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LED Vs. MH


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So I'm at a crossroad. Ive been looking at LEDs or MH. Here is my hang ups on this. 

LEDs Big up front money. Most I've seen has to replace them after 5yrs anyway.  

LEDs You really can have fun playing with them. Low electric. Low heat ( touch this one in a bit) 

MH Plug and play and makes heat. Most corals love them not much on issues with burning corals. 

 If I go LEDs I wont have much heat and I need heat. My basement runs 67 deg year round. ( geo-Thermal heating cooling) If I run MH it will help heat the tank as well. If I go LEDs ill be heating 1000g 10deg. 1000x10 divided by .25% That's about 2500W in heaters. 

If you didnt worry about elect bill or heat would you go LED or MH. Why. 

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Agree with Amanda on this one. Some of the nicest tanks I’ve seen have a combination of either mh/led or t5/led. With yours, I might do the majority mh and then add a few led to get the color “pop” that LEDs bring to the table. You’d have mh for growth and adding heat to the tank, then get a little higher par (and maybe lower electric?) with the led supplementals. Also with this type of setup you could run the leds at a lower power and not have to replace them at all. 

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Maybe one of these.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/24-96-DSunY-Dimmable-LED-Aquarium-Light-Programmable-Coral-Reef-SPS-LPS-Marine/332396313414?hash=item4d645d3b46:m:miJD5kyNi-FdzrOPYSJXCGA&var=541411034972

And 4 of these. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Growers-Choice-Horticultural-Lighting-315W-CMH-Kit-CERAMIC-METAL-HALIDE/282938632401?var=582828782338&hash=item41e074e8d1%3Am%3Am634vSj1oEWVay3cSmLydRg&_sop=16&_sacat=0&_nkw=315W+Ceramic+Metal+Halide&_from=R40&rt=nc

I'll get the 10K bulbs. I love the ceramic over the quartz. They last longer and have less color swing. Plus they are dimmable. And over driveable. Quartz, its hard on them to dim and to over drive. Plus they only last about a year. Ceramic last almost 2yrs befor color swing and has a different fire off. 

Edited by Saveafishreef
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The reason I am dedicated to LED is you adjust the color to your liking without buying bulbs. Plus remember that heat is not constant like a heater, it is there when the lights are on. My temp does vary by more than one degree. Another thing I hate is replacing bulbs, remembering to do a water change is tough replacing bulbs is challenging for me. I am contemplating doing a hybrid T5/led setup on a new tank I am setting up. 

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3 hours ago, blowfish770 said:

I went back to MH in March of this year.

LED to me makes a dark tank 

Exactly the convo Ive had with Bob Gomens a few yrs ago with. VHO came in, was posta be cheaper and better color. Than after a few years we kept adding lights to where we was running the same if not more power. Than PC came in and we added more power to make it bright. Than T5. We did the same to where we was running 432 watts on a 90g in place of 500w of MH. Now comes the LEDs. To where we put 330watts..2 x 165 black boxes. of led on a 75. Than a year later add more or switch to MH saying its dim looking. 

I see more and more returning back to MH. I'm really glad you said that. 

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I'm thinking of going with a hybrid T5/LED on my next tank. I love the automation of LED colors with my Apex but don't want to spend what it will take to get that effect. I've seen the hybrid solution they are using on BRS videos and like it.

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  • 1 month later...
On 8/15/2018 at 10:05 AM, indymatt said:

Man I don't know anymore. I am setting up a 200 deep dimension (48" x 36" x 27") and with that width I think MH might be the better choice. I may end up with a couple lumenarcs and 250W halides. Part of the problem is customization for me. I am searching for that sweet 14k spectrum and it sucks. Heat really won't be a problem either. Throw some T5's in there as well. LEDs would cost some money for the width of the tank.

 

The reason I am dedicated to LED is you adjust the color to your liking without buying bulbs. Plus remember that heat is not constant like a heater, it is there when the lights are on. My temp does vary by more than one degree. Another thing I hate is replacing bulbs, remembering to do a water change is tough replacing bulbs is challenging for me. I am contemplating doing a hybrid T5/led setup on a new tank I am setting up. 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I started with a MH/T5 combo and switched to the AI Hydra's and have had good results.  However, I was only covering a 6' long x 2' wide 120 gallon tank.  You would need quite a bit more than what I was using (2 52 Hydra's and 2 26 Hydra's connected in a row).  IF you willing to spend the $$, you can get the level of light you want with LED's.

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