Metal Halidea... Who has gone back or is still using them?

irie ivan

irie ivan

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Just curious, as I am toying with the idea of roasting some corals, and thinking to either go with some additional leds to suppliment my T5's or to go add either 1 x 250 or 2 x 150 halides on my 900x300x400 tank together with my 4x54w T5's
 
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the shotgun approach, I took mine down about 8 months ago cause I could run 3 LED chips with the same amount of power consumption.

They are very effective, however they consume power and make plenty heat.
 
I think south Africa has a very different view to leds compared to other countries..i know sps guys have been going back to t5 and MH as they do not see same results with leds...here in south Africa the electricity means the running cost of mh are higher than t5 or led coz they chow current

if electricity was cheaper I would be running a MH/T5 combo with additional led for colour:p
 
I'm using them for about 20 years now, fastest way to grow corals and they love the intense light. I don't mind the electricity bill, reef keeping an expensive hobby.
 
What corals are you going to be roasting...? :p

I'm not sure about LPS etc,

If I could add my 2c.

I switched from 150w MH to 70W LED and the growth I'm seeing is way better.(On zoas)

I think there is more to it than intensity and wattage.(In some insistence's)

I believe the whole sunrise and sunset simulates growth and makes the coral feel their in "natural" environment. :) my 2c
 
Its got to do with CRI, and intensity and even spread of all the colours , something that LED doesnt seem to have achieved yet, except MAYBE in the very top end toys. It all seems like tge proverbial disco ball effect to me.... The new cob chips seem to be getting there.
On my 1.5 x 0.7 x 0.6 I ran 2x250 mh, 2 x 150mh and 6x 54w ati... Yes, i fit them all in... Tightly!
I am well aware of the running costs and heat and globe replacement, but I'll deal with that...
Did not intend for this to be an LED vs whatever thread, just want to see if i am the only crazy one still thinking halides in this LED crazed hobby.
Stumbled on a huge tgread on RC this morning which definitely has me thinking that I am not all that crazy ;)
 
Have ordered a 10w LED spot and an actinic chip to put in it, will receive it today... Have a 250 halide thats lying around, at this stage its 4xt5 & 1x250, or, 4xT5 & 5x10w led or 4x T5 & 2x150mh.
If i can find someone to build me a neat looking box to fit my 250 reflector in.... Its really a no brainer which way I'll go
 
So not many still running halides... Decided to use the 10w LED spot as a moonlight, and installed my 10k 250W halide. Will add anoyher 10W spot as well, and replacing the 10K with a 14K BLV. Once thats in, will decide if the 4x54w should all be blues & actinics, or leave in a coral plus.
Let the roasting begin ;)
 
I think for small tank led could be considered.
I did look into converting to led at some point but with a large tank it wasn't worth the hassle.

Also I am not convinced that led could compete with my light unit.
It's a monster and love the look of the tank fully lit. I don't believe anything could compare to MH intensity
 
irie ivan said:
Its got to do with CRI, and intensity and even spread of all the colours , something that LED doesnt seem to have achieved yet, except MAYBE in the very top end toys.
Click to expand...

I think that's the important thing to remember, you get led and you get LED cant buy a sanyong and expect it to be as reliable or perform as well as a Toyota

I have the Pacific sun unit SMT 450 watt 3 panel, i have designed my par table to run at 75-85 percent per channel and then put the total lamp output to 60%. I put it to 85 % initially and burnt some of the brains i had. The SMT panels have no white LED at all, just 9 channels

I think Led allow for far better colors from the coral, and this is perfect as i love running my tank more on the blue side.
 
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