room unbearably hot. LEDs are noticeably better in this regard (I've gone from over 300w to 160w and kept PAR the same, albeit coverage is worse).

 

[tsav87]

I was fully in agreement with you up to the point you talk about heat. I can only speak for my own T5 unit, but the top of the unit itself got hot, and therefore a significant amount of the heat was going into the room not the tank.

Probably not such an issue over in the States where energy is cheap(er) and you might have A/C, but in England, leccy is expensive and in the summer (yes, all three days of it) having the T5s on made the room unbearably hot. LEDs are noticeably better in this regard (I've gone from over 300w to 160w and kept PAR the same, albeit coverage is worse).

Is your fixture actively cooled with fans?

Mine is and yes we have A/C.

 

[choss]

My tank in new (less than a month old) and unfortunately I don't have a full tank shot handy but this video shows the setup at least. I have a custom tank - 42" long, 24" wide, and 22" tall. I wanted to have the best of all worlds. Ideally I would have found a 36" fixture like the spectra, and added LEDS. I have Kessil on my current tank and I love the shimmer and the late evening pop I get from my corals but SPS growth, not so much. So for this tank I went with:

24" Giesemann Spectra - radium bulb in the center, 2 Blue + T5, one coral +, one fiji purple
2 Kessil 360 WEs (only one mounted until I break down the other tank)

I can't comment on growth yet (I assume it will be great in the middle 36" of the tank for SPS - LPS on the outer edges). But I can say that I am absolutely in love with the combination of T5, LED and MH. The shimmer is amazing but looks natural (slightly better than Kessil alone and no shadowing).

 

[SciGuy2]

I still can't part with my VHOs.

 

[silvernblackr35]

As a person who switched from radium 250w MH to T5 I will say the electric usage comparison is negligable, growth however was faster under radium's but I enjoy the colors more with t5 bulb combination. T5s needing to be switched out every 6-8 months is hogwash. You will spend more in bulb changes with MH.

 

[hybridazn]

As a person who switched from radium 250w MH to T5 I will say the electric usage comparison is negligable, growth however was faster under radium's but I enjoy the colors more with t5 bulb combination. T5s needing to be switched out every 6-8 months is hogwash. You will spend more in bulb changes with MH.

May I ask what size tank and what t5 fixture you went with?