Metal Halide and T5 Grow Corals Better Than LED and Cost Less

[Sisterlimonpot]

Ha. Show me a good looking tank with MH, I will show you 10 with LEDs. My point being that you can fabricate a story and find enough videos and testimonies to validate your claim. One can argue until they're blue in the face one light fixture over the other. It always boils down to personal preference.

One thing you can't argue is that LEDs cant grow SPS. That ship has sailed. PAR... spectrum, it doesn't matter.

More control is why I chose LEDs. I need more PAR? simply open the app and add more par. Need a different spectrum, simply open up the app and change the spectrum. Want to run 12k 3 months out of the year... you get the point.

 

[Marc2952]

I dont wanna hang anything from the ceiling, and i dont want to drill anything on my wall thats why lol

 

[Aardvark1134]

They call that a canopy....nothing hooked to ceiling and nothing hooked to wall.

 

[Bpb]

Progress. Another 15 years and we'll have you saying that LEDs are the best ever.

Eh. Best ever is not a term I’d ever throw around. Everything can grow coral effectively if used correctly. I’m more concerned with the getting the best results at the lowest cost. Not so much concerned with what is in fashion, what is “the future of reef lighting” or features I don’t find useful from an effectiveness standpoint. I’d be fine with one color from start to stop. And even the best most feature packed led fixtures CAN be run like that, which is what I would do.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to put a 4 pack or gen5 xr 15’s over my tank right now. But why? It would be no Improvement in performance. Just be a little less heat. A little less heat isn’t worth $2500 to me

 

[hikermike]

Someone wrote they thought BRS should do a test on the lights....they HAVE!. Just check out their videos it's there. They found that the combo of T5 and MH beat the LEDs. The supposition was that the diffuse light from the T5-s helped provide morer light to the corals kept in the shadows. LED illuminates in 1 direction only hence causing shadows. This is the cause of the whole shimmer effect thing...which I fine very annoying but the industry tries to spin this into a benefit. Maybe this is detrimental to marine life? Their best combo was led plus T-5s.

 

[oreo54]

Someone wrote they thought BRS should do a test on the lights....they HAVE!. Just check out their videos it's there. They found that the combo of T5 and MH beat the LEDs. The supposition was that the diffuse light from the T5-s helped provide morer light to the corals kept in the shadows. LED illuminates in 1 direction only hence causing shadows. This is the cause of the whole shimmer effect thing...which I fine very annoying but the industry tries to spin this into a benefit. Maybe this is detrimental to marine life? Their best combo was led plus T-5s.

Metal Halides shimmer.

 

[TerraFerma]

Everything that is supposed to be the best mentioned here...seems to involve T5’s. Unless your looking to save money - why not just run a suitable number of T5’s and call it a day?

 

[Aardvark1134]

Because all T5s gives you a flat dull look and you have to change them and if you ever break one on a topless tank...well luckly that is super super rare. Also you can supplement with LED bars like reefbrite and orphek instead of using t5s to supplement

 

[Bpb]

Because all T5s gives you a flat dull look and you have to change them and if you ever break one on a topless tank...well luckly that is super super rare. Also you can supplement with LED bars like reefbrite and orphek instead of using t5s to supplement

Is breaking bulbs that common. In my 13 years in the aquarium hobby I have not broken a single bulb ever and have gone through probably 150-200 of them over my various tanks. Mh and t5 included. I dropped a halide bulb yesterday in my garage from 6 feet off the concrete floor and it didn’t break.

 

[Aardvark1134]

Why would anyone respond to X is super super rare with... is it really that common ... I mean are you just trying to troll or what?

 

[Bpb]

Why would anyone respond to X is super super rare with... is it really that common ... I mean are you just trying to troll or what?

Nope. If you’d read any of my comments about you’d know I’m probably the least argumentative person in the thread on this topic. I just took notice of 2-3 mentions of bulb breaks in the past day or two and it’s not something I’ve heard much about until very recently. It was an honest question

 

[Aardvark1134]

Well all it takes is your dog/cat/kid to distract you and let one end accidently slip and hit a rim of a rimless tank and it can shatter the tube...so yes it can happen...hardly ever does...but sadly once is all it takes to be a total disaster on a topless tank. I have never broken a T5 but back in the old days I did have a floresent one break once, luckly it was a tank with a top and just annoying.

 

[zoomonster]

This discussion has gone on for years and will likely continue until hell freezes over. My first tank in 89 actually had a 48" shop light with a couple std flo's. Since then I have gone through multiple PC's, MH, VHO, T5, LED etc. etc. and after having to go back to my MH/T5 fixture, when my Kessils failed, I'm happy to say its back to LED with G5's and I could not be happier. You know what they say different strokes for different folks. I will continue to argue against the point that MH is cheaper and call BS on that one. Over a thousand for my Hamilton MH/T5 72" fixture plus 100+ a year for T5's and 240-300 a year in bulbs. Add to that INCREASED electricity costs, increased electricity costs from AC running more. Within two years or less and its a wash on savings. We won't get into the other problems like to much amperage draw that, especially in the heat of summer, had a habit of overheating breakers and throwing breakers in the garage. And yeah I only need a tank heater a few weeks out the year so the heating cost argument does not apply.

 

[xiaoxiy]

So far I've been really happy with the growth from my acro frags under MH/T5. Here is 1 month worth of growth. The only thing I miss is the pure RB/actinic glow and have been considering adding reefbrites, reefbreeder lumen strip or orphek strip to the setup.

Millepora: Feb 9th - March 5th

Tenius: Feb 9th - March 5th

Pink Lemonade: Feb 9th - March 12th

 

[Bpb]

Well all it takes is your dog/cat/kid to distract you and let one end accidently slip and hit a rim of a rimless tank and it can shatter the tube...so yes it can happen...hardly ever does...but sadly once is all it takes to be a total disaster on a topless tank. I have never broken a T5 but back in the old days I did have a floresent one break once, luckly it was a tank with a top and just annoying.

I can of course dream up a scenario where it could happen. I’ve always taken fixtures down completely when doing annual bulb changes to clean reflector surfaces, fans, ect. I guess my big point behind it is the whole exploding bulb or broken tubes over the tank argument to favor led use over tube/mh use was a head scratcher because I have never considered that to be a risk in my use of bulbs nor do I really read about it happening basically ever

 

[TerraFerma]

I can of course dream up a scenario where it could happen. I’ve always taken fixtures down completely when doing annual bulb changes to clean reflector surfaces, fans, ect. I guess my big point behind it is the whole exploding bulb or broken tubes over the tank argument to favor led use over tube/mh use was a head scratcher because I have never considered that to be a risk in my use of bulbs nor do I really read about it happening basically ever

Indeed. When debating the health and growth and color of corals...bulb breakage due to sloppiness or negligence probably shouldn’t be in the debate.

I broke a T5 over my tank several months ago. Impossible to argue it wasn’t my fault. Tank didn’t mind. Got as much glass out as I could after the fact. Took out the remainder as I found it over the next few weeks.

 

[A. grandis]

Some believe the reason why LEDs "give more colors to corals" is the fact that "halides' intensity are too strong". They believe "corals don't do good under intesive light" and the "LEDs will color corals better than in the ocean".
Well, in the ocean, around very shallow water areas, corals are exposed to air during low tide and have tremendous bright colors. In the video below, the owner reproduced such environment with 3 HQI halides, 600W each. That tank held approximately 450 US gallons and was about 29.5 inches high.

FROM:

A Response to ABC’s Media Watch’s “Shoot the Coral Messenger” Flimflam!

Guest essay by Jim Steele Director emeritus Sierra Nevada Field Campus, San Francisco State University and author of Landscapes & Cycles: An Environmentalist’s Journey to Climate Skepticism Gre…

wattsupwiththat.com

FROM:

Key West Environmental Group Starts Campaign Against Some Sunscreens

It's a good idea to protect your skin with sunscreen when you're out on the water. But protecting reefs means giving up some of the most common...

health.wusf.usf.edu

VIDEO:

 

[Malifry97]

Some believe the reason why LEDs "give more colors to corals" is the fact that "halides' intensity are too strong". They believe "corals don't do good under intesive light" and the "LEDs will color corals better than in the ocean".
Well, in the ocean, around very shallow water areas, corals are exposed to air during low tide and have tremendous bright colors. In the video below, the owner reproduced such environment with 3 HQI halides, 600W each. That tank held approximately 450 US gallons and was about 29.5 inches high.

FROM:

A Response to ABC’s Media Watch’s “Shoot the Coral Messenger” Flimflam!

Guest essay by Jim Steele Director emeritus Sierra Nevada Field Campus, San Francisco State University and author of Landscapes & Cycles: An Environmentalist’s Journey to Climate Skepticism Gre…

wattsupwiththat.com

FROM:

Key West Environmental Group Starts Campaign Against Some Sunscreens

It's a good idea to protect your skin with sunscreen when you're out on the water. But protecting reefs means giving up some of the most common...

health.wusf.usf.edu

VIDEO:

Agreed that MH aren’t too strong. Most reefs can receive up to 2500 par at noon, so that fact that people make that claim is laughable.

 

[A. grandis]

The video above is an amazing tool to teach people about halides and their different spectrum. Starting @10:48 Mr. Paletta tell us about that. He was starting to test LEDs over his tank. The whole video is great. I thought would be a good addition to this thread to demystify anything in that particular regard. The 6500K bulb is the closest we get to natural sunlight over the reef.

"... right now I don't have the LEDs on. What I have is a 250W 65K bulb, which looks yellow green, compared with the 14K Ushio, and much more green compared with the 20,000K Radium...
... I mean, we can see how different the colors are...
... now, there is a cost benefit to this...
... the blue corals look really blue under the 20Ks, and a lot of other corals look really vibrant and it's visually pleasing...
... This looks kinda harsh and kinda bleak...
... but, you also get some added benefits with this...
... I remember back when Sanjay Joshi as just really getting serious about lighting...
... he was running his tanks exclusively on 6500K Iwasakis
... He may had some actinic a little bit... but it was just supplemental ...
... but with those 65000Ks he has some of the vibrant corals...
... because the growth rates were phenomenal and as we all know the faster the growth, brighter are the growth tips, that's where the most color is, and you got a lot more coloration on the corals...
... and in his tanks he would grow corals like cinder blocks...
... I mean, they would grow so thick and so profusely that he would have to go with a chisel to get the corals out...
... and I'm not talking about the skinny little branch things, I'm talking like Acropora humillis, samoensis, things that we don't usually keep much now because they are more difficult to keep, and they tend to not look all that exciting, particularly under 20K or higher kelvin bulbs...
... but in his tanks, the thing that gets more interesting is the top to the coral where the polyps were at the very tips were one color, the branches were another and the base was a third...
... because of getting so faster growth and was getting a lot more appealing corals the what we are seeing now..."

 

[A. grandis]

To be fair... a video of one system running T5s and LEDs.
Different results for different preferences.
Growth, colors and colony structure are different under different lights.
Beautiful system! You decide what side of the tank you like the most.