The Great LED Debate

I said I would start a place to debate LED lighting, metal halide, T-5, etc., and what you think is best. Please keep this civil, state the facts, you experience, etc.

 

Had Halides = Expensive for electricity and bulb replacement. LED now since February = less heat, less electricity, and no bulb replacement.... great growth and color.... SPS dominated. Nuff said.

 

haha, well played Logan!

 

SO far I am very pleased with my LEDs, I know it's only on a BC29 but I think my coral growth and color have really improved over my old PC bulbs.

 

2 ai sols over a 40 breeder, good color, control, and growth. no cost after initial price other than the electricity bill which isnt much.

Ive only had LEDS on all my tanks, so i dont have much to say on other types.

 

Quick shot of an end view of my tank. DIY LED's

 

Thanks Scott, someone had to do it, right? ;D I am seeing a lot of nice LED tanks already!

 

with any debate of this nature there is always a bias in favour of whatever type of lighting is being used by a particular contributor


there are not many people who are using all 3 types of lighting over 3 tanks of the same dimensions , housing very similar stocks of corals, with identical parameters and maintenance routines

thus there is no control as such
just a collection of opinions based on the relative sucess experienced by any individual using a particular lighting source

thus in reality this becomes a debate about "who is happy with the lighting they have"

which in general anyone who replies, probably is

there are some great tanks using LED
some great tanks using MH
and some great tanks using T5s

there have also been a number of fine looking tanks using T8s, T10s before them, and Power compacts

I agree that LED is still in its early years in terms of development, and as such I would expect to see more TOTM set ups using LEDs in the future

Lighting is 1 factor involved in the keeping of the inhabitants we all enjoy
other factors also influence how those inhabitants look , grow, prosper etc

 

Steve, I agree with you 100%. There is no one way to keep a reef tank

 

Haha, isn't that 99% of what we do, Steve?

I switched from T-5's to LED's. The color isn't exactly what I ultimately want, and I didn't get dimmable fixtures, but I know that future units will only be better (and they were super cheap). I'll get better lights when the time comes, but for now, I'm very happy with the type of lighting that I've chosen.