Led's or stick with Halides

DIY LEDs, a great option would be the Lumia multi chip or a array based on some Luxeon Ms

 

This I know!

 

Obviously I like LEDs as well, running several systems with them, but until you have experience with halides, it might be early to say the light quality is as good or better. I bet the get there, and for now they are still good, but AS good....

 

What he said.

 

I'm using an evergrow fixture....sorta like reefbreeders. (same company builds them)

 

Ok, then prove a new top of the line led fixture isn't as good. I can prove it will save energy, need less maintenance in the form of bulbs and gives more controllability options. The last "great" tests done were on fixtures worse than I use to light my refugium.

My point is I don't think you can quantify the difference in effectiveness without using feelings. (Ugh, feelings) Whereas it can be shown how often you have to change halide bulbs versus LEDs etc.

 

I am waiting to get our club Par meter butI have had experience with most of the types of lighting. I kept reefs with normal output bulbs. way back when. I have used PC, t-12 VHO, t-5HO, Metal Halide and LED.

my current setup started with 250 watt Metal halide. they did good, but I switched to LED after 1 1/2 years. I put in a DIY custom LED kit. 126 3 watt CREE leds. it is SWEET. I have had it for a year and a half. in that time ALL of my corals have exploded. even when battling AEFW in the last 12 months. my tank has grown SIGNIFICANTLY. I cannot say more so, or less than, but I have had some serious growth. I dont dose, I dont water change. I dont target feed.

My lights are on for 10 hours daily. 6 of those at full strength.
September 2012.

July 2013


detailed photos.
Sept 2012

Sept 2013

Sept 2012

Sept 2013

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. great growth btw. I'm a firm believer that LED's will take over the market in the next FEW years. Theres still some die hard halide fans out there but now that we understand full LED spectrum it will take off. Cost will drop a bit more and we are starting to see more and more successful reef tanks under LEDs.

 

Awesome pics, and responses, think i might buy the led unit, if i do should i acclimate the new lights to the corals?

Also Pickupman66, you say you have never dosed or done a water change, i see this being said quite often, i find it hard to understand how your corals get calcium etc once these are depleted, am i missing something?

 

Stingray. I have a Calcium Reactor. this keeps my CA and ALK stable. as for water changes, YEARS ago, I started not doing them. With the advent of Solid carbon dosing like Ecobak and such, so long as my nitrates are at manageable levels and phosphate is in check, I dont do them. I do have to add salt to my system once a month. but only a few cup fulls.

as for changin over, YES, you need to acclimate your corals to the new light. start off low and over a period of weeks ramp it up to acceptable levels.

My system has two circuits. 1 is dimmable, the other is not. on the dimmable half, I ramped them up to 90% over a period of 3 weeks. so it was 30% the first week, 60% the 2nd and 90% the third. then on week 4 I ran the non dimmables for 2 hours. then 4 then 6.

Hope this helps.