Looking for some old-timers who left and came back in to the hobby

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by props

How do these led light system perform?? Do they provide enough light/spectrum to keep corals happy?? Growth comparisons to mh?? Longevity?? Price??

I find the corals take awhile to adjust to led lights but once they do they seem quite happy and the growth rate is great. That being said though we didn't cheep out on the led lights and went for radions which IMO spreads the light similar to MH. Cheep led lights or not using enough units will cause weird spotting. Doug aka fishytime (my boyfriend) runs 4 radions over his 30" wide 7' long tank. They are expensive around $700 a unit. But they cut down on monthly power costs and the bulbs are good for 50 thousand hrs.

Some info
http://http://ecotechmarine.com/products/radion/radion-xr30w/

http://http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/1/review

http://www.mrsaltwatertank.com/radion/

[props]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

I find the corals take awhile to adjust to led lights but once they do they seem quite happy and the growth rate is great. That being said though we didn't cheep out on the led lights and went for radions which IMO spreads the light similar to MH. Cheep led lights or not using enough units will cause weird spotting. Doug aka fishytime (my boyfriend) runs 4 radions over his 30" wide 7' long tank. They are expensive around $700 a unit. But they cut down on monthly power costs and the bulbs are good for 50 thousand hrs.

Some info
http://http://ecotechmarine.com/products/radion/radion-xr30w/

http://http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/1/review

http://www.mrsaltwatertank.com/radion/

Thanks for the link. Very informative. Weird I keep going back to TomR's lighting setup lol. $700 a unit is quite a lot, seems like I have to get rid of my all my toys just to get back into this hobby.
Drove by OA Wendell's shop and it looks like its been shut down for few months. Crappy! . Looks like BigAls has also closed their doors. =o( So where do you even get tanks now a days?

[byee]

I drive by OA a couple months back. It's a print house now. Noticed there were some aquariums stored in the facility.

[Jason McK]

Hey Jesse, Ya lots of changes have taken place. I'm just getting back myself.
I know there is a good supply of frags at Rogers now, That's just around the corner from you isn't it?

Good to see you back.

J

[Aquattro]

Jesse, any old gear you have still works the same as it always did. While LED might save money on bulb replacement, MH is still a better light source for SPS. LED has a lot of advantages, but no point throwing away perfectly good gear that still works. Your tank was always awesome with what you had, so you'd likely see the same results using it again

[props]

Originally Posted by Jason McK

Hey Jesse, Ya lots of changes have taken place. I'm just getting back myself.
I know there is a good supply of frags at Rogers now, That's just around the corner from you isn't it?

Good to see you back.

J

Yeah he's close by I might drop by tomorrow afternoon and see if he can custom build a tank for me. What happened to the old tank Jason? I remember you getting into the Zeovit system, how did that work out for you??

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Jesse, any old gear you have still works the same as it always did. While LED might save money on bulb replacement, MH is still a better light source for SPS. LED has a lot of advantages, but no point throwing away perfectly good gear that still works. Your tank was always awesome with what you had, so you'd likely see the same results using it again

I'll swing by JL during my lunch tomorrow, would like to see these LED units. My gut tells me to stick with the MH lighting. A little worried with all of these stores closing, will be tough to get some corals, supplies, etc.. Even Hidden Reef is closed!! Wth!!

[props]

Found an old pic. This was before I moved the tank into the garage.

[fishoholic]

Very nice tank set up.

Just so you know there is nothing wrong with MH they still work great, for us the cost of yearly bulb replacement and the monthly power savings it just made more sense to go LED. It is a big initial cost but (for us, we totalled up the costs) and after 3 years the light pays for itself.

Radions are expensive but IMO one of the best ones available. I have heard good things about maxpect razor led which is cheeper $400-500 but I haven't used one.

http://www.maxspect.com/index.php?op...d=20&Itemid=21

[props]

Had the chance to browse the Buy Sell forum and it looks like corals that were almost impossible to get are readily available now. Also descent prices!! Anyone got a picture of a Purple Monster colony?? I brought some in years ago and was able to give away a few frags. I wonder if they're still around.

What are the most sought after corals now?

Another thing does anyone still have this coral?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by props

Had the chance to browse the Buy Sell forum and it looks like corals that were almost impossible to get are readily available now. Also descent prices!! Anyone got a picture of a Purple Monster colony?? I brought some in years ago and was able to give away a few frags. I wonder if they're still around.

What are the most sought after corals now?

Another thing does anyone still have this coral?

Hmm, that's a bit big, no?

Reefermadness (Darryl) has a PM colony in his threads, not aware of any other colonies.
There are tons of new sought after corals, most of which were not around a few years ago.