Thread: Lights
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Old 03-20-2017, 06:40 PM
Animal-Chin Animal-Chin is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Maple Ridge
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I started with T5's and really liked them but they cost more to run and you have to change the bulbs a lot and they are expensive (IMO) so I purchased LED's about 4 years ago and really like them.

Pros

Powerfull and will grow all coral
Cool to run, no extra heat
No changing bulbs for a long time (50,000 hours)
Cheaper to run
you can adjust the color to what you like (more blue, more white)

Cons

Sometimes too powerful for soft or LPS coral. I've have ricordia melt under them.

Uni directional light. SPS don't get any light under their branches and it causes shadowing underneath. They only get light from one direction. This is why a lot of people suplement their lighting with T5s.

Set up cost. If you go Radion or something like that they are expensive to start off with. I went Ebay black box so the set up was pretty cheap.



In the end I'll never go back, I like the LED lighting in my tank and have great success with the coral I have. I do think some of my coral would prefer a more reflective light but other than that...
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