Lighting Dilemma

[legalreefer]

I am about to purchase a 180g tank and I am torn on what lighting system to go with; LED, MH, or T5. Lighting and water movement are extremely expensive when getting a tank this size. So cost is a major factor. I would like to keep SPS, LPS, ect. Here my pros and cons for each so feel free to tell me your opinion

LED: Dimmable, very energy efficient, small, and does not cause a lot of heat. Expensive start up, and Ive read/seen SPSs encrusting instead of growing up and out.

MH: Great coverage and growth, not as expensive start up, and tried and trued. Bulbs have to be changed within a year, excessive amount of heat build up, and energy suckers.

T5: Many retro fits available, slim, not as much heat, and can be relatively less than the other options. Not as great of coverage and growth compared to the MHs.

So keeping start up and energy cost in mind, I'm at a loss which direction to go. I was thinking 3 250 MHs with T5s but then your at the cost of LEDS... Frustrating

 

[acroholic]

If you are going to be SPS heavy, then I would do halides/T5s. If you think you will have more LPS/soft corals than SPS, then go LED. LPS look great under Halides as well, but IME/IMO SPS look best under Halides.

My 465 is 95% SPS, so I use halide and VHO Super Actinic. My 100 gallon is all LPS and softies, so I use Radion Pro LEDs over that.

A thorough examination of your long term goals regarding what corals you will be happiest with in this tank can help you avoid double spending, unless you like trying different technologies regarding lighting and are OK spending the extra coin to try something different.

My LED experience with SPS is confined to a year using AI Sol Blues, followed by a year using Radions, and I found that most Montis looked good under LEDs, and also Seratiopora, Stylophora, and Pocillopora corals. The main color challenge was Acroporas and Milleporas for me.

So to sum it all up, any coral looks good under Halides, but not all corals look good under LEDs, IME.

 

[tonymission]

Don't forget about possible chiller with MHs.

But yeah, nothing beats the radium and even Phoenix bulbs for SPS

I have a radion for a nuvo38 softie setup

 

[legalreefer]

The ones you have under LEDs look good, but what about their growth? I've read so many post on RC and watched a few YouTube videos, and everyone has a different opinion. I try to listen to the veterans more than others, but there's too is different than one anothers.

 

[indecloudzua]

and replacing the bulbs every 6 months or so..they all have their pros and cons and this is perhaps the hardest decision to make when setting up a new aquarium, for me at least..i went with leds and have had no problems growing anything and colors seem nice..but then again, i've never had mh on a reef tank so i cant really comment on them besides the obvious that others have already stated..hope to see some pics of the build!

 

[reeferman]

ive been DIY led for over 3 years on my heavy acro dominated tank.i have great color and growth[including upward] but of course your mileage may vary.the main thing with acropora is water quality as long as you have a viable lighting source,no matter what that may be.

 

[acroholic]

You need to decide what you think is best. There is no formula for success. As I posted is exactly my experience. You could follow that, and you may get totally different results.

I have actual long term experience with both technologies. When you research on this or other forums, be sure you know a bit about the posters. Johnny Newbie may have just set his SPS reef up a month ago, and has an AI Hydra on it. He posts on Reef Central, "I am loving my LEDs. Corals look great and there is good growth." Johnny has absolutely no experience with anything but a single LED light, and does not realize his colors could be 25% better with a halide. He is not bad, just has no experience and does not know any better.

Taking what you read on a Forum with a grain of salt is required, IMO. If you research enough, you will see trends on what works. That is what I did when I joined here. I looked at what I considered to be successful ARC Members tanks, like Mojos or Jmaneyapandas, or others, and basically duplicated their equipment and husbandry techniques. Their equipment choices were similar to many other successful SPS tank I researched on other Forums as well.

 

[legalreefer]

I've done DIY LEDs and the corals did ok, just not compared to when I had MH. The growth and color were minimal.

Which DIYs did you go with?

 

[legalreefer]

Acroholic;974200 wrote: You need to decide what you think is best. There is no formula for success. As I posted is exactly my experience. You could follow that, and you may get totally different results.

I have actual long term experience with both technologies. When you research on this or other forums, be sure you know a bit about the posters. Johnny Newbie may have just set his SPS reef up a month ago, and has an AI Hydra on it. He posts on Reef Central, "I am loving my LEDs. Corals look great and there is good growth." Johnny has absolutely no experience with anything but a single LED light, and does not realize his colors could be 25% better with a halide. He is not bad, just has no experience and does not know any better.

Taking what you read on a Forum with a grain of salt is required, IMO. If you research enough, you will see trends on what works. That is what I did when I joined here. I looked at what I considered to be successful ARC Members tanks, like Mojos or Jmaneyapandas, or others, and basically duplicated their equipment and husbandry techniques. Their equipment choices were similar to many other successful SPS tank I researched on other Forums as well.

Exactly lol

 

[reeferman]

i went with 3w crees and meanwell drivers.im certain Dave was not referencing me in that statement because he and i have had several conversations on this exact topic.i would honestly say that my results with leds are atypical of the average user but my water quality is second to none also.

 

[acroholic]

reeferman;974213 wrote: i went with 3w crees and meanwell drivers.im certain Dave was not referencing me in that statement because he and i have had several conversations on this exact topic.i would honestly say that my results with leds are atypical of the average user but my water quality is second to none also.

No reference to you at all Reggie. Your LEDs being DIY, it is not like a manufactured unit. In fact, most of the nicely colored LED lit SPS setups I have seen are DIY, like yours is.

If I were to use LEDs again, I would have them custom built this time around.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

indecloudzua;974197 wrote: and replacing the bulbs every 6 months or so..they all have their pros and cons and this is perhaps the hardest decision to make when setting up a new aquarium, for me at least..i went with leds and have had no problems growing anything and colors seem nice..but then again, i've never had mh on a reef tank so i cant really comment on them besides the obvious that others have already stated..hope to see some pics of the build!

+1. But for the best price, you can't beat t5s. They are fairly priced and have a great record of nice growth and color.