Rid of my DIY LED, Switched to 400w MH

so after nine months of literally no growth in my 65 reef i have abandoned my DIY LED setup and switched to 400w metal halide. Ive seen more growth in 4 days of MH then the nine months of LED...while I think LED IS the future, IME the technology just is not there yet for DIY. There are some INCREDIBLE manufactured LED lights on the market, I have no experience with those lol, but man, i wouldve ultimatly saved hundreds of dollars had i just gone MH from the get go. Now I havent totally given up on my LEDs but all im running now are the UVs and the royal blues...24 total in case you were curious.. So what im getting at i guess is am I the only having this type of experience or are other LED people going back to older style lighting?

 

What kind of LEDs, exactly how many of each spectrum? What brand?

 

Yes, please detail you led DIY build.

I have seen many led DIY yield excellent growth to all types of corals.

 

cree, started with 18rb 18cw, added 8ww and 3uv 3rb about four months later. all from rapid led. dimmable ballasts and reef angel to control it all. I was consistantly needing to make adjustments to the setup and some corals would do ok, most everything opened but nothing thrived.

im going to post a couple pics shortly

 

I just posted this on my local forum under the title "LEDs don't grow sps" just to poke fun at these type threads (Not in any way an attack on you personally) But I do feel that these threads are always an issue with the wrong leds, not leds in general.
















Day Glo Millie




Fuzzy, but gives you an idea of how bright the colors are



I hear a lot of complaints about reds/pinks not being produced under LEDs..... The next 3 shots are my response.















Montipora Confusa

 

DANG!!!! NiCE PICS

 

XP-Es? What current did you run them at, did you use optics, and if so, what degree. Sounds like you used about 75% of what you needed.

 

I dont think Mike at Rapid would have short changed you on that. He is always on his game and I think you are definitely under lighted for your tank.

 

+1

 

under lit...probably, and no offense taken thatgrimguy...my guess is you have more invested in your LED lighting than some have on their entire tanks . The guys down at rapid LED were always great, and this is no way an attack on them. and correct me please if im wrong thatgrimguy, but those look like manufacturer built lights for the most part and imo those have big $ engineering behind them...of course they grow better than a budget DIY job lol.


I havent given up on LED but DIY did not yield good results for me, I spent days putting it all together(which was fun for sure) but man the difference between my experience with LED and MH are day and night. This is only my second tank ever and I had no experience in using other lighting. I started this tank with LED and in all honesty I wish I hadn't...I know there is a lot of debate on lighting and these forums are absolutely where I learned about LED DIY and there is great info available but in reality, without spending a substantial amount of $ I'm afraid LED wont yield results most are looking for.