Orphek or halide/t5 for sps tank?

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I used to run 3 400 watt radiums and 320 watts of svho t12 on my 255. Great combo and loved the look. Dont miss it though. Enjoying my leds for last 9 years.

Its a good choice. Post some pics when ready and do build thread.

Happy reefing

Thanks man. Right now the tank is 5 full sheets of acrylic sitting in the garage. I am finishing up a pair of cherry nightatands this weekend and should start next week.

 

[A. grandis]

I am comping orpheks VS halides.

I am getting the lack of spread and par from the manufacturers website, brs videos, and peoples personal experience.

The orpheks.. or any other LED do not compare to the halides in terms of spread or par.

At any rate, my decision has been made. 3 x 400 and 8 4' t5's.

I wish I could be there to help you to build that system!

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

LOL..me too!! Sooo much work involved with that thing. It is going to be a SWEET inwall. I think i may have it stick 6" out of the wall.

Cant decide if that would look silly or not.

I had to take my current system down. I have around 8k in livestock sitting at the LFS. Its kind of nice though.. "hey i sold two of your torches" "cool, how much?" $500 each.

 

[A. grandis]

LOL..me too!! Sooo much work involved with that thing. It is going to be a SWEET inwall. I think i may have it stick 6" out of the wall.

Cant decide if that would look silly or not.

I had to take my current system down. I have around 8k in livestock sitting at the LFS. Its kind of nice though.. "hey i sold two of your torches" "cool, how much?" $500 each.

;Wideyed You're rich! LOL!
I'm very happy for you!

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Lol. Yeah.. my reefs have been such a money maker. Lololololol

 

[smartwater101]

The orpheks.. or any other LED do not compare to the halides in terms of spread or par

Again. not sure where you're getting that idea about par...

At any rate, my decision has been made.

Yeah, after reading through the thread, that was pretty clear on page one.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Again. not sure where you're getting that idea about par...

Yeah, after reading through the thread, that was pretty clear on page one.

Yeah, that was the purpose of the thread. After i learned i would need double the amount i thought i would it was quickly apparant what was the better light setup for this tank..

The orphek illuminates 4 square feet at the par I need. So i would need 8 of them for this tank.

Sorry, but troll somewhere else.

 

[smartwater101]

Sorry, but troll somewhere else

That takes some nerve considering the "whole purpose of this thread" is just a troll.
You've been pooping on LEDs the entire way through and then act suprised that people are arguing with you... pretty hypothetical.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Highlighting the advantages of one system over another is not pooping on something. I thought there was a lot of good information in the thread. Some people reported great success with the orpheks which is great, I may get one for one of my frag tanks.. Daniel chimmed in about puck styles and the effects of heat on longevity. I also got a better understanding of the shading phenomenon i learned some more things about LED lights from the video that was posted.
Someone asked me what my decision was and I told them. Based on spread and par.. it seemed that halide was the way to go.
That was when some people decided to jump in and ask me "where are you getting these numbers" etc etc. Which is kind of putting the onus on me to somehow convince others that i am not wrong in my decision, which is lame. I dont think the one guy who was posting all the arguments for LED even has a reef tank!

If you want to think that this whole thread was a troll or that i was pooping on LED that is just fine with me. I just dont want others who contributed to feel it was a waste of their time.

 

[Bpb]

I never feel like these threads are a waste of time and it’s a shame when they get shut down. Even though I don’t use primarily led for my reef tank, I do appreciate the technology and admit it can be used successfully. The main thing I dislike about the led panel business is the inherent need to constantly update the products every single year or two just to stay afloat. It turns it into an unnecessary rat race. The two most impressive led fixtures I’ve seen from a construction quality standpoint aren’t even sold or endorsed by any major US retailer (reef fi and Philips). I love the tech and appreciate its positives. I just don’t use it because it’s horribly cost inefficient for someone with my budget

 

[Jay Norris]

No the point is people proclaim LED is the absolute and it’s not. Nothing is. Nor is the PAR measurement itself. It’s not about money - it’s about the absolute and how this hobby has changed. That is my lesson. Lighting is going in a circle back to what it was - look at the new hydra’s and when Tullio’s new light comes out (saw it two days ago) you will understand more of what I mean by that. I believe the puck style LED’s will become a memory.

Not

 

[mtraylor]

Just impressive! Beutiful!

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Daniel, that torch middle right is FIRE!! super nice. I still have some dragon souls for sale at CF.... hint hint.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Since it seemed like halides t5 was the way to go on my 8x4 tank i thought i would post a pictures of the lights I just picked up. Four t5ho units $50/each and three blockbuster reflectors $20/each. Here they are laid out on a sheet of 4x8 ply.

I think i am going to angle the t5 about 30 degrees towards the center of the tank.

 

[Bpb]

What is the size on those blockbusters

 

[mtraylor]

Looking good!

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

25x25 glass but the cooling intakes makes them 31 long so I may cut them down a bit.
They cast a VERY even swath of light. And the glass is on a hinge so they are easy to clean. If you decide to air cool them they get dirty.

I have not decided if i am going to hook a vent fan to them or not.

 

[Bpb]

25x25 glass but the cooling intakes makes them 31 long so I may cut them down a bit.
They cast a VERY even swath of light. And the glass is on a hinge so they are easy to clean. If you decide to air cool them they get dirty.

I have not decided if i am going to hook a vent fan to them or not.

They’re tempting but my concern is that giant cooling tube port looks like it just ruins any reflective ness of that side, essentially turning them into wing reflectors in in a nice housing. Thoughts? I’m curious because I’m in the market for 3-4 large halide reflectors for a raceway

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Granted, you do loose some light but it is only a very small amount. They are inline with the bulb so you are only loosing light that is being reflected at a very tight angle as there is not much lighy coming from the tip of the bulb and none coming from the base. I hope this makes sense.

I did a LOT of research on reflectors as i used to be in the commercial growing industry. I cant find the link with the actual par numbers but here is a page where they reviewed a ton of different reflectors. http://greners.growlifeinc.com/reflector-test.html

As you can see, small differences in reflector make big changes in light values.

I am really interested to see how much light gets thrown down as opposed to out. At 24" these lights throw about 700-800 par in a 3x3 pattern but that is in air with a 1,000watt bulb.

 

[Bpb]

Granted, you do loose some light but it is only a very small amount. They are inline with the bulb so you are only loosing light that is being reflected at a very tight angle as there is not much lighy coming from the tip of the bulb and none coming from the base. I hope this makes sense.

I did a LOT of research on reflectors as i used to be in the commercial growing industry. I cant find the link with the actual par numbers but here is a page where they reviewed a ton of different reflectors. http://greners.growlifeinc.com/reflector-test.html

As you can see, small differences in reflector make big changes in light values.

I am really interested to see how much light gets thrown down as opposed to out. At 24" these lights throw about 700-800 par in a 3x3 pattern but that is in air with a 1,000watt bulb.

would you care to pm me a link of where you found them so cheap? Do they have standard e39 sockets to accept 250/400 watt Bulbs?