Ok, let's hear it!
 

It seems more and more people are coming out of the lighting closet. Who else is ditching their LEDs for other options??

Led+T5 all the way!

~Tony

So not ditching LED then? :)

Although, if I can figure out how to run a controllable blue LED strip down the center of my fixture, I will add that for dawn/dusk effect

using t5's but am looking at the new ati hybrid for my next fixture, just dont think all leds is the way to go , good for color options but im about growth and color so for now im out:)

sorry led guys!!

Agreed. LED are ok, but I'm looking for more than ok. So far the T5 are giving me that.

I'm in wonder if Kien will share some popcorn

I went from running 100% led and found out that I can't achieve the colourations that I saw from other reefers so I added in T5s because it seems to be working for everyone else! Woam I got the colourations I wanted and still have growth and pop from led. Can't go back to 100% led unless new technology comes out for them proving they can achieve colouration from mh or t5.

~Tony

LEDs are the only solution to my main floor heat issues. Otherwise I'd still be flogging the the LWL badge.

I ditched LED a long time ago. Oh wait, I never even tried it. And probably won't try it till halides and T5s are taken off from their market for being awesome!

Hybrids are a whole different story. It is T5 but uses LED for something what it can only do properly right now: light effects. :lol:

It sounds like you're looking for one of these. Problem solved. Thank me later!

LEDs can't pop the popcorn! :pop2:

That hybrid has a crazy price tag too

it does but anything ati i find a bit high in price:)

MH/T5 combo all the way baby. I can't feature paying 5x as much for a fixture that is almost as good as MH.

Even if you have to buy a chiller you're still looking at a cheaper option than LED...

I still had to run my chiller even with LED, so no savings there

I've decided to continue with LEDs in my mp10 controllers as I can't find a small enough halide bulb to fit ;)

That's probably 50% of the selling features for LED is that it runs so much cooler. If you have to buy a chiller anyway then what is the point?

Humidity....

This is what I observed over the summer as well. Not on my tank, obviously but lots of reports of people having to battle heat during this past summer, even with LEDs. It makes sense really. If your house is 30 degrees, well, your house is 30 degrees and LEDs aren't going to solve that problem.

My teklight T5 was the best lighting I ever had. That being said, it's hard to drop $200 on 6 lights after about 6-8 months.

It's a huge flaw unless you are loaded or don't care about how you spend money.

The D120 LEDs I have are great. My RBTA even bubbles now.

And as another mentioned, I needed to control the heat. These literally run cold. I never feel any heat dissipating from them.

I would never drop for radions or the like, as I feel they are a tip
Off with gimmicks. Like lighting. Weee. *insert sarcasm*


I'm happy I switched, even with the knowledge that my T5 lights grew everything. Super well.

Cost of bulbs was my deciding factor.

Try touching the heatsink; I dare you ;)

The thing is, both LEDs and MH "runs" hot but MH "dissipates" heat (and light) omnidirectionally (since its a round bulb) and cannot be fitted with heat sink to take away the heat. On the other hand, LEDs dissipates heat bidirectionally but emits light unidirectionally and so can be fitted with heat sink on the opposite side with heat sink to take away the heat. And hence the "runs cooler" market hype :razz: If some sort of technology comes which allows MH to be fitted with heat, that market tag line is going to be buried.

I'm not sure if I'd say it's 50%, but definitely high on the 'pros' list for LEDs. To me a greater benefit to switching to LEDs would be the elimination of the need to replace bulbs. That would be #1 on my LEDs 'pro' column. To me, neither energy savings nor heat savings is much of a factor. During a heat wave my house is still going to get super hot. During the winter my house is still going to get super cold during the day, which will results in my heaters kicking in more often. Today I rely on my halides to warm up my tank during the cold winter days :lol: I haven't done the calculations but it's probably cost neutral or cheaper to use the halides as heaters.

Another huge benefit that people see with LEDs would be their controllability. A lot of people love being able to program their LEDs to the exact specs that they want. This isn't really a selling feature for me either though. I'm okay with lights ON and lights OFF.

At the end of the day LEDs have a lot of benefits that can be realized by the hobbyist. It's up to the hobbyist to decide if those truly are benefits to them are not. A benefit to one hobbyist might not be a benefit to someone else.

+1

2010 called and wants its thread back.

I do miss 2010 tho!

These threads are fun. It's pretty much the only thing worth talking about in reefing these days. Or those days too. And probably days to come.

Can't believe all the LED haters!!! Did they buy the wrong LED's, or use the wrong program/mode, or wrong intensity for their tank? Or maybe the the LED's are a good excuse for other problems in their tank?

I had T5's before, and you couldn't pay me enough to ditch my Radion LED's (have both Gen 1 and 2). I am very happy with the fast growth and colour of my SPS. And not to mention all the other benefits, including economic with the low power, low heat and not having to keep replacing bulbs.

Well, at the least should be lots of cheap used LEDs available in the next little while. Then next year, they will be switching back to LEDs...

But hey, what do I know... I am still a neophyte reef keeper.

denial....denial:)

I ran 110W VHO from 1999-2001

I ran 400W radiums from 2001-2008 with VHO supplements

I ran T5's from 2009-2010

I purchased T5s for my last aquarium as my goals had changed......I used them for one month after seeing a Vertex Illumina in person then sold the fixture.

Today, for a mixed reef I would go LED, for an SPS tank I would go with 400W 20k halides with VHO supplements, or perhaps LED supplements as a second choice.

Hahahaha. Well this and whether that Such'n'such paly is indeed a true Tyree. Without these topis most of the forums wouldn't exist and we'd have nothing to bicker about :razz:


I'm starting to wish I had the best of both worlds. I love the flat look of T5s for the evening/actinics, I love how LEDs make colours pop (in particular the royal blue and true violet's for actinic) but I love, love, love my metal halide for daytime colour. I have all of the above on my tanks (MH + T5 on one, LED on the other).

For the small tank I'm loving the LED because there is no other way of generating that much light in a small package without cooking the tank, so I say that LED wins for nano tanks hands down. The fact that I am growing SPS in my nano without any filtration as fast (maybe even faster) than my big tank with equally good coloration has me as a firm believer. That said, I find the light at high noon just lacks the same oomph that my halide has.

On the big tank the MH is a rocks star. It just looks awesome. You get great shimmer lines (without the disco effect that LEDs give you), so the tank tends to look more lively and natural. I find T5 look a little flat as a main lighting option. I have a chiller on the big tank, so I really don't give a hoot about the heat really - tank stays a rock solid 79F right through the hotest days of summer (I've actually had more heat issues with the nano). However, at night time I look at the big tank and then look at the nano and sigh when I see colours exploding out of the nano like someone sent Hunter S. Thompson on an acid trip with a backpack full of fireworks and neon paint.

So what I'm now thinking might happen is that I'm going to try a DIY replacement for the T5s on my halide fixture and put in a mix of RB, TV and RGB.

yeah halides for daytime colour. I love those royal blues in the evening but i'm sorta missing my radiums during the day...

i'll be using my mitras until it eventually dies though. too much invested. i do still like it but there's something so fantastic about the light a halide throws.

down the road perhaps i'll choose to spend more on ac or a chiller instead of another LED replacement. That will depend on whether you can find halide bulbs 5 or 10 years down the road.

The current ReefKeeping tank of the month is running strictly LEDs, I believe ? It's a nice tank. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

If I could afford it I would get LEDs I love the colourization and types of lighting available and can bring out the colours a lot better than MH and most T5s but for what I want the cost is still outside my price range so for now stuck with T5 lighting.

Ever grow D120. $180/each. I have two running over my 4'. Google them. Read results. I found zero reasons not to buy them.

Radions are a rich mans pleasure.

I agree. Apparently, the cheap LEDs seems to have much lesser complains than the more expensive ones, particularly radions.

+1

I would take that with a grain of salt. A person would be less likely to complain about a problem with a low end light vs. one they just paid big bucks for. If an owner of a ebay special light pukes out I would think the "oh well it was cheap" mentality would come into play.

Huh?? Did you add up what T5s and MH's cost over 5 years? Be sure to include your power, cooling and bulb replacement costs.

Radions have come way down in price, and I expect will be even a lot cheaper in the next year. Competition will ensure that.

Personally, I would not go for the more expensive pro model. I have the cheaper gen 2's, and they have everything and more than I need in an LED light.

What I really like is the Natural Mode with the depth setting which simulates the sun path intensity and colour through the day. It has certainly worked well with my SPS.

Read everything. Not just one line. It will make more sense. And I made zero reference to MH or the comparison to 5 years.

You seem to have missed some things.

I paid $380 for two fixtures. So for me to outfit my 4'... Over a grand. Clear?