Finally starting to set up my 120 gallon tank. I bought 2 quality reflectors , 2 250w Radium bulbs, and a dual hqi ballast 2 years ago and have not even turned them on. Now technology has come so far with led lighting im tempted to dump my halides and swap to led. I would love some advice at this point or maybe some links that i dont have to b an engineer to understand. Also what could i get for my set up these days? Thanks
lighting advice
- Thread starter kevinbeth
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Going to set my bias asside for a bit. I run LED. Why, because at the time the price was right and I really liked the fact of not having to change lamps. I have had great success with them. But, many of the people I really respect swear by MH still and bad mouth the Metal Halide. My only concern in your case would be if they are enough to reach the bottom of the tank. Other than that, I wouold say, set them up run them for a while and see how it goes. Later if you don't like them, you can seel them here. That is as long as you are a paid member. LOL
Should have said "Bad mouth the LED"
I was looking into 2 xr30w from ecotech. Seems like it should b enough for my tank. Im more worried about heat as the whole system is enclosed in a book case. I figure id have better luck selling MH setup nowas everything is new with only 5 minutes of run time.
To be honest I lo e my cheap knock off LED fixtures. As I said many people will say that MH will give better growth but I am not in the hobby to sell frags. 
. I just want a tank that looks great while at the same time not draining the pocket book more than it already does. But having said that, I am very pleased with the growth I have gotten over the past six mounts. It really depends on what you are looking to get out of your tank. I will say that if heat is a big issue ther is nothing better than LED.
. I just want a tank that looks great while at the same time not draining the pocket book more than it already does. But having said that, I am very pleased with the growth I have gotten over the past six mounts. It really depends on what you are looking to get out of your tank. I will say that if heat is a big issue ther is nothing better than LED.
reefkeeper
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I've been testing Led's on my system for months now. My Led system is a DIY system and it's completey different from the norm. However I've managed to somewhat duplicate the spectrum of my 250 watt Radium bulbs and I've been extremely successful keeping my SPS and other LPS corals alive.
I have an eight foot tank and half of the tank is running 400 watts of 20K Led's and the other half is running (2) 250 watt Radiums. I've noticed minimal growth on the LED side of the tank, but the colors are amazing.
If your looking for growth then stay with MH's. If your looking for amazing color and minimal growth then Leds will work for you.
Just remember one thing with LEDS, it not just about the PAR, more importantly is the spectrum.
Proper spectrum, comes from mixing the proper combination of blue, white and UV leds. I would highly recommend staying away from those Chinese LED units on ebay. However, I haven't tested them yet, but I'm hearing some good things about the Eshine units. Re: you need to talk to my man Bill about Eshines. He's the ARC VP and he's the man on Eshines.
From what I'm seeing and hearing from other members and forums, The Ecotech is really the only company that's perfected the technolgy so far and that's why there units are so expensive because they know it and there the best. As the competition get's better in years, will see the cost of led's go down and will all benefit from it. But for now, I would consider staying with MH's and suppliment with Leds.
I have an eight foot tank and half of the tank is running 400 watts of 20K Led's and the other half is running (2) 250 watt Radiums. I've noticed minimal growth on the LED side of the tank, but the colors are amazing.
If your looking for growth then stay with MH's. If your looking for amazing color and minimal growth then Leds will work for you.
Just remember one thing with LEDS, it not just about the PAR, more importantly is the spectrum.
Proper spectrum, comes from mixing the proper combination of blue, white and UV leds. I would highly recommend staying away from those Chinese LED units on ebay. However, I haven't tested them yet, but I'm hearing some good things about the Eshine units. Re: you need to talk to my man Bill about Eshines. He's the ARC VP and he's the man on Eshines.
From what I'm seeing and hearing from other members and forums, The Ecotech is really the only company that's perfected the technolgy so far and that's why there units are so expensive because they know it and there the best. As the competition get's better in years, will see the cost of led's go down and will all benefit from it. But for now, I would consider staying with MH's and suppliment with Leds.
Don't entrirely disagree with you Reefkeeper but, my knock offs do have a very nice combo of blues, whites and UV. I have never had MH but comparing growth under the LEDs to the growth I had with T5 I will take LED all day long. Here is a link to a thread I posted a little while ago that documents some of the stuff (including dates on when the pics were taken). Like I said, not fantastic but if you are just looking for a desplay tank to grow in I think they do a fantastic job.
Here is a link to a thread I posted a little while ago that documents some of the stuff (including dates on when the pics were taken). Like I said, not fantastic but if you are just looking for a desplay tank to grow in I think they do a fantastic job.
reefkeeper
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Yes they are, there's nothing wrong with Chinese leds. Cree and Bridgelux are suppose to be the best leds in the world. I for one run 50 watt chinese leds on my system with meanwell drivers and they're great. In fact, I'm going to run a combination of leds and MH's on my entire system I'm planning on running the MH's 4 hours a day.
Again, I go back to my statement about the combination of PAR and Spectrum. If you have the right combination of LEDS ie; blues, whites reds and UV's you will achieve a good sprectrum, regardless of the type leds you have.
The problem is, how do you message spectrum without having a sprectrum analyzer....it's all a hit and miss and that's why you see more people dumpinmg there led systems across the country and going back to MH's.
Ping Bill " ichthyoid" on ARC. He's the Eshine expert. As for other members that succesfully run chinese leds. Purplegorilla has some eshines that rock and Greg Lenoard has some and he's swears by them.
If I could afford them I'd go out and get six of the new Ecotech Radions today, the problem is I'd have to get a second mortage on my house to buy them.
Edit:
rdnelson99;813431 wrote: Don't entrirely disagree with you Reefkeeper but, my knock offs do have a very nice combo of blues, whites and UV. I have never had MH but comparing growth under the LEDs to the growth I had with T5 I will take LED all day long.
I understand what you are saying but the three dimmable LED fixtures I have actually cost me less than $150 each. There are others with the same fixture who are getting good results as well. Now, some of the ones available on E-Bay I wouldn't trust to be sure. All I am saying is there are decent fixtures out there that preform well and don't cause you to take out a second mortgage.
If the OP is interested in the Kasel he should PM JohnIII. He is running two of them on a tank I think is larger than the OPs tank. He would have great info to share I am sure.
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