T5/LED vs T5/Metal Hallide

[Reefcowboy]

Another vote for the Spectra, truly an awesome fixture. MH/T5 is hard to be IMO, I’m running Radiums, Blue+, and Actinic.

Also believe it comes down to preference, especially if you’re having success with the type of lighting you’re using. My first tanks were MH/VHO, so I prefer that type of look.

Who knows, if I were starting out in the hobby today I may think led is the only way to go. I have seen a few awesome tanks lit by led but it’s just not for me.....yet

What a tank! Those corals remind me of weeds growing wild. Very good job there

 

[jda]

Fans blowing across the top of the tank might be necessary for some heat - I have to use them in July here in Colorado, but the heat is awesome the rest of the year. You will evaporate more water. This can handle nearly all heat. Turn the fans on when the lights come on, not when the tank starts to get hot (you are already behind if you do this). Also, do not jack around with computer fans, get a Vornado or a really awesome fan that moves a lot of CFM.

 

[Reefcowboy]

A very good friend of mine runs leds at his store’s sps tanks. He has had great results with the Radion G4’s and it influenced me to get them as well. At that point I was running Hydras with t5’s and my tank was doing good(pic).


With the G4’s I was getting great growth, and green colored sps would do well. Pinks, red on the other hand would struggle. Millies would look horrible, like an almost brown/reddish. I then got an Orphek and ran an office tank(still do) where sps do well and color improved, but still shy of what I had experienced with MH’s.

I started a new sps tank and got only frags this time, some from my other tank and some from other members. Some frags came from a memeber using Radions in his frag tanks, different from his display tank where he runs T-5s. His display tank has been on magazines, it is simply amazing, but the corals from his frag tanks look exactly like mine used to with Radions.

Fast forward a few weeks I started to watch these frags simply take off under the Spectra. Not only they encrust differently with MH’s but the early development of colors on strawberry shortcakes, pink lemonades is what really blew my mind. This tank is a also a newly set up system, less than 2 months old.

I agree with a comment from Sanjay on another heated halide vs led thread here on R2R. “It isnt so much about light quantity, but quality”. He was refering to some sps not growing as fast with led as they did when he ran halides.

 

[leepink23]

A very good friend of mine runs leds at his store’s sps tanks. He has had great results with the Radion G4’s and it influenced me to get them as well. At that point I was running Hydras with t5’s and my tank was doing good(pic).


With the G4’s I was getting great growth, and green colored sps would do well. Pinks, red on the other hand would struggle. Millies would look horrible, like an almost brown/reddish. I then got an Orphek and ran an office tank(still do) where sps do well and color improved, but still shy of what I had experienced with MH’s.

I started a new sps tank and got only frags this time, some from my other tank and some from other members. Some frags came from a memeber using Radions in his frag tanks, different from his display tank where he runs T-5s. His display tank has been on magazines, it is simply amazing, but the corals from his frag tanks look exactly like mine used to with Radions.

Fast forward a few weeks I started to watch these frags simply take off under the Spectra. Not only they encrust differently with MH’s but the early development of colors on strawberry shortcakes, pink lemonades is what really blew my mind. This tank is a also a newly set up system, less than 2 months old.

I agree with a comment from Sanjay on another heated halide vs led thread here on R2R. “It isnt so much about light quantity, but quality”. He was refering to some sps not growing as fast with led as they did when he ran halides.

Impressive tank and thanks for sharing, my goal for this thread is to get information out there with real results like yours for people to view, in the end I think everyone’s goal should be healthiest tank possible.

 

[leepink23]

Can anyone share what temperature increase they experienced going from led to halide? I added 1 degree with 4 t5 on for 6 hours.

 

[MTBake]

I've used all kinds of light setups over the past 14 years. Halide/T5 was by far the best setup I've used. I'm currently using a Kessil/T5 setup. Won't be for much longer though. I don't like it and ordered a halide/T5 fixture last night actually. Can't wait to go back to halides! Not knocking leds at all. They're just not for me.

 

[leepink23]

I've used all kinds of light setups over the past 14 years. Halide/T5 was by far the best setup I've used. I'm currently using a Kessil/T5 setup. Won't be for much longer though. I don't like it and ordered a halide/T5 fixture last night actually. Can't wait to go back to halides! Not knocking leds at all. They're just not for me.

Which fixture did you order?

 

[leepink23]

Honestly if you are happy with what you have I wouldn't switch. I too was in your shoes years ago with the g1 radions came out. Switched to those from halides, I had great success with the radions but everytime I looked at the tank it was like something was missing. I went back to halides (250w radiums this time) and haven't looked back.

Of course when I ran the leds it was just leds, no other supplements. Who's to say that I wouldn't have stuck with the leds if I supplemented with t5s, the world will never know lol

My plan is to run this combo at least 6 months to gauge my success, so far 6 weeks in I am pretty happy. Which halide fixture do you use?

 

[MTBake]

Which fixture did you order?

The Cebu Sun by Hamilton. 36" with one 250w 20k halide and 4 T5s.

 

[leepink23]

All of my tanks are now halide. They’re just too good.

Which fixture do you use?

 

[leepink23]

The Cebu Sun by Hamilton. 36" with one 250w 20k halide and 4 T5s.

Let us know how it goes, I looked at that in the 48 inch!

 

[MTBake]

Can anyone share what temperature increase they experienced going from led to halide? I added 1 degree with 4 t5 on for 6 hours.

I'm not too concerned with temp as my system is in my finished basement. It pretty much stays 70* year round down there. That helps with my temps alot. Right now the tank is at 77.6 with my current lighting setup. I notice the heaters kick on occasionally during the day as well. I will post an update with any temp changes after my lighting swap.

Thanks to @Crabs Mcjones for helping me with my lighting decision last night. Glad I did pm him as I had the wrong light fixture in my cart and he helped me get it sorted.

 

[Crabs McJones]

The Cebu Sun by Hamilton. 36" with one 250w 20k halide and 4 T5s.

That setup sounds oddly familiar

 

[trido]

So many replies from those who have switched back... I used to run MH/T-5. I had 1700 watts of power over my display tank and ran a chiller all summer. This didnt include my two grow tanks. Now I run LED/LED/T-5 (Black boxes/Reefbrite/T-5) and have an amazing tank. Now, I dont have to spend $500 a year on bulb replacement, dont deal with major heating issues and I do save electricity. A lot of electricity! All of my corals have the colors they are supposed to and also grow like weeds. Under LED's I grow enough corals in my two grow (35 and 90) to supply the LFS with 600 frags a year without touching my display tank. LED's work just fine. I dont miss MH at all.

 

[leepink23]

So many replies from those who have switched back... I used to run MH/T-5. I had 1700 watts of power over my display tank and ran a chiller all summer. This didnt include my two grow tanks. Now I run LED/LED/T-5 (Black boxes/Reefbrite/T-5) and have an amazing tank. Now, I dont have to spend $500 a year on bulb replacement, dont deal with major heating issues and I do save electricity. A lot of electricity! All of my corals have the colors they are supposed to and also grow like weeds. Under LED's I grow enough corals in my two grow (35 and 90) to supply the LFS with 600 frags a year without touching my display tank. LED's work just fine. I dont miss MH at all.

Thanks for the input, I don’t have any room for a chiller and live in Mississippi which is why temperature concerns me.

 

[trido]

Thanks for the input, I don’t have any room for a chiller and live in Mississippi which is why temperature concerns me.

Mostly lighting is about spectrum blend. So many people claim that with LED's you dont need white light to grow corals. Not true. In the olden days when everyone ran MH, the rule of thumb was with 10K you get fast growth but no amazing color and with 20K you had amazing colors but sacrificed growth. 14K was the happy medium. Even then , most used supplemental lighting for a more even spread of light front to back. Half of LED users dont utilize the white spectrum enough and think that a 20-50K look is perfect. Its great for veiwing, but not for the health of corals. I run my black boxes at 100% blue and 80% white. I use supplemental lighting for a more even lighting spread so I can place corals anywhere I want. Sanjay uses only Radions with no supplemental lighting. He has enough of them for good coverage (8 on a 500G tank) and he runs all channels on 100% for an even blend of spectrum. His tank is pretty amazing.

 

[BoomCorals]

Can anyone share what temperature increase they experienced going from led to halide? I added 1 degree with 4 t5 on for 6 hours.

About 1 degree. Not much.

 

[BoomCorals]

Which fixture do you use?

Lumen Bright Large pendants. Hamilton ballasts and bulbs.

 

[leepink23]

About 1 degree. Not much.

Awesome, that’s manageable! I just bought my daughter a car for her 16th birthday so no upgrades or changes for a little while plus I want to see how my current setup will produce. I have noticed encrusting taking off dramatically since adding T5 to the radions.

 

[EW_Fish]

Halide emits perfect spectrum. All the colors are perfectly blended right from the bulb, whereas LEDS have individual led chips per color, and then has to blend the colors together using lenses or diffusers. metal halide also in my opinion does a better job of par layout whereas leds focus the light down more which is why alot of people add in the T5's for the blanket coverage to help spread it par more and avoid hot spots. Just my thoughts and opinion

Pretty much what he said. The color is even across the tank. Large reflectors and one bulb give a nice even spectrum where leds have multiple colors with single reflectors per node. Giving an uneven spectrum at certain spots of your reef. There is also many factors that play into this. How high its mounted how deep you tank is and so forth. The debate of which is better will never end honestly. I think they all do 100% You can google reefs with mh, leds, t5s, hybrids they all look 120%