jt17
Valuable Member
I ran LEDs for a year and a half and I could never get them tuned in to were all the corals in my mixed reef were happy. I switched to t5 with a reef brite led strip a year and a half ago and there's no looking back.
leds are a specific wavelength and that's why you need the different colors whereas t5 will provide a spectrum of different wavelengths. Since corals are mostly photosynthetic, light is there food. T5s are like a well balanced meal and LEDs are more like an individual dish. depending on the depth of water and aspect the coral comes from will determine what wavelenght(s) they will require. In a mixed reef you have corals from a variety of depths with varying photosynthetic needs which is why t5 is easier IMHO. There are some great examples of LED reefs out there, mine just wasn't one of them.
leds are a specific wavelength and that's why you need the different colors whereas t5 will provide a spectrum of different wavelengths. Since corals are mostly photosynthetic, light is there food. T5s are like a well balanced meal and LEDs are more like an individual dish. depending on the depth of water and aspect the coral comes from will determine what wavelenght(s) they will require. In a mixed reef you have corals from a variety of depths with varying photosynthetic needs which is why t5 is easier IMHO. There are some great examples of LED reefs out there, mine just wasn't one of them.
