To mh or not to mh
- Thread starter Beta reefs.
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- Tagged users None
That's a question only you can answer. If you're seeking confirmation bias, there is a subset of folks that still take up arms to defend MHs.
Whatever the circumstances, you'll be fine with whatever you choose. I would just urge you to consider the pros and cons and allow that to be the basis of your decision.
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Halides create heat, and a lot of it, LED's not nearly so much, do you have good enough ventilation to remove the added heat from the Halides? If not how do you plan to compensate to keep water chilled to 78-80 degrees F because I am pretty sure the Halides will heat your water.
CNDReef
Formally Toomanyfish
Everyone likes different things and there’s different tools for each job. I’d say if your tank is 6 ft wide and you don’t mind the bulkiness of halides I’d go with them. There’s a new company selling halides now don’t remember the name but it’s in a mh thread here on r2r.
bobnicaragua
Well-Known Member
Corals are hardy under Halides. There are lots of SPS dominant tanks still running them for a reason.
You’re asking a very broad question without giving any details about your tank or what you are wanting to accomplish.
You’re asking a very broad question without giving any details about your tank or what you are wanting to accomplish.
xabo
Valuable Member
tmc13
Community Member
As others have said, you can still get a few fixtures, but bulbs are getting harder and harder to find. I'm running my current tank on led's out of necessity, not at all because I love them. If halide bulbs and fixtures were still as abundant as in their peak times I would have them on my tank without question (and yes with a chiller), the same setup as I always had. I may be dating myself, but remember the old bio cubes that came with the single HQI clip on? I even had one of those and loved it, grew anything I wanted. Even maxima clams grew like crazy. Have never been a fan of T5's in any capacity, hate the look, even mixed in with other lighting, just never looked right to me. Yes, they can color and grow coral incredibly without question, which may be the most important factor to some, but not to me. Aesthetics to me is a very close second. I've never been a super blue guy in any of my reef tanks and the Radion 20k overdriven with a bit of actinic lighting always looked just perfect to me and when not overdriven just stand alone looked fantastic also. Unfortunately, those days are gone, technology advances, and time moves on. To stay in the hobby, I've settled on led's and that's OK, things are doing quite well, but should the day ever come (yeah right), where halides should make a comeback, I'm all in. Good luck with whatever decision you make.
From what I understand my T5 set up from 15 years past is gonna be difficult to keep going for the same reason. I'm not even sure I want to invest in bulbs. I'll need eight 54W bulbs and that'll run a couple of bills. It's the cheaper way to go at the start for me, but ultimately I feel an exercise in futility. LEDs seem SO much better anyway!
I also had to conciede to the use of LED just due to the scarcity of available halide fixtures. I used to run 2 250w 20k moguls and 4 65w PC actinics over a standard 55 enclosed in a hood with 2 6 inch computer fans on the back for cooling. The only LEDs were for moonlights. I didn't run a chiller on that tank and it never ran hot. Like all the other halide reminiscers here have stated I could grow anything in that tank .
If you like the look of the halides and and have access to the equipment then I would say go for it. If you want a light that has a similar look in the tank though definately not as powerful use Kessils, AI's or some other form of LED with a tight LED array. If you want less shimmer go with something that has a more spread out LED arrangement.
The biggest bummer I have found with LEDs is that the par doesn't penetrate the water as well as the halides do. The technology is improving it's just not quite there yet. Also I have to run my LEDs longer to get similar results as less tume under halides. This extended run time makes the power savings of the LED a wash. The other thing about the halides is that they don't throw your camera for a loop. You can just shoot pictures of corals/fish without the windex effect and no filters needed.
If you like the look of the halides and and have access to the equipment then I would say go for it. If you want a light that has a similar look in the tank though definately not as powerful use Kessils, AI's or some other form of LED with a tight LED array. If you want less shimmer go with something that has a more spread out LED arrangement.
The biggest bummer I have found with LEDs is that the par doesn't penetrate the water as well as the halides do. The technology is improving it's just not quite there yet. Also I have to run my LEDs longer to get similar results as less tume under halides. This extended run time makes the power savings of the LED a wash. The other thing about the halides is that they don't throw your camera for a loop. You can just shoot pictures of corals/fish without the windex effect and no filters needed.
bobnicaragua
Well-Known Member
Never say die!!
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