LEDs. Forever controversial?
- Thread starter TheEngineer
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http://glassbox-design.com/2016/radium-20k-lovers-consider-stocking-up/
As I have said many many times in this discussion over many forums the lighting industry is moving on from MH technology. I love MH light's heck I was one the first people to use 20K bulbs back in the day found them one night when I was on third shift reading thru all the technical catalogs we have at work from all the manufacturers of industrial equipment. I am currently learning to use LED's because like it or not the tech is dead. It's like people who love old CRT's the made them for a few years and once LED TV's took off they could not support the factories that made them and had to shut them down. Large industrial uses of MH are not happening anymore they are switching to LED or T5 fixtures. The factories that do maintence in are removing or using retro fit LED systems in place of MH. We use this system http://www.lunera.com/products/susan-lamp/
As I have said many many times in this discussion over many forums the lighting industry is moving on from MH technology. I love MH light's heck I was one the first people to use 20K bulbs back in the day found them one night when I was on third shift reading thru all the technical catalogs we have at work from all the manufacturers of industrial equipment. I am currently learning to use LED's because like it or not the tech is dead. It's like people who love old CRT's the made them for a few years and once LED TV's took off they could not support the factories that made them and had to shut them down. Large industrial uses of MH are not happening anymore they are switching to LED or T5 fixtures. The factories that do maintence in are removing or using retro fit LED systems in place of MH. We use this system http://www.lunera.com/products/susan-lamp/
I agree the tech is moving away from MH. But for me the problem is that I have still never seen an LED tank that looks better than MH. Yes, I get it I will have to move at some point. I am just hoping that there are some better fixtures in the next few years that make the LED more appealing.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. With a Radion I have the option to make it look like any MH out there. From 5k to 20k [emoji2]
Wildman926
Community Member
He has some of the most gorgeously colored colonies I have ever seen.
No offense, but this pic is typical of the lack of colors in corals using led. Lots of drab blue and purple, and florescent green. What little red that is in the tank, is not really red at all.
The algae in corals react to the wavelengths or spectrum of light that it receives. LED's have finite wavelengths that are emitted, and the lack of colors of corals in LED lit tanks illustrate that.
Agreed. I have seen many many LED tanks. It looks different, but I would never say that it looked like any MH. Yes you can change the colors, and I have to put in a different bulb, but you do pay a premium for that feature.
The funny thing is I have more tech on my tank that probably anyone I know, I have it hooked into home automation, that monitors and alerts far above what I can do with just my Apex alone. But with LED I just haven't found the thing that will make me switch. Even the fixtures that people think are so slick, just don't do it for me. My Giesemann Spectra has been on my tank for 8 years and still looks better to me than trying to hang six separate radions over my tank.
cjd
Well-Known Member
Part of the issue is most of the led for life guys , which nothing wrong with that please, don't have that background in what halides and t5 can do . they came into this hobby ,leds were making a run , bought them , used them, see things grow and everything is good. not personally experiencing they way a coral reacts to that halide or t5 set up. I think you hit the mark about the narrow wavelength that they emit . Now the newer units may be better at this I'm not sure ,don't have one nor im I willing to get one just yet since they will come out with something new next year. ( I guess the manufactures have to do something since these guys don't buy bulbs anymore)
All Delight
2500 Club Member
I'm a t5 lifer.
I think that tank overall is very nice, but I agree that is the typical of colors that you see in an LED tank and not what I would want in my tank at all. And I do agree with cjd that many people have come into the hobby with LED only and never really seen what you can do with MH.
So just for comparison here is a shot of one of my tanks from years ago with MH. Definitely doesn't look like an LED lit tank, and is why I am holding out for something better from LED.
Wildman926
Community Member
Very nice.
I feel the best combo is LED and MH or T5. LED will give the "pop" that people crave, but the MH or T5 fill in the gaps in the light spectrum that the LEDs lack to give the colors we are used to seeing or expect. New aquarist that started with LED only, do not know any better, and do not know what they are missing.
I feel the best combo is LED and MH or T5. LED will give the "pop" that people crave, but the MH or T5 fill in the gaps in the light spectrum that the LEDs lack to give the colors we are used to seeing or expect. New aquarist that started with LED only, do not know any better, and do not know what they are missing.
I agree, I have blue LED reef brites hanging off my MH fixture and it adds a nice pop, as you say. So I do have the LED, MH, T5 combo.
Greenstreet.1
5000 Club Member
Wow some of you guys are making a lot of bad assumptions about LEDs most of all about when It comes to color growth and looks.
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WetWhistle
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I have been in this hobby for a few decades now and the lighting topic has always been one of those flash point discussions. For every new lighting technology that I can remember people always trashed talked when they first came out with them saying "insert hardware of choice here" will not work. This includes T5, T8, T10, power compact ect at one point none of these were said to work. People get stuck with their lighting choice and sometimes have difficulty wanting to admit that theirs might not be the best anymore or the only thing that works. I have used MH for over 25 years until a few years ago when I switched to LED and I will not switch back. I was one of those die hard nothing works as good as MH people, that is till I tried my hands at LED. LED work fantastic for me and they have so much granularity in the setting that T5 and MH just don't have.
People like to talk about all the spectrum that is missed in this or that style of lighting but they don't stop to realize a few very important things about light and what corals actually need. Some of spectrum that are in T5 or MH or any lighting choice for that matter are not used for photosynthesis so who cares if they are missing. Using this as a reason not to use any light source is a weak argument at best because you can always make up for it in other ways. I have grown LPS and SPS coral under nothing more then a security light I got at home depot, a heater and an air stone for water movement with a lot of food being fed. A poor mechanic blames his tools as the saying goes. Light is only one aspect of coral husbandry that influences growth and is not the only thing that is important for coral growth. Available quality food sources make up for lack of lighting in my experience to an extent. Proper water flow and available supplements like Calcium, mag and ALK also influence coral growth greatly and without these corals will not grow. Today pretty much any light source can grow corals. So people need to stop focusing on just lighting.
What the OP is going for and is trying to say is enough already there is more then enough proof LED grow corals so stop spreading bad information around saying they don't work. Because they do so stop spreading bad info! That it is ok to not like and that you don't have to use it if you don't want to. Just stop saying they don't work because you look stupid for says so with so much proof they do.
Now with that being said it breaks down to personal preference in light choices sometimes. Some people just don't like the look of a light and it can be as simple as that. To me I think it is stupid for me to spend all that money on T5 replacement bulb every year that I need an army of when there are other alternatives to meet my needs.
People like to talk about all the spectrum that is missed in this or that style of lighting but they don't stop to realize a few very important things about light and what corals actually need. Some of spectrum that are in T5 or MH or any lighting choice for that matter are not used for photosynthesis so who cares if they are missing. Using this as a reason not to use any light source is a weak argument at best because you can always make up for it in other ways. I have grown LPS and SPS coral under nothing more then a security light I got at home depot, a heater and an air stone for water movement with a lot of food being fed. A poor mechanic blames his tools as the saying goes. Light is only one aspect of coral husbandry that influences growth and is not the only thing that is important for coral growth. Available quality food sources make up for lack of lighting in my experience to an extent. Proper water flow and available supplements like Calcium, mag and ALK also influence coral growth greatly and without these corals will not grow. Today pretty much any light source can grow corals. So people need to stop focusing on just lighting.
What the OP is going for and is trying to say is enough already there is more then enough proof LED grow corals so stop spreading bad information around saying they don't work. Because they do so stop spreading bad info! That it is ok to not like and that you don't have to use it if you don't want to. Just stop saying they don't work because you look stupid for says so with so much proof they do.
Now with that being said it breaks down to personal preference in light choices sometimes. Some people just don't like the look of a light and it can be as simple as that. To me I think it is stupid for me to spend all that money on T5 replacement bulb every year that I need an army of when there are other alternatives to meet my needs.
fragit
2500 Club Member
Here is a good article written by Mike Paletta from 2014, much more current. Lot's of good conversation going on about this topic.
coral-excerpt-seeing-the-light-the-conversion-from-years-of-metal-halide-use-to-radically-new-leds
coral-excerpt-seeing-the-light-the-conversion-from-years-of-metal-halide-use-to-radically-new-leds
I ran T5's for 5yrs before going LED's. I'll never go back. Speaking from experience. [emoji2]
Very well put. Kudos [emoji2]
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