Question about led lighting vs t5

[saltyfilmfolks]

T5's with a nuclear reactor ballast. Im onto something.

Ive said too much.

Hahahaha.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

T5's with a nuclear reactor ballast. Im onto something.

Ive said too much.

I have a friend with 250w mh on his tank.
I estimate the top of the tank at 2000 par.
Maybe a little more.
No nukes.

 

[Havoks]

Thats a lot of par, but i guess corals acclimate to anything over time.

 

[hart24601]

I have noticed locally this is a common theme, a few folks run leds pretty low and are not very happy. Switch to 8 bulb t5 and are thrilled. Now those t5 are nice fixtures, but the PAR of the leds was far, far less running at like 30% max, and you can't really make a fair comparison in that situation unless matching par or lux. I have seen this several times. One was running leds so low when they made the switch to t5 the power consumption jumped 3 fold. Sure there is a debatable difference in efficiency but not that much. Way more light going in.

 

[OnPointCorals]

Sps love T5!!
I'm seeing more and more sticks guys myself included switching from led with T5 supplement to T5 with Led supplement and getting the results they could never achieve with the former.

 

[hart24601]

Sps love T5!!
I'm seeing more and more sticks guys myself included switching from led with T5 supplement to T5 with Led supplement and getting the results they could never achieve with the former.

You are totally right, LEDs have always been easy peasy for me so that I why I started paying attention to local folks moving away from them and what I have been noticing above. But I check PAR with my local club's meter so I cheat!

 

[Tapio]

Thats a lot of par, but i guess corals acclimate to anything over time.

PAR by itself is only a guideline. The important thing is spectrum. I am running 3 x 250 W MH with 2 XHO Reef Brite LED Blue strips over my reef. Top of the tank PAR may read 2000. Out in the sun even more. I have never burned healthy SPS corals with too much light. MH or T5 which I also like. The spectrum from both LED and T5 cover a wide range spectrum unlike many LED designs. Many LED fixtures focus LED light beams into the tank at high intensities capable of burning coral tissue at several hot spots. Radions and other high end LED can be run full blast.