LED reef lights
- Thread starter King Edward
- Start date
there is a guy that goes to my lfs that is using the solaris lights.... expensive as hell but he was pleased with them last i talked to him...
I was chatting to the LFS today and the guy was telling me LEDs were a bit of a con and dont save as much leccy as they say, but I dont think I believe him... he was trying to flog me t5 fittings for £60... I'm thinking of using one of my hydro halides if I dont go via LED, I'll have to hang it a bit higher to lower the splash risk, but I'm not planning on SPS so should be cool?
LED's are great. if you have the money, get yourself a set of them. Each zone lasts an average of 5 years before needing replacement and the amount of money that will be saved on your electricity bill will be a nice sum at the end of every year.
T5's are also a great lighting system. Low on heat, initial cost and operation costs, you can save a bundle while keeping high light loving corals. Most SPS in certain placements of the tank will thrive as well as under halides. This has a lot to do with the unit, bulbs and number of bulbs of course but for all the benefits gained from a unit the runs the whole length of the tank, they way i see it, you cant miss.
Halides are great for deep tanks with LPS and SPS, and PCs are alright in most cases, as long as elevated off the tank and without use of glass lids. This is to prevent heat being trapped in the tank. Same goes for Halides.
T5's are also a great lighting system. Low on heat, initial cost and operation costs, you can save a bundle while keeping high light loving corals. Most SPS in certain placements of the tank will thrive as well as under halides. This has a lot to do with the unit, bulbs and number of bulbs of course but for all the benefits gained from a unit the runs the whole length of the tank, they way i see it, you cant miss.
Halides are great for deep tanks with LPS and SPS, and PCs are alright in most cases, as long as elevated off the tank and without use of glass lids. This is to prevent heat being trapped in the tank. Same goes for Halides.
hmm, so your rate T5's? I was thinking of piling the live rock in one corner in a space 2ft by 2ft and having a 150-250w metal halide hanging over it...would give me a small space where I could grow a few light intensive species on top of the pile, then on the drop off simulating in micro minature the reef drop off, leaving 2ft by 2ft as open swimming space, and lower light corals in decending order on the liverock wall? Sound like a plan or am i flawed in my thinking?
In wattage terms I was thinking I would need 4 t5's at ~50w plus a couple of actinic t5's ~50w giving 300w, so could save 50w by going for 1 250w halide... I get what your saying about the T5 light being spread about the tank being a benefit... I thought 4 T5's wont be bright enough to grow much, but a metal halide concentrated on one spot would allow me to but means the rest of the tank will need low light species... What do you gues think? I've never grown a coral, so I'm guessing!
In wattage terms I was thinking I would need 4 t5's at ~50w plus a couple of actinic t5's ~50w giving 300w, so could save 50w by going for 1 250w halide... I get what your saying about the T5 light being spread about the tank being a benefit... I thought 4 T5's wont be bright enough to grow much, but a metal halide concentrated on one spot would allow me to but means the rest of the tank will need low light species... What do you gues think? I've never grown a coral, so I'm guessing!
if you plan on having one part of the tank open for swimming space [a wonderful idea i think, i plan on doing that too] why would you need [much] light in that space? i'd get the 250watt MH for the reef part, and some 2' T5s for the open water space. wouldnt be expensive either. personally i'd proceed to make that open space a seagrass flat.
the effect of the MH on half the tank- the rockscape, next to a sand flat, only lighted with supplementary lights, is stunning. really throws some nice ripples and shadows.
the effect of the MH on half the tank- the rockscape, next to a sand flat, only lighted with supplementary lights, is stunning. really throws some nice ripples and shadows.
Thats a good idea...I love nice ripple paterns!... I'm into aquaponics and have heard a few whispered rumours of people setting up salt water systems. Where the tanks going I'm going to give this a go! The tanks going in the corner next to the windowsill which is 6ft long and 1ft wide, I want to pump water from the sump up into a tank here, and let it flow back to the sump by gravity, then fill the tank with livesand and sea grass/sea lettuce to act like a refugium and nitrate reducer, using natural light to reduce leccy costs...might need a some suplimentary light though cause its not very sunny here!!!! A lower flow should suit seagrass better too I think? It will also add 90 gallons to the system adding to stability! So says the plan, anyway!
i like the idea as well. my tank is only 3ft so i dont have much to work with, but when i get my future plans underway ill try something similar.
T-5s are my choice because they decrease the need for a chiller. Im not sure if you know how hot a 250watt MH will burn at but thats the reason for chillers. T-5s cant really be rated by wattage because there High Output. This simply means that for each HO bulb at 40watts is running propably an average of 35-40% more output per total watts. so 300watts of HO t-5 would have zero problem growing SPS.
T-5s are my choice because they decrease the need for a chiller. Im not sure if you know how hot a 250watt MH will burn at but thats the reason for chillers. T-5s cant really be rated by wattage because there High Output. This simply means that for each HO bulb at 40watts is running propably an average of 35-40% more output per total watts. so 300watts of HO t-5 would have zero problem growing SPS.