I think the financial comments make you a snob, not your choice in lights :)

I think the SOLs are great. If were making a LED purchase all over again, I would choose them again. I think they compare well to the Radion at a lot less money, and I didn't personally like the light on the Mitras. Vertex is nice, but not worth the cost for my needs.
Don't get me wrong, LED are nice, and have tons of great features that MH don't, but for pure light quality and the effects of that light on SPS corals, that I have personally viewed, MH is a superior light source. Does that make it an all around better light? No, probably not.

I'm OK with being a snob, whether it's because I use the best lights or because I tell it how it is or perhaps just the fact I make comments like this. Don't care. When you're right, you're right.

I've been hoping to find a right person...quick question, which better, salmon or halibut? :)

which ever is fresher, obviously.

The answer to that question is Bacon.

You've heard this question before, obviously!! Yes, when you're right, you're right!

I like the way LEDs make the colors pop. When I first put them over the tank I thought they looked almost artificial, all those glowing polyps! It didn't take long to get used to it. I've had a few issues with the startup of this tank, so I'm not so sure about long term health. The past 3 or 4 months has been great.

Then there's controllability, less heat, no bulb replacement cost, lower electrical cost (maybe), the shear joy of lighting my tank with something I made myself :biggrin: Not seeing the downside yet... maybe later?

My opinion with the leds atm is if your going to do it, do it yourself. There's extruded heatsinks now that don't require drilling and tapping or gluing, its cheaper, and more satisfying. Its easy to change color ratios if you want and other equipment if needed. The white and blue only fixtures are outdated. there are so many more options out there. All the sellers are good at answering questions and the builds on forums are a great help.

Plasma!

I'm swapping all my lights out for solar tubes! Natural sunlight baby!!
Or better yet selling everything and moving to the Caribbean build an underwater house and just enjoy.


(I'm sorry this is the worst thread ever did anyone other than Brad vote for something different than the what they are using)



OHHH and LED'S FTW!

I've never run halides over an aquarium, and chose to go with T5s over my reef for control of intensity throughout the day ( 8 bulbs on 4 timed ballasts )
I've seen enough LED reefs up close to know I'm very happy with my T5s

Agreed :) Everyone has a "best" that suits them. LED is currently the best for my needs. I just don't think it's the best light shining into my tank. I'm real happy with them and all they can do. But "best" is just too subjective.

Next thread on this will mysteriously vanish, k? :razz:

:pop2:

ha!

that is all......

I chose led due to i like to have a canopy with a open top and the mitras was able to light my 36x36x21 cube. I was curious and i had the money and got a drop awesome deal i couldnt say no too. And as of now its still not hooked up due to a wait til we move. And the other reason i needed 2 lights to light the cube MITRAS i only need one.

i chose other..

i prefer the ambient light in my living room to keep my tank lit , i sometimes supplement it with half a dozen radions( just for the shimmer)

LED VS M/H
 

We are thinking of switching from Hamilton tech MH/T5 2X250 with Geismann 14000k, to Kessil 350's, running on a drilled 90 gallon, but we don't yet have an opinion on which is better, since we havent tried it yet. We are running 2x150 M/H on our 72 gall bowfront, and it is underlit. Might switch both. I ran LED on a small quarantine tank & liked it alot. We would LOVE to see someone elses tank with Kessils or something similar before we put out the cash. And/or hear opinions from people who have tried or seen both.
On a side note, our first salt tank was T5's only, and I liked the colour they gave, but hubby wanted the ripple effect of M/H.

The Kessil is a really nice light. I like how close the diodes are, really limits any color separation. Not sure how many you'd need on a 4' tank, guess it depends on what's in it.

I have 2 Gen 1 Radions on my 90 and they perform great
I've never used MH so I can't say which is better
I have T5's over a recently set up frag tank and they are boring as **** lol

T5 for now.

LED in about 5 years when the technology is better developed for reefing (and my wallet).

I run halides over my reef along with T5's and I agree: I've seen enough LED reefs to know I'm happy with my Halides.

I've got MH over one tank and LEDs over the other.

I've had ALWAYS used MH over my tanks up until I picked up the Mitra. I'm currently struggling to like my MH setup (no T5 supp.) purely due to the heat issues and the need for supplementation (it's just more cables, more cost, more bulb replacements, more more more).

On the other hand, I really like the Mitra. While the initial investment is higher typically, the controllable light spectrums, next to zero heat, compact size, etc have been worth it so far. I'm still trying to find the light spectrum that I want to run as the possibilities are endless. I can't however say much with regards to how coral looks under them in the long run. I have had so many issues with keeping SPS alive in my tank for unknown reasons. I can say that while the SPS I did have looked great in the short term under LEDs the pieces STN'd on me so can't say anything about long term.

I would really like to bring my Mitra to work and do a side by side comparison of my 15K MH next to a 15K Mitra and see which side of the tank looks/grows/colors better. (This is doable seeing as I have only a few measly looking zoa frags at home right now).


I have also considered recently about going full T5's on the MH tank. A few of my favorite tanks out there are T5 only tanks and they all grow/look great!

Personally, I would (and I do) recommend that any new setups just go straight to LEDs. Unless you're a die hard MH or T5 fan, LEDs should do you fine. I've seen lots of nice SPS and mixed reefs under various LEDs. I don't remember exactly, but with your office tank, didn't your boss already have MH fixtures for you to use?

Yea, Fresh Water LEDs..

These ones to be exact. :lol: No where near capable of lighting a reef tank 30" deep. I'm actually using one of them as a Sump light. (not refuge, just sump illumination)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...id=23688&r=518

people visually see colors different than one another, so every bodies opinions will be just that. an opinion of what they think looks best.

to say if finances weren't an issue, that everyone would want to run LEDs is simply funny to me. (to a point)

if finances weren't an issue, I would definitely use halides. having the money to not have to bat an eye on costs of bulb replacement, dealing with the extra heat, HRV/AC, extra electricity. i'm all for it!

having said that, if money were no issue, i'd probably run a ton of LEDs as supplements for my halides, maybe. :lol:

I use LEDs at my place right now, simply because my old house heats up so easily when the sun is out, I'm simply doing my best to keep the house more comfortable for my family. and not necessarily what I think looks nicest over my tank. albeit i'm not using high end fixtures.

when I recover from surgery, i'll be upgrading my 24G to a 65G and i'm leaning towards T5s. I haven't used them myself yet, but from what I've seen i'm ipressed. (except no shimmer!) so I might add a LED bar just to supplement. if I have the $$$ :sad:

I still run halides at my Dads place, but I don't pay those bills!:lol:

I switched from a MH/PC combo to DIY LED's from modularled, and love it. The initial cost was a little high, but I'm going into my 2nd year and I love the fact that I haven't had to spend money to switch my lights out for a long time. Next year, I break even on the initial cost on the savings from not having to replace bulbs and energy savings.
Heat used to be an issue in the summer for me as well, but for the 2nd straight summer, it isn't. On top of that, my corals have been growing crazy, and my RBTA's bubbled up ever since I switched to LED's. As for color, I have dimmer's, so I can adjust however I want them to be, and could set up the system however I wanted it to be.

Absolutely!