Why is everyone selling their AI sols?

Well said! Your LED setup is amazing!

 

Not to start the led vs halide battle here but...

I still wouldn't do it. Until I see people like Jason fox, Sanjay, Dan Rigle and others switch I will not. In fact, I can pull a coral out of their systems under halides and it will look nicer than a coral under LEDs.
To back this up, both sanjay and Dan Rigle have been doing some experiments. Dan actually reps for a led company and he does side by side comparisons. He also does spectrum research for the company... Despite the fact that he has access to free led fixtures he still purchases halides for his tank because he will not "switch to a spectrum with less diversity and poorer results"

Also, your tank does look very nice

 

I agree we know more about halide and exactly how to maximize there use. We don't know that about led yet. But that is just part of being on the forefront, I was most arguing the "leds aren't that great" comment. Let's change that comment to, we haven't figured out how to fine time the proper spectrum yet. You of all people know that light source means nothing, a photon is a photon. It's the spectrum we haven't figured out. Some halides will make corals look like crap too. And led isn't an led- there are a running ton of variables and you know this better than 95+% of the people here.

I don't know of there is better color than halide or t5. We know what to do with those techs while we don't with led.... Yet. But we are hella lot closer than last year! And there is no reason to abandon led... I think we just need to work on pulling some more peaks to get a broader spectrum. It blows my mine that led manufacturers are basically ignoring 400-420nm, while that is a huge peak in halide systems, same with green/cyan. I have had more colors and deeper Coles since adding those spectrums.

 

I guess I misunderstood the first time. Now this I do agree with perfectly!

 

I also notice that a lot of people forget the 400-420nm spectrum. That is mostly due to cree not making those LEDs. A fixture in the $500 plus range without UV LEDs is not going to be the best for the money, same thing with reds and greens. All of the peaks missing during the research sanjay conducted could be added. The problem was that they were only testing commercial fixtures, not custom of diy fixtures.

 

Umm i hate to burst your bubble, but your comment is making it sound like sanjay only tested fixtures utilizing white and blue leds. What about the radion which has red, green, blue, white, green? that was a full spectrum light wasn't it?
I found this graph on google showing which spectrums of light are able to be seen under water until which depth. Reds and greens are misleading, there is a slight rise in the 500-600nm spectrum which is the green, and another rise in the 600-700 nm range where red comes in, adding a few of these colors will add some color to your tank but unless you add the right amount an even spectrum will not be hit. Because leds are multi point source lighting, only adding a few colors will create spotlights in those areas instead of an even curve. You can see in the newer fixtures coming out the colors are being grouped more together, to give off that better color blend. instead of a array of leds. A lot is paid off through Research and Development, which shows over a fixture that just has a bunch of colors thrown together.

 

Radion is completely lacking in the 400-420 range. It's a step in the right direction. But a properly done DIY unit will still top it. He was also directly referencing the white blue combo that had been mentioned earlier in the thread when commenting about the lacking peaks.

 

I was mostly reffering ot the 400-420nm spectrums, as grim said. Reds and greens and blues do a good job, but not a s good as violets in addition to the reds/greens.

 

Have you done a DIY led? This is a very misleading statement. LEDs first off give you more control of placement/direction/power amounts then halide or t-5 possibly can. Every tank is different so why have the same blue print for every tank? The arguments against LED are making less and less sense. If people would stop buying cool looking 150 dollar LED fixtures and expect to be able to do everything with it there would be less LED issues. At this point you have to have some strategy to use LED if you want "John Fox" style results. To touch on that subject, why would he switch? If you have best in class results with what you have and an all but unlimited budget why? He doesn;t have a reason to switch Dingo. Until the technology is so much better in every aspect (or he gets the right sponsor to make it worth his while) he won't switch. This argument sounds good on the surface but it doesn't have any barring on how effective LED's are.

p.s. go look at your energy bill =-p

 

+1 8)