LED or MH for a maxima?

[rjaungst]

perfect example, thank you! so you dont get that effect with T5? is that just athestic or does it benefit the tank too?

[Cameron6796]

Mostly aesthetic it looks natural though and cant hurt

[sunburn]

Advanced Aquarist just did a review on some LED lights. I'm not sure of the pricing of these units though.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/8/review

[Jackal_Knight]

Led shimmer always kinda bugged me. Is it just me or led shimmer is more intense then MH shimmer? I came from a par 38 full spec bulb to a cheap oddysea 4x24w fixture, and couldnt be happier i thought it looked good with the bulbs it came with. Now with ATI bulbs it looks it beautiful.

 

Would i recommend the fixture no!... unless you dont mind rewiring it and replacing the ballast. Like i had to do.

[Ebn]

Shimmer is always gonna be more intensified with LEDs versus MH due to the multiple point source of lights that you have. Lessen your surface agitation and it helps, but it's always gonna be more than MH.

[ZephNYC]

Oh boy....here we go again..

 

 

I would never go all LED's for Maximas. Good luck. Sure many have had success, but know all the proven successfull clam keepers ( Knop, Fathereee, Sprung, Neugit, Minh, etc ) ALL use halides. MOst on RF who have substituted their halides for all LED's are returning back to halides. I would rather use all T'5 over LED's. I also like lighting my clams with one big bulb, instead of 200 tiny ones.

[Arkayology]

I've had both LED or MH over clams for years. There is no difference IMO as long as the light is adequate.

[rjaungst]

thinking about this for the 17.8 gallon

http://www.fishneedit.com/150w-mhl-with-2-x-2bulbs-2ft-f150222.html

 

Thoughts?

[masterbuilder]

As you can see you are going to get plenty of opinions.

 

Easiest and most foolproof way...spend some time and find a successful tank here that you like, copy their setup and methods as close as possible. It will save you hours of frustration and even more $$$$. As they say in Washington...trust me on this.

[rjaungst]

haha, i can definitely see that. But i love all the different opinions on everything. Ive found a couple tanks that have what i want. The June NTOTM Helfrich's 18g ADA is one that i absolutely love so ill look to his set up for ideas and pointers. thank you so much for all the help everyone!

[farkwar]

thinking about this for the 17.8 gallon

http://www.fishneedit.com/150w-mhl-with-2-x-2bulbs-2ft-f150222.html]http://www.fishneedit.com/150w-mhl-with-2-x-2bulbs-2ft-f150222.html[/url]

 

Thoughts?

They are a fixture and bulbs.

 

Lets say that you have a perfect $10,000 light bulb. Now imagine that you put that perfect bulb in a cheap white $3 light socket. Now imagine the bulb in a $1000 light socket.

 

Is the light going to be different?

 

No!

 

That fixture comes with bulbs already. When you change them out in 6 months put expensive German bulbs in there if you like. The bulbs don't know they are not in an expensive German fixture, I bet.

 

I also bet your clams wont know the difference either.

[jedimasterben]

Oh boy....here we go again..

 

 

I would never go all LED's for Maximas. Good luck. Sure many have had success, but know all the proven successfull clam keepers ( Knop, Fathereee, Sprung, Neugit, Minh, etc ) ALL use halides. MOst on RF who have substituted their halides for all LED's are returning back to halides. I would rather use all T'5 over LED's. I also like lighting my clams with one big bulb, instead of 200 tiny ones.

We've been over this. All of them use halides because they don't change anything. They leave everything the same and don't do anything different.

 

Intensity is what you need. Have light with enough intensity and you'll be fine. People kept maximas under 6500k halides just the same as corals, and they still survived and grew.

[gulfsurfer101]

Here's a beautiful nice sized clam kept under a single radion. I think led is gonna be the winner here imo! Just depends on the quality of the fixture. I sure wouldn't try keeping a clam of this size under any aquatraders or fishneedit fixture that's for sure.

[Bill Nye]

I feel like the shimmer of a pendant style LED is a little intense compared to MH but you get used to it. The worst part about the shimmer with a par38 style (and possible razor since it seems like two pendants connected..) is the shimmer can separate the individual colors out so you can see an area that is getting shimmered pretty bad in red led for instance.

 

IMO 10 years down the road very few people will be using MH anymore. LEDs provide a very similar experience to MH other than the annoying amount of heat they produce. Once LED makers start going to a better spread of LEDs to avoid shadowing (Possibly like a reef breeder fixture?) and get the right spectrum for achieving the best colors I think MH will go the way of PCs.

[jedimasterben]

Here's a beautiful nice sized clam kept under a single radion. I think led is gonna be the winner here imo! Just depends on the quality of the fixture. I sure wouldn't try keeping a clam of this size under any aquatraders or fishneedit fixture that's for sure.

Either of the T5 fixtures you mention would actually be fine, again, as long as the intensity is there. A two bulb fixture isn't good for much more than shallow tanks (both height and depth). As you add more bulbs, the intensity increases. I've seen people run massive (like 400-700 gallon massive) on nothing but T5 - but they run a very large amount of bulbs to get light down to the bottom of the tank (somtimes 12-14 tubes per row, with several rows).

[jedimasterben]

Once LED makers start going to a better spread of LEDs to avoid shadowing (Possibly like a reef breeder fixture?)

The LED industry isn't actually going in that direction - instead of distributed lighting (like is best to grow stuff), LEDs are meant to be single-source with as much intensity as is possible with the phosphor tech available. They're becoming more and more intense as technology moves forward, but spread is not increasing (as LED dies are actually getting smaller).

 

Keep in mind that LEDs aren't made with reef tanks in mind. The aquarium industry is minuscule in the realm of LED lighting. Even if all the tanks in the world were lit with LEDs, it would still be small in comparison to indoor/outdoor lighting.

[gulfsurfer101]

Just stating that this 100+cube is successfully sustaining a massive clam under leds when people here are saying no way, don't do. I personally never liked t5's due to how unecomical it is alone in bulb replacement. That's money that can go to other places in my mind.

[farkwar]

Here's a beautiful nice sized clam kept under a single radion. I think led is gonna be the winner here imo! Just depends on the quality of the fixture. I sure wouldn't try keeping a clam of this size under any aquatraders or fishneedit fixture that's for sure.

 

Why not?

 

A fishneedit MH is just a ballast, a Bulb holder, and reflector. And a bulb, which is going to get changed out in 6 months anyway. What is different about it than a German ballast, bulb holder, and reflector?

 

I grew clams under first generation Hamiltons with 7500K moguls back in the day. Surely fishneedit MH lights are at least as good as them.

[ZephNYC]

We've been over this. All of them use halides because they don't change anything. They leave everything the same and don't do anything different.

 

Intensity is what you need. Have light with enough intensity and you'll be fine. People kept maximas under 6500k halides just the same as corals, and they still survived and grew.

Yes we have, and you still have not come around.

Thery do ??? Hmmm..who ??? Nobody I ever heard of. And I dont think anyone has used a 6500K halide in like 10 years. I believe they havnt event MADE those bulbs in years, Check Marine depot or Foster Smithh - they dont. LOL

[jedimasterben]

They still do make them, and people still do use them. I have no clue why (as data proves that blue light far trumps red and green light), but they do.

 

(remember that those aren't made for aquariums, either )

[farkwar]

It's not that a 6500 or 7500K DOESN'T have blue. It has all the blue you and clams need. The problem is that it ALSO has tons of red and green that you and your clams don't need, that algae love. White light has all the colors in it.

 

The Sun is only 5500K (here on Earth) and clams and corals grow just fine with it.

 

If there were some cheap solution that killed GHA, red slime, and cyano (or any other algae we think is ugly) and left everything else alone,,,5500K LEDs or MHs would do just fine.

 

 

And yes, they do use red and green, I know that.

[Bill Nye]

Man reefers are so self centered . You know who loves 6500 MH bulbs...people with planted tanks! Iwaki still makes a 6500 from what I understand so theres at least one aquarium related bulb.

[jedimasterben]

It's not that a 6500 or 7500K DOESN'T have blue. It has all the blue you and clams need. The problem is that it ALSO has tons of red and green that you and your clams don't need, that algae love. White light has all the colors in it.

 

The Sun is only 5500K (here on Earth) and clams and corals grow just fine with it.

 

If there were some cheap solution that killed GHA, red slime, and cyano (or any other algae we think is ugly) and left everything else alone,,,5500K LEDs or MHs would do just fine.

 

 

And yes, they do use red and green, I know that.

6500k bulbs have little blue in comparison to the amount of green/red, yes... and when you take into account that they are around 25-35% efficient at converting energy to light, that doesn't exactly leave a whole lot of blue. If you were able to filter out the light above 500nm on one of those bulbs, output would be significantly lower.

 

Comparing any lighting to the sun is a moot point. The sun emits ridiculous amounts of wattage in all wavelengths, and can photosaturate with any wavelength.

[farkwar]

6500k bulbs have little blue in comparison to the amount of green/red, yes... and when you take into account that they are around 25-35% efficient at converting energy to light, that doesn't exactly leave a whole lot of blue.

It has the SAME blue.

 

Efficiency doesnt really change with MH bulbs. I suppose there are more and less efficient Ballasts. People who bought or buy MH just threw more watts at the inefficiency, and more money.

 

A well made 7500K MH bulb has the same amount if blue as a well made 14,000K bulb. It just has less of the reds and greens etc. You have less light because you have less light, not less blue; why blue MH appear dimmer than a 6500 or 7500K MH.

 

Even intuitively this makes sense. Take an OCW which appears white(or a full spectrum like the Lumia), kill the red LED; Its now blue and the amount of the blue didnt change. And you have 1/3ish less overall light.

[gulfsurfer101]

Why not?

 

A fishneedit MH is just a ballast, a Bulb holder, and reflector. And a bulb, which is going to get changed out in 6 months anyway. What is different about it than a German ballast, bulb holder, and reflector?

 

I grew clams under first generation Hamiltons with 7500K moguls back in the day. Surely fishneedit MH lights are at least as good as them.

This is almost the same as saying the antique chair you found on the side of the road is a great chair once you replace the legs and back and re-upholster it. To me sounds like a waste of time and I can just go buy a brand new antique chair if that's the look I'm going for.