No love for MH?

[riche]

I know everyone loves the leds for this reason and that reason but With Metal Halide being a proven winner over the years why does it seem its a dying breed?

I see a few people swear by them and see great growth as its the closest thing to the sun but I know they do use a lot of power and put off heat compared to leds.

I for one like the look that Mh's give and you mix that with some t-5's and you have a great combo

After getting in and out of this hobby many times over the years, I would like to get a set up going but I really want to go with metal halide and t-5's because I like the look and I know they work good, but my hang up is It will be a very slow process to get enought corals to justify the cost of bulbs and electricity.

With that being said, if just having a few corals to start will it be over kill to use mh/t-5?

I'm still in the shopping phase but my wife said I have to have everything ready before I can bring another tank in the house. I have been know to bring a tank in and let it sit for a few months while getting stuff together or rushing into it and removing and replacing stuff

 

[DeniseAndy]

I use almost exclusively MH and T5. I only have LED over a show tank that travels (easier and less likely burn for kids). My 210g has 3 250MH and 4T5s. Have had this for almost 12 years now. I do not think I will change any time soon. Love the look, growth, etc. I have had lots of sps, lps and gorg system. No issues due to lights. Other things yes, but not lights. I have open light rack, so no heat trapped. I do have a chiller, but that is more for the hot summers as I do not have to run in the winter.
I have 4T5s over my 40g Breeder with lps. Does great. I have 2T5s over 20gL and everything grows even sps. I have t5s on my travel tank at home. I just use leds for presentations.
I have seen no reason for me to change. I like the spectrum and par and system I have.
If I were setting up a whole new system (as mine was done 12yrs ago), I may think about LEDs, but still not sure I would go all out. May still keep t5s in play at least.
JMOandE

 

[Johniejumbo]

I love my halides. All I have is a few lps and softies. Still worth it IMO.

 

[acro-ed]

I used MH for a very long time with great results. I feel I had better growth with MH, but I still have very good growth now with less heat in my house. To me it was worth the switch, but I still intend on having MH (+ LED supplement) over a new frag tank project I'm working on that will go in my garage.

 

[jda]

It is not a dying breed. Numbers are going up (along with T5s)... Hamilton is constantly sold out of stuff since demand over the last few years has been more than they have expected. A big retailer said at MACNA that AquaticLife Hybrid units are outselling all of the big-three LEDs combined - he did not say what those are, but Kessil, AI and EcoTech are probably them.

Of the 20 folks that are the best reefers around me in Colorado, 16 or 17 of them use MH in some capacity and none of the rest of them use LED alone and really only for supplement - 20 out of 20 relying on MH or T5 for the heavy lifting. About half of them went all-LED in the boom and are now back. We do live in Colorado and any heat is a blessing - not that heat is hard to solve if you want to, but it can be more of a problem in some climates.

Most of the MH people are sick of fighting with the front runners and noobies and just do not post too much... the fight is just not worth it to most. I do not mind fighting, but I do get sick of the people who have no idea what they are talking about telling me that I am stupid... only for them to not be in the hobby a year or two later. I think that their posts are just lower since the leading edge drive the forums.

You can tell that MH usage is on the upswing since I cannot get m80 ballasts for $20 anymore nor good reflectors and fixtures for pennies on the dollar... you have to pay a reasonable price for used MH gear now. It has been like this for a few years.

 

[RCS82]

What jda said completely. You don't hear as much from the M/H crowd as they are quite often being told that LEDs are the way. But that's fine. I switched over to 14k HQI Phoenix metal halides and completely love them.

 

[Johniejumbo]

What jda said completely. You don't hear as much from the M/H crowd as they are quite often being told that LEDs are the way. But that's fine. I switched over to 14k HQI Phoenix metal halides and completely love them.

That what I’m using. Awesome lights

 

[xabo]

Loved the MH's when I was using them but had to switch to LED due to ceiling height limitations. The heat generated by MH's caused this:

 

[RCS82]

That what I’m using. Awesome lights

I couldnt be happier. When I look at my tank now with them on I just sit back and think wow, that's what a saltwater tank should look like. Even the fish and I swear maybe even the water looks better lol. I liked running T5s and reefbrites, they were great, but can't beat the natural look and color of the 14k Phoenix bulbs.

 

[revhtree]

Love Radium MH bulbs but for me the one thing that stops me is the HEAT!

 

[revhtree]

Added a poll!

 

[Jeremy Luke]

I am in the "using it now" category. Running a Spectra with Radium's supplemented by Blue+ and Actinic T5s.

 

[cracker]

I have 4 in storage & would have No problem breaking them out .

 

[declanisadog]

I don't use them now, but most definitely would consider using them again.

 

[Medic58]

I would use them if they found a way to improve the technology of how the heat is dispersed and they were more compact.

 

[Greybeard]

Have had halides... many times, on many different sizes and types of tanks. From a 70w halide over a 29g reef, to 3x 400w halides (plus actinic PC's) over my old 240. There were always two problems with halides: 1) Heat, and 2) inefficient power usage. Neither of those issues is 'fixable'... you just have to deal with them. It was quite common to have a tank that settled to 70f overnight, and heated to 78f by the end of the day. I can now say, for certain, that a daily temp swing like this is highly detrimental to sensitive corals.

Note: It wasn't LED's that drove me away from halides, it was T5's. I've tried LED's, but keep running back to T5's. Why? They work, they're way cheaper on larger tanks than quality LED setups, and they're dead simple.

One day in the future, all these discussions on lighting will be a thing of the past. I've no doubt. At some point, someone is going to come out with an LED system that is both cheaper and more effective than halides, or even T5's, and flexible enough to be used in any situation. Count on it... it's going to happen.

Unfortunately, that day has not arrived yet.

Oh... I forgot. I do have a 250W DE Hamilton setup mounted over the workbench in my garage Still works very well for that!

 

[tankstudy]

Metal Halides were my first light source. They are very user friendly. You don't need to know too much about light, you just plug it in and everything is pretty much good to go.

Extra top off water, humidifier, chiller and the electricity to run all these turned me away when I figured out how to grow things under LEDs.

Now I use that extra money for corals, monitoring equipment and other saltwater necessities.

There are still a good number of folks around me who run Metal Halides.

All three light sources can grow coral, I feel it all comes down to your preference and what you can afford.

 

[RichReef]

Halides (Hamilton), to halides with compact florescent, to T5, to LED (Maxspect}, to LED with T5, now MH (Hamilton) with T5 actinic.

Nothing was knock off or cheap.

I'll never switch again. I'll stay with the MH. They just look too good and work too well. Although I have been thinking about going LED actinic instead of the T5.

 

[hart24601]

T5 also drove me away from MH, I guess I would go back if leds and t5 were not sold vs leaving the hobby, but I have just never liked them. We have MH for sale locally because a few people found threads promoting the mythical qualities of MH over all else and when they didn’t see improvements and had to deal with heat and light bleed they go up for sale and I think there are several that still have not sold.

I am all about using what you like so I am happy they are still out there though.

 

[RichReef]

Most of the MH people are sick of fighting

+1