Led or T5's

[leftyfish]

I don't want to hijack this thread...I have seen them in person, just not on my tank, haha.. I don't particularly like a real blue look, that's why I think the mixture would give a good balance. Time will tell!

Back to the discussion t5 or LEDs. What I found for me:

T5s: upfront cost lower, maintenance higher, bulbs lose effectiveness or strength so you have to change them out one at a time or reduce light schedule and increase it again if you change all bulbs at once. I noticed you will not get the maximum fluorescence possible from your corals. Can have on and off, no in-between, no mimicking cloud cover, moon cycle, etc. Still require separate LEDs for moonlight, or they are built in to fixture.

LEDs: crap ton of money up front, with a controller you set it and forget it. 5 years from now when the led goes out you replace the led bulb and your back in business for another five, given the module/fixture is still working. The Sol module and controller allow you to set up for cloud cover, the moon cycle, etc.

 

[Gregcoyote]

You can sure go fancy with the LEDs, but I ordered panels from a China supplier a few years back and they are still booming. Coral is doing great. Can't do anything fancy with them, on or off, but I got 330 1watt mixed blue and white LEDs in 3 panels and spent $750. They will also custom build panels with 2 watt LEDs if the panel needs to be smaller.

My reef is over 18 years old. I have in the past really harmed it accidentally by not changing metal halide bulbs as often as recommended. The change is so gradual, it might not be caught until damage is done. The LEDs virtually eliminate this type of mistake.

 

[Chisel]

You can sure go fancy with the LEDs, but I ordered panels from a China supplier a few years back and they are still booming. Coral is doing great. Can't do anything fancy with them, on or off, but I got 330 1watt mixed blue and white LEDs in 3 panels and spent $750. They will also custom build panels with 2 watt LEDs if the panel needs to be smaller.

My reef is over 18 years old. I have in the past really harmed it accidentally by not changing metal halide bulbs as often as recommended. The change is so gradual, it might not be caught until damage is done. The LEDs virtually eliminate this type of mistake.

I agree Greg. It seems like every time I change my T5 bulbs, it's an eye opener at how much the difference is.

 

[Greenmaster]

I have DIY LEDs and I love them to bits... I only have had one coral SPS for one month but the growth is awesome. If I could have afforded it I would have gone with dimmers and controller setups but I opted for DIY

 

[Gregcoyote]

Like any light, you need the right output in watts and the right color spectrums. With LEDs you just add them up. My best guess is that 120 watts of leds will light about 75 gallons. It is easy to make them yourself, or order them pre made. I personally think the controllers are cool, but they add a layer of expense and complexity I will avoid for now. My tank is 32" deep and the LEDs hang about 8" above the water. They grow soft corals fine on the very bottom of the reef. At the top, I keep hard corals, but have to acclimate them to the light slowly. One down side is that my rapidly growing colonies of mushrooms only expand about half as big as they use to as a result of the lighting increase. But everything else took off and I haven't had to run my chiller in a year.

 

[Gti_Leo]

I don't want to hijack this thread...I have seen them in person, just not on my tank, haha.. I don't particularly like a real blue look, that's why I think the mixture would give a good balance. Time will tell!

Back to the discussion t5 or LEDs. What I found for me:

T5s: upfront cost lower, maintenance higher, bulbs lose effectiveness or strength so you have to change them out one at a time or reduce light schedule and increase it again if you change all bulbs at once. I noticed you will not get the maximum fluorescence possible from your corals. Can have on and off, no in-between, no mimicking cloud cover, moon cycle, etc. Still require separate LEDs for moonlight, or they are built in to fixture.

LEDs: crap ton of money up front, with a controller you set it and forget it. 5 years from now when the led goes out you replace the led bulb and your back in business for another five, given the module/fixture is still working. The Sol module and controller allow you to set up for cloud cover, the moon cycle, etc.

false, there are dimmable ballasts for T5s. they are a bit more money but all an electronic balast does is manipulates the electrical frequency to raise the output voltage, so addign a dimmer to them is as simple as addign a dimmer to your standard incondesent bedroom fixture

 

[leftyfish]

false, there are dimmable ballasts for T5s. they are a bit more money but all an electronic balast does is manipulates the electrical frequency to raise the output voltage, so addign a dimmer to them is as simple as addign a dimmer to your standard incondesent bedroom fixture

For around $100 bucks, not bad, but wouldn't you have to manually dim them? I'm more of a set it and forget it when it comes to lights, my days vary so much it is easier to have programmable timers rather than having to be there to dim it! Are there ones that dim them on there own?

 

[Gti_Leo]

BlueLine Products - Reef Aquarium Lighting & Pumps

its a dawn/dusk controller

 

[leftyfish]

SWEET! To bad my 20" nova pro isn't upgradable to my 48" tank Another reason I went with the LEDs, ability to upgrade with me.

 

[Gti_Leo]

you can still use the nova pro it would just be more of a spot light like a halide is.

if you have a DIY LED yeah you can add more but you'd have to add more fixtures if its not, just like your T5s

 

[Greenmaster]

If I had the money I would have gone with one of these CRAZY EXPENSIVE SUPER LED Fixture

 

[Gti_Leo]

holyyyy $4600 for LEDs soo not worth it

 

[Gregcoyote]

Is that price with a fancy controller? That is robbery if not. If the LEDs are all dimmable and can display different light conditions, then there is a lot of support electronics needed to do that. Still too much money. I guess I need to get into the LED business. It should be about 2-3 bucks per 1 watt led. 2 watts should be from 4-6 bucks each. A 100 watt LED panel with 100 1watt LEDs without fancy switching, just on or off, with heat sinks and fans should cost from $250 -$500 delivered.

No wonder so many people shy away...at that price I would to.

 

[Gregcoyote]

When I get my next batch of panels in, I will take some photos. I am considering importing these in quantity as I have had such good luck with them over the past year. I should be able to offer a 150watt LED panel equivalent to a 300-400 metal halide for as little as $350. Any interest?

 

[Tomchong22]

I have kind of had the same question on my lights. I think I am going to go with led or my 60 gal.(24 in deep). This is kind of a side question. Should I go with one 48" led fixture or 2 20ish in fixtures? My tank has a divider on the center of the hood. Any suggestions? Also any reviews on marineland led fixtures?

 

[Gregcoyote]

I don't think it matters as long as you get the coverage you want. I cannot comment on the Marineland LEDs as the expense of these units was way out of my price range. I went with a Chinese manufacturer (I know, shame on me) that import the panels to me for a fraction the the price of fixtures like the Marineland. They are not fancy, but they work fine for me. They grow soft and hard coral...what more do you want?

 

[Gti_Leo]

it does matter how many LEDs you have, also the reflective lenses make a difference also. as well ALL LEDs are dimmable but the drivers need to be dimmable to be able to function the way its supposed to

for your 60 i think two 20LED fixtures should be enough. as

 

[Greenmaster]

I have not herd anything good about the marineland ones... I think they use lower powered LED's so they won't penetrate as well/be as bright.

 

[Tomchong22]

The one that I am looking at has 8 1w 10000k led and 4 moonlight led. Now this is for the 20in one. I'm just really looking for a good light that can penetrate a 24" deep tank and allow me to keep some soft corals bottom to mid way and maybe hard corals at top of that tank. Ie with in 6 to 10 in.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I don't think that is anywhere near the number of 1 watt LEDs it will take to grow coral, except in a very small nano reef. My recommendation is for 10-15x that number for a tank that is 24" deep, but it depends on you total gallonage and coverage you want. I have seen these lights on Nano tanks and don't think they are sufficient for even a 14 gallon tank.

This is why LED gets a bad rap sometimes, it takes total wattage to do the trick. 8-15 watts of LED is not enough except for a very little tank. Again, I would use at least 2 watts of LED per gallon, mixed 1/3 actinic blue and 2/3 bright white. The more depth, the better the reflector and/or more LEDs it takes.