Metal Halide and T5 Grow Corals Better Than LED and Cost Less

[Backreefing]

I switched from BB LEDS and t5 to metal halides and the same t5 lights. I’m not going back . Metal halides are the bomb . LEDs don’t save on electricity by much . New radons are 205 watts vs 250 watt halides. Not much now throw in some heaters and it’s a tie.
also LEDS have great color but IMO LEDs light fixtures lose power after 2-3 years . No scientific prof of it , just my experience.
And halide bulbs can be gotten on sales for $25-$40 per bulb , so . So what . Get new LEDs every 3-5 years $$$$$$
Lastly my corals LOVE my Halides .

 

[Bpb]

I’ll come out and admit I love the simplicity and growth of my mh, I am jealous of my friends colors who run radion/t5 combos. The vibrancy I see in some of those acros is just otherworldly

 

[oreo54]

Sure, use black boxes as your representation of the best LEDs on the market today. When I see these threads about best lighting I will use examples of Radions, Hydras, Kessils, Orphek, Mitras.

"best of the best" vs "best of the best"
See any errors:
5 years roughly no difference..

Starting w/ the MH t5 hybrid:
$2200 for the fixture.
$800 for bulb replacements w/ a change schedule of 18 months and assuming initial fixture comes w/ a set.
$3000
1070 Electrical watts at the bulbs approx

Not considering heating ect .. just sort of light equivalence.

Current Radion Gen 5
4 units placed sideways for a 72 x 24 area
$3359.96

720 Watts at the diodes..
I consider that about watt equiv..

big assumption is that the Radions are run full..

 

[Sdot]

I switched from BB LEDS and t5 to metal halides and the same t5 lights. I’m not going back . Metal halides are the bomb . LEDs don’t save on electricity by much . New radons are 205 watts vs 250 watt halides. Not much now throw in some heaters and it’s a tie.
also LEDS have great color but IMO LEDs light fixtures lose power after 2-3 years . No scientific prof of it , just my experience.
And halide bulbs can be gotten on sales for $25-$40 per bulb , so . So what . Get new LEDs every 3-5 years $$$$$$
Lastly my corals LOVE my Halides .

But most are not running radions or any LEDs 100% for the most part. I have 4 Orphek panels that are 235 Watts each. Im barely at 60% during peak and i get nearly 250 par on the sandbed..... Whether you hate them or love them, LEDs are the future until another technology comes around... maybe laser lights..who knows. What i do know is every generation of LED's the tech and efficiency gets a whole lot better.

 

[Phildago]

I’ll come out and admit I love the simplicity and growth of my mh, I am jealous of my friends colors who run radion/t5 combos. The vibrancy I see in some of those acros is just otherworldly

It goes both ways. My lighting system has gotten so complicated that it's where I spend that majority of my time on my tank.

Admittedly, I'm a freak who enjoys building and tinkering and would get bored otherwise. But in moments of frustrated contemplation I do find myself wishing mh was a valid option for me.

 

[RCS82]

I have a 250w hamilton reflector / Phoenix 14k bulb with a G4 XR15 pro clipped on the front. It's kinda funny cause the M/H is the main lighting with the Radion just for ramp up and down and some evening color pop. The M/H is a cheaper setup than the single XR15 but does most of the work lol.

 

[oreo54]

I have a 250w hamilton reflector / Phoenix 14k bulb with a G4 XR15 pro clipped on the front. It's kinda funny cause the M/H is the main lighting with the Radion just for ramp up and down and some evening color pop. The M/H is a cheaper setup than the single XR15 but does most of the work lol.

Radion has 2.5 x less "photons" and prob never ran at full.. so that's how it should be...


If you had 250W of radions and a 100W MH you would do the opposite.. if you could..

 

[RCS82]

"best of the best" vs "best of the best"
See any errors:
5 years roughly no difference..

Well I like the fact I'm getting a, just guessing, a Geisemann Spectra with 3 250w halides and 4 80w tubes for 1070 watts. Not sure I would spend 2200 US on it but I like it. Hamilton Cebu fixture is half that price but not as nice to look at I gather.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

I had used metal halide/vho actinic forever also used a chiller and the heat produced from the lighting added more heat to the room. These are all great if you live in a cold climate but terrible in hot climates. When I went to Orphek Atlantiks ver 2.1b I had better growth and could grow almost anything. The halides gave a great shimmer and it was super easy to give direction to the house at night. Just told people to look for the glow. I have watched people and the number of led fixtures they use go up. So if you look at what it takes to cover a large tank say a 6 ft x 30"x30" three mh and 2-4 T5 no shadowing. 2-3 Atlantiks some shadowing. Six Radions and still slight shadowing. Ways to get rid of shadowing is use led bars at angles or add T5, use more led fixtures. Personally I will never go back to metal halide. I will supplement led with T5 just to cut some of the shadowing and go with more led fixtures. It is all preference but many large coral suppliers have gone to led fixtures and they are getting colors they could not before. The early trials with led turned some off and stayed with mh. I know of a number of growers that have gone to led and they are having good growth and color, they claim very big reductions in their power bills and their cooling systems are not running all the time. Almost every LFS I go to uses led or T5 but even the numbers using T5 is less. They tell me they can't afford the electric bill using mh.

 

[DraggingTail]

What are you growing that you need 300 PAR at 30 inches?

Just Acans, Scroll and whatever this freebee is

at that level. They love it.

 

[Sdot]

I had used metal halide/vho actinic forever also used a chiller and the heat produced from the lighting added more heat to the room. These are all great if you live in a cold climate but terrible in hot climates. When I went to Orphek Atlantiks ver 2.1b I had better growth and could grow almost anything. The halides gave a great shimmer and it was super easy to give direction to the house at night. Just told people to look for the glow. I have watched people and the number of led fixtures they use go up. So if you look at what it takes to cover a large tank say a 6 ft x 30"x30" three mh and 2-4 T5 no shadowing. 2-3 Atlantiks some shadowing. Six Radions and still slight shadowing. Ways to get rid of shadowing is use led bars at angles or add T5, use more led fixtures. Personally I will never go back to metal halide. I will supplement led with T5 just to cut some of the shadowing and go with more led fixtures. It is all preference but many large coral suppliers have gone to led fixtures and they are getting colors they could not before. The early trials with led turned some off and stayed with mh. I know of a number of growers that have gone to led and they are having good growth and color, they claim very big reductions in their power bills and their cooling systems are not running all the time. Almost every LFS I go to uses led or T5 but even the numbers using T5 is less. They tell me they can't afford the electric bill using mh.

No Shadowing:

 

[Bruce Burnett]

No Shadowing:

Like I said more fixtures but when you get a lot of coral growth you may still need to do something to counter the shadowing by the corals. A lot of the lower parts will lose color.

 

[Sdot]

Like I said more fixtures but when you get a lot of coral growth you may still need to do something to counter the shadowing by the corals. A lot of the lower parts will lose color.

Im getting 250 par on the sand bed

 

[Sdot]

Like I said more fixtures but when you get a lot of coral growth you may still need to do something to counter the shadowing by the corals. A lot of the lower parts will lose color.

Thats with any light.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Thats with any light.

True but T5 have the least shadowing in that respect and you do not need to run them as long as your Leds. A 6 or 8 bulb ATI fixture have never seen the severe shadowing that you can get from led. Now mind you I would never go back to mh or just t5. I like led pop and configurability.

 

[Sdot]

True but T5 have the least shadowing in that respect and you do not need to run them as long as your Leds. A 6 or 8 bulb ATI fixture have never seen the severe shadowing that you can get from led. Now mind you I would never go back to mh or just t5. I like led pop and configurability.

Agreed, and forgive me im not here to argue or debate. But Orpek is the "LED" equivalent to t5's i would say. I dont believe T5s would give me the par needed for my tank. As far as shadowing i think im good.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Agreed, and forgive me im not here to argue or debate. But Orpek is the "LED" equivalent to t5's i would say. I dont believe T5s would give me the par needed for my tank. As far as shadowing i think im good.

I think Orphek are the best out there and agree with multiple units they will give the least shadowing. Even though people think Orphek is expensive 4 will be as good as coverage of 8 radion for a lot more money

 

[Bpb]

Agreed, and forgive me im not here to argue or debate. But Orpek is the "LED" equivalent to t5's i would say. I dont believe T5s would give me the par needed for my tank. As far as shadowing i think im good.

A well designed light from a features standpoint but the reports of their customer service and how problematic their lights have been based on complaints on here are horrific. Especially if running an sps tank. One can’t afford to have the entire light go down and take weeks to fix or pay full price to just have a backup

 

[Biglurr54]

I still think Halide as a main light and Led as supplement is the best approach. (I live in Upstate NY so heat is welcome). I agree that LEDs pull much better colors but Halides can grow much faster. I run a 400w Radium and led bars. (Royal Blue, UV and True Violet) Each LED bar has the same uv and Royal Blue leds as Radion XR30 G4 pros. This adds to the color big time. Its the best of both worlds. My tank is 36x36x32 so the switch to LED is expensive and difficult to implement. One 400w halide nails it perfectly though.

 

[Biglurr54]

All taken with out a filter. No blue light trickery