Halide vs. LED vs. T5! Which do you prefer and why?

[SH4GGY]

All I've ever used is LED fixtures. I've always wondered how my tanks would look with Halides or T5's.

 

[Tapio]

MH 250W Phoenix 14K DE one tank and T5 other tank. Coloration is the same in SPS but I like MH better. All LED SPS reefs I have seen are too blue and dark for me. Nothing what you see out snorkeling the South Pacific reefs.

 

[fishmommy]

Today i switched from LED to Radium MH plus T5 and my tank looks spectacular

 

[mrcoffee2]

Pics!

 

[Fishbone]

I switched my nano a few months ago from ATI T5s to an LED NanoBox. I like the form factor and controllability of the Led's much better, but corals don't look as good under the led's and seemed to preferred the T5's. I've had to move a lot of corals out of that tank because they were not looking to hot. The Led's feel more like a down grade than on upgrade. I'll be sticking with T5 moving forward. Corals acclimate easily to T5 and color up beautifully.

 

[JMSKI333]

I have a T5 dominant setup with a LED Reefbrite accent. I wouldn't say it is my preferred setup, it is just what I ended up with and it works well. If I was to build a new tank and start all over, I think I would do more LED's and less T5s. Replacing T5 bulbs gets expensive. For the amount of money I spent on T5 bulbs I could have put two Radion fixtures over my tank.

Tank Info:
90g with ATI 6x54w Sunpower and 48" Blue Reefbrite Strip.

 

[BENT STIX]

I have had several tanks over the years. 45g, 8g, 15g, 120g, and now a 300g. All of my tanks have started with LEDs and have been switched to t5. I've had kessil, ai hydras, radions, etc. I always find that for me, corals look healthier and do better under t5. Not to mention the fish look way better as well. Current setup is a 5' ati 8 bulb with two reef bright blue 5' strips. Love this set up.

 

[Joel]

How long do you hmm guys leave your lights on I have a 93 cube 250 watt 20k radium and 3 15" reef brights what would you recommend thanks

 

[rockskimmerflow]

IME colors and vitality are lacking with only LED. Corals grow for me under led, just never as well as under halide or T5ho. I do love supplemental led strips to add shimmer and other effects to a main halide or t5 based system. I enjoy using lower wattage strips that can make the corals pop when power hungry lights are turned off.

My ideal setup consists of metal halides with both t5 and led supplements. Although, I find any combo including either halide or t5 works for me. Having used only halide, only led, and only t5 on different setups I can say that as a standalone light source I've had the best success using T5s. But when different light types are used in conjunction with each other the results get even better.

 

[SunnyX]

Wow, many of you guys have me reconsidering running Radions on my next setup. I was thinking of doing great Radions with a couple T5's, but now I'm thinking I may be better off doing all T5 with an ATI Sunpower. I need to find someone local running LEDS to get a better idea of what it actually looks like. What I gather from the comments is that it would look like a MH bulb running without supplemental lighting. Without supplemental lighting I'm afraid the tank would have too many shadows and look dim.

What you LED users say? Does it look that way in person?

 

[TJ15]

I switched from metal halides to LEDs only to switch back to metal halides after a year with LEDs

I didn't like the shadowing effect that I had with LEDs. I did not like the disco effect either. My heater was on ALOT with the LEDs.

Switched back to metal halides a year ago and my corals responded almost right away, especially my SPS.

Growth under my metal halides has been much better than under LEDs.

 

[kidtango]

Wow, many of you guys have me reconsidering running Radions on my next setup. I was thinking of doing great Radions with a couple T5's, but now I'm thinking I may be better off doing all T5 with an ATI Sunpower. I need to find someone local running LEDS to get a better idea of what it actually looks like. What I gather from the comments is that it would look like a MH bulb running without supplemental lighting. Without supplemental lighting I'm afraid the tank would have too many shadows and look dim.

What you LED users say? Does it look that way in person?

Hey Sunny! Glad to see ur back man. Ur rimless tanks inspired me to start mine. I even have the sunnyx milli! Haha.

I ran two mitras 6200 with my setup initially n switched back to ati t5s with 360we kessils as supplements. I don't get the "disco" look and no issue with spread. Color, spectrum, efficiency, low heat, and adjustability r all there.

If you run all Leds then ull need to run many units to get the proper coverage. I do notice that people with good results with leds run many units more than recommended.

 

[kidtango]

Here's what it looks like.

 

[SunnyX]

Here's what it looks like.

Great looking setup. What are the dimensions of the tank? Do you have a build thread?

I love the look of T5 systems. To my eyes, nothing quite compares to the Blue given off by the ATI Blue+.

Thank you,

 

[kidtango]

Great looking setup. What are the dimensions of the tank? Do you have a build thread?

I love the look of T5 systems. To my eyes, nothing quite compares to the Blue given off by the ATI Blue+.

Thank you,

Not yet. I will start one just to post my progress with Triton dosing.

Tank is AGE starphire glass on all sides.
60x35x21.

And ati b+ is awsome. Absolutely agree with the looks of it in person. The tank goes from 14k looks to 17k n then 20k at night. The leds add additional punch n color to the whole setup. And did I mention shimmer? Haha

 

[Ep3n3wp]

I have 6 bulb T5 on my 120.... On my frag tank I have a 4 bulb T5 Tek fixture with the 2 center bulbs removed and 26 LEDs in the middle of the 2 bulbs.

Loving it so far and thinking of doing something similar for my 120

 

[Ep3n3wp]

2nd pic is T5s only

 

[s2nhle]

After 2+ year with led only I am ready to try with led and t5 combo with my current upgrade.

 

[Sirreefalot]

MH all day (with reef Brite LEDs to supplement). I feel a lot of people say LEDs as they are new to the hobby and have only used them. To me they are the new craze and still un proven in this hobby.. Not saying LEDs or T5 are bad but personally feel growth is unbeatable compared to MH. Just my 2 cents.

 

[WetWhistle]

I use three AI Hydra 52 LED. I love the flexibility it gives me, lower cost to run for power and no yearly bulb replacement. I love how my corals grow and look under them, everything from SPS, LPS and soft corals. They are not as easy to use as MH but once you have them dialed in they work great. Up till LED i would only use MH with supplemental blue on my reef.