Lighting Comparison; LED vs MH?

[Jimbo7]

I've been gone for quite some time, had to take down my previous tanks and didnt want to set something up in a dorm after my pico. This year I have an apartment and the itch is finally irresistible. I'm going to set up my brothers (Pat8You) 12DX which i inherited.

My question is what is the best, most ideal lighting you would run?
I have a 70W K-2 Viper laying around I want to use, and then thought of building it into a fixture with a 10,000k bulb and get 2 12" T5 actinic bulbs.

Then i found this:
Nanocustoms Hybrid LED + T5 Nano-Reef Lighting Nanotuners.com
Which seems to me would run cooler and more energy efficient.

I know a lot of it is personal preference, so i'm polling you guys.
All thoughts, examples and opinions are welcome.

 

[Zer0]

Honestly, i would use LED's if i could, and i only hear good things about the nanotuners nano cube mods. I'm only using MH right now because it was a lot cheaper for me than if i had to buy an LED setup. LED's run cooler, use less energy, and last a heck of a lot longer than any other type of lighting solution. They also give your tank an awesome look and make corals explode with color.

 

[cmor1701d]

I went to LEDs (PacificSun BT-EX) on my 125. No more fans to cool! Evaporation cut in about half so top off tank lasts much longer. Electric savings. Tank temp never wavers. Shimmer effect. I'm rurently running a 2 hour dawn / dusk at 65% power, but will soo set up specific power settings at 40 points to closely imitate equatorial daylight. Oh and the moonlighs are moon phased so the tank has been almiost comletely dark the past two nights. It will be dark this weekend.

 

[Zer0]

Now that is awesome. How can you even compare anything to that?

 

[Jimbo7]

How is the growth? Did you have MH before the LEDs? That fixture i posted is a custom build kinda thing so it doesn't have all the fancy features that most LED systems have. I just want optimum growth and color, while keeping in mind heat and my electrical bill.

 

[cmor1701d]

Well, they are pricey! BUT I was looking at the Giesemann Moonlight 3x250W MH /4x80W T5 which has similar software control but cost more than my LEDs for an 1 year old used fixture!

My LEDs put out 400w equivalent at 100% power.

I'll be posting a thread on my LED installation as soon as I get the latest pics off the camera.

 

[Bige]

I have leds and they are great. Low evap and tank temp. Most people see it and say they are MH any way. You can't tell. Growth is as good or better than mh. Also MH bulbs are costly and need replacing at least once a year. My lights should last like 10 years (we will see). Also cost less to operate. Should I go on? Nanotuners is great and offers great support and will help with what ever you need. Even if you don't buy from them. They also have a forum. Its on the site. OK im done. No wait, theres more. Just kidding. you can go.

 

[Jimbo7]

Is there some conversion or basic assumption between the watts of LED's vs MH? like this fixture,
Nanotuners.com
here are the PAR ratings for it, which is another language for me. Figure it makes sense to someone out there.
https://www.nanotuners.com/pages.php?pID=4

 

[pat8you]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/feature.htm

check out this page. It has a bunch of different tank set ups and the PAR readings to go along with them. You will usually see your PAR reading cut in half just under the water surface. The short answer is going to be with that LED set up you would be approximatly the same as a 150-175W MH set up. Talking very ruff estimate though.

 

[cmor1701d]

That article is from 2003. A lot has changed in the LED market since then. My units have 120 1w LEDs each. They also have another model using the 3w Crees at 160w per unit. The PacSun site has some measurement and Vijay has done some new studies too. I'll look for that link.

 

[Jimbo7]

Interesting. This year is the first year I actually have to worry about my power consumption. Utilities were included in the general dorm fee past 2 years. does pats estimate sound correct though?

 

[M_Matthews]

Normally I'm all about using metal halide in my tank out of habit, but all of these posts have me thinking of switching over to LED. Has anyone encountered any issues with LED over MH?