Should I switch to Radion LEDs from MH/T5?

[Pete polyp]

Led will not mix even of you have a reflector. They produce a specific wavelength. How will this change if 2 are side by side and reflected back? It may mix where the light ends up but it will not mix the wavelengths. If that were possible could put a 400NM next to a 600NM and the end result would be 500NM. Instead the only thing that will happen is you have 400NM and 600NM in the same spot.

 

[hart24601]

Really the reflector is less about mixing and more about giving better coverage and so corals don't self shade as much. I mean it would mix enough to not give disco ball effect, in fact the idea of colors mixing at all is silly. Other lights don't mix colors either, they produce photos of different wavelegnths. T5 and MH don't produce a "mixed" spectrum, they make photos over all the range, just like a white led. Our eyes call it mixing. How else can any red green and blue light make white light? LED's do it, so do any other light source. When we say mixing of colors we mean to our eyes so you can't see the individual colors, not that the photons wavelengths are actually changing.

You are correct, that 400nm and 600nm don't make 500nm, they don't with any light source and I wasn't trying to say they do. Look at the spectrum of MH and LEDS:

Equipment Review: LED Lighting Tests: Maxspect Razor, Aquatic Life Expert Series, and Tao-Tronics ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

AquaMaxx 14,000K MHs compare very closely to Radium 20,000K

Notice how they look similar? That equipment measures each photon of light, and each photon has only 1 wavelength. White LEDs produce photons not with one peak, but over many wavelengths just like florescent and mh light. While non-white LEDs are much more focused a 445nm LED does not produce only 445nm photons, it is really a range that depends on the LED, it might produce 400-500nm photons, but the majority are 445.

Like I said white LEDs produce white light nearly the same way florescent tubes do.

http://www.ecoxotic.com/community/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LED_chipGraphs.pdf

See how white produces light of all spectrum? And how the other wavelengths actually produce overlap too. The 445 makes from 400-500 with the majority being at 445, but that doesn't mean there are no other wavelengths being emitted.

 

[Sleeperr34]

They have made led tanning beds. Just as u said right now the amount of leds needed in a bed cost more then it is to just replace the bulbs they have.

And each led does give a little bit of a full spectrum but a huge spike in the nm it is at. Why it is prob a good idea to do the same thing a lot of mh people do. Get a couple t5 to add in. Only diff being use the t5 during peak time and the mh for dawn dusk and peak.

This is something that will go around and around for ever. I dont feel any one is better then the other. But rather how each is used or how they r mixed with eachother.

Im all for the leds and using them. But i do think it is a good idea to put 2 t5 in just to help the balancing act.

 

[hart24601]

I think they are all fine lighting sources too, pick whatever one you like and enjoy your tank!

 

[ChristopherKriens]

I herd on the internet that LEDs r not ready yet. they will make ur fish go blind and start ur corals onfire,.

 

[Sleeperr34]

I herd on the internet that LEDs r not ready yet. they will make ur fish go blind and start ur corals onfire,.

I remember reading that online as well. I found a couple videos of it happening. And then one of the led units turned the house cat green

 

[cimmorine]

I've seen a lot of tanks with successful pieces in them using leds. However, when asked how, the first thing they've all said is "I only buy corals from tanks that use leds". I'm sure others have had great success buying from t5's, MH tanks with proper acclimation but I know I didnt... therefore I switched back real quick to t5/mh