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Halides are awesome. I used them for many years.I’ve heard that MH are starting to get used more commonly. Anecdotally I’ve heard that growers in particular have started to use them more commonly. What do you guys think?
Halides are awesome. I used them for many years.
I run full leds now and will never go back.
You will get many that say leds cant compete. They come to these threads and bash leds saying many stupid things.
After 30+ years in the hobby, only the last 4 years with leds, I can fully say that leds can grow anything you want, "if you know how to maintain a reef system".
They are on the decline, imo.
I hope this dose not turn into the mine is better than yours thread, as they always do.
Peace fellow reefers and run whatever makes you happy.
There are always hold outs for older technology …. for myriad reasons (I still use vacuum tube amps in my sound system). In the absence of actual data, I go with my gut on these kinds of things and picked response #1. There will also always be folks that ‘return’ to an older technology. Whether these folks offset those leaving seems unlikely. As older MH generation reefers inevitably leave the hobby, it’s hard to see younger generations embracing MH in meaningful numbers (it would be interesting to do an age distribution of folks using MH). Put a fork in it!
Man, I hear that about vacuum tube tech! I don't have those in my sound system, but I DO run old tech because it's just plain better with music. I am running a 70s Radio Shack STA- 2100D receiver. Sixty (or so) watts per channel. Wonderful. Those RS receivers were great. A horribly underrated product. I started with an STA-95 (45W/channel when I was a kid). I have two of those I'm gonna have redone.There are always hold outs for older technology …. for myriad reasons (I still use vacuum tube amps in my sound system). In the absence of actual data, I go with my gut on these kinds of things and picked response #1. There will also always be folks that ‘return’ to an older technology. Whether these folks offset those leaving seems unlikely. As older MH generation reefers inevitably leave the hobby, it’s hard to see younger generations embracing MH in meaningful numbers (it would be interesting to do an age distribution of folks using MH). Put a fork in it!
Is it really THAT good? I'm asking cause my last tank was 12 years ago. I have an old TEK 8x54W 48". Worked great back in the day.Crusty reefer with trusty MH. Just added some led actinic strips to replace my T5. Absolutely blown away with the combination.
All I hear is closest thing, looks like and good enough.. and if it's good enough for your needs, great! But don't forget about coverage. soon as the sticks grow- you have big shadows behind it. Leds aim lights down, where as halides radiate light at all angles(like the sun) and the reflector redirects it down in dozens of angles. You pretty much need double the fixtures they recommend to get the coverage. Totally different thing. More pronounced as the tank gets bigger/with bigger sps colonies. Do leds work, obviously they do. But for a 6' foot tank, that could mean $5k in lights every 4-7 years. Or I could change 3 250w bulbs every year or 2 for $250 total(each time) , and be like new again. To some people that just doesn't make senseI voted option 1 because it's definitely on the way out, just like incandescent bulbs, fluorescent bulbs, etc. LED is the future of lighting, not just for reefs, for quite literally everything. It's getting hard to find cars with HID Projectors anymore, they're all also going the way of LED.
I started in the hobby 20+ years ago, I had Metal Halides and T5's over a 55gallon, then a couple of years later, they introduced T5's with LED moonlights, so I used those for quite a while. Dropped out of the hobby for a few years and came back to LEDs dominating the market. Since then, I've tried Radeon, AI, and many others. I decided to try Kessil out and purchased an AP9X several months ago... This is the closest my tank has looked to my old 55G since I returned to the hobby. Eventually I will pick up 2 LED Bars/Strips that mimic T5 Actinics and call it a day...
At 85% power (Total Power is only 185 watts), PAR is 600+ 9" below the surface across the tops of my rocks, at 25% I am getting 350-400 across. It's mounted over a 3 foot tank 7.5" off the water. It runs cool, it gives me the shimmer, the spectrum is pretty close to spectacular including the 385nm UVB bump. To the folks out there who want the MH look and feel without all the heat and power usage, definitely grab a kessil.
While you're correct, LEDs only emit light from their face outward, at about a 170-degree angle from the chip in most cases; the added lenses, reflectors, or combination of the two being employed, ensure that light is also spread out and bounced around from the reflectors and the tank walls, just as the reflectors for Metal Halides did. My Metal Halides put sharp shadows in my tank just like my Kessils do, which is why I opted for T5s to supplement the Metal Halides in the first place. The MH reflectors didn't bounce the lights all around, eliminating shadows, as you're sort of claiming here; the T5s did. I mean, watch this video around the 20second mark; lit only by Metal Halides, it's nearly identical to the look of Kessils (this tank vs mine, the Kessils have slightly more shimmer, this tank actually has darker more pronounced shadows, but both things could be chalked up to poor camera settings or equipment):All I hear is closest thing, looks like and good enough.. and if it's good enough for your needs, great! But don't forget about coverage. soon as the sticks grow- you have big shadows behind it. Leds aim lights down, where as halides radiate light at all angles(like the sun) and the reflector redirects it down in dozens of angles. You pretty much need double the fixtures they recommend to get the coverage. Totally different thing. More pronounced as the tank gets bigger/with bigger sps colonies. Do leds work, obviously they do. But for a 6' foot tank, that could mean $5k in lights every 4-7 years. Or I could change 3 250w bulbs every year or 2 for $250 total(each time) , and be like new again. To some people that just doesn't make sense