12" SPS cube

I have been looking into the same one as a second tank! It has been sitting in Marinedepot cart for a while, I would like LED for the lighting as well.

Cant wait to see some rock work. Tagging along for sure!

 

peredhil,


If I am understanding you correctly, you are saying that an LED fixture is better that MH just by the heat and energy compairison ? If that is the case, then why spend the money on either ? just go by a screw in CFL bulb from wally world, who cares if your corals die and the rest of your tank looks like crap, these bulbs are obviously better because the energy use and heat output is less.


to me, I would rather have a higher electric bill and have a beautiful, colorful reef than to say "Hey come look at all the brown Acros in my tank, and my awsome low utility bill ! "

 

P was saying that LED and MH are about equal in coloration of coral, and growth. If that is the case, then LED still wins because of the lower energy bill and bulb replacement.

 

I think LEDs could easily support SPS in a tank such as this.

 

No doubt support.

 

ok, I think I need to clear up what I think of LED's.

I think they are a very good advancement in this hobby, our equipment uses up a ton of electricity and anything that can reduce that is huge. I personally havent seen any posts, pictures , or whatever else you want to consider that makes me want to jump up and buy them just because they are the latest thing. I have had a tank with the Maxspect LED setup and I was not impressed. I actually sold the fixture for less than half of what I paid for it. I have seen many beautiful tanks with LED lighting, but a large number of them had recently switched over to LED from MH or T5's. I feel that LED's are the future in reef lighting, but I also feel they have a long way to go before they are a proven product for the main lighting of a tank. I am not saying that I think everyone should stop using them or avoid them, I am simply saying that right now they are not for me. I will stick with my MH's and watch the LED movement very close, and if I see a large number of people actually having the same success as the rest of the higher end lighting then who knows, I may switch.

 

Cool tank!
How'd this turn into a LED vs. Halide thread?
Personally I would have put a 70w halide on it for scale and heat, but I dig it all the same. Could be a crazy box of hard coral, good luck!
matt

 

Thanks for checking out my tank Matt. I made a comment about how I prefer MH over LED and got jumped by the mob. LOL The 150 was what I had left over from when I took my 40B down so I just threw it on for fun. I will run it for a week or so to see how the temp looks , and if it appears to be too much I will either go for the ice probe chiller, or drop to the 70w. I keep my house pretty cool and I plan on hanging the light , so I will be able to adjust it if needed.

 

Ahhh.. well since you had it laying around, then I totally understand.

As for the Ice Probe chiller - I had one mod'd into a HOB filter on a 20 hex I had moons ago. I had the controller too. It worked 'ok.' I would not expect miracles with it and I think your 150w would max it out fast. What I really didn't like about it is that the paint/coating on the probe peels after a year or so and you have to deal with that. I eventually broke that tank down so I hadn't used it since and I basically gave it away.
Pics are long gone but here is my old thread:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/3reef-forum-news-information/iceprobe-chiller-mod-32530.html

 

Matt, thanks for the heads up. Hopefully I wont have to go the chiller route, but the paint chipping sort of freaks me out a bit. Is it because of it being used in SW or just a bad design ?