MedcinMn Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Aside from the heat issue, I'm looking for thoughts from those who switched to LED from MH. I'm still old school and getting great results from MH, therefore have been resistant to switch. Link to comment
markalot Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Aside from the heat issue, I'm looking for thoughts from those who switched to LED from MH. I'm still old school and getting great results from MH, therefore have been resistant to switch. Based on what's I've read don't do it. You can get LED's to work but the sweet spot is difficult to find. T5 LED hybrid seems to be the best way to go if you need to reduce the heat. It's all about the reflectors, LED is a point light source, MH and T5 utilize reflectors to spread the light out. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Aside from the heat issue, I'm looking for thoughts from those who switched to LED from MH. I'm still old school and getting great results from MH, therefore have been resistant to switch. What size tank? The switch from MH to LED has worked very well for my 28g nanocube. It has been about two years with no regrets. I don't know about bigger tanks though. Link to comment
Spoon Fed EM1 Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I run both led and T5s for more coverage. Link to comment
MedcinMn Posted March 21, 2015 Author Share Posted March 21, 2015 I currently have a Nanocube 28 HQI, ballast went bad and it's also time to change MH and PC's. Was considering the switch now but have not found compelling arguments to make the change. I wouldn't go bigger than about 45, another AIO. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I currently have a Nanocube 28 HQI, ballast went bad and it's also time to change MH and PC's. Was considering the switch now but have not found compelling arguments to make the change. I wouldn't go bigger than about 45, another AIO. If you get a nanobox Duo from Dave at NanoBox and get rid of that ugly hood and rim (that's what I'm going to do in the future), the colors on any coral and fish that you have would look amazing! And that light would be good for a much larger tank if you upgrade, like a nuvo 40(that's what I'm going to get in the future too). Or you can talk to Dave about a retro kit that can be installed in like 2hrs so that you can keep the stock look if you want and still have a very LED'S and colors . Nanobox and forget about it! Or get a 24 inch hybrid with T5s and LED's from Dave, which are kick butt! Link to comment
Benny314 Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 As already stated tank size is important here, where most people go wrong with LEDs is they stick them in the middle of a large tank like you would a MH, but as already stated they are point light soruces producing 'cones' of light. So you get shadows and dark corners from a single array or cluster. Some MH reflectors are almost the size of the tank so they reflect light down vertically and back into the tank even at the edges of the tank. This can be replicated by having clusters of LEDs across the hole tank (not that practical for access at times) but offten the best solution is a T5/LED hybrid. The T5's fill in the gaps at the edges of the LEDs reach. Link to comment
Caravanshaka Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 LED t5 hybrid all the way. Get the benefits of LEDs(less power, less heat, great actinic color) and the t5's remove the drawbacks (disco effect, light fill, spectrum). Nanobox hybrid would be my choice, a 2x2 would do great on that tank. Link to comment
Nightstar Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 While there's no need to switch from MH to LED (or any other lighting technology) I've made the switch and I'm pleased with the results. I used to run a 175w mh pendent over my 20 gallon(24"x12"x16"). I now maintain the same animals with 40w of custom built LED goodness. Perhaps I was overilluminating my tank previously, I can't really say but I'm getting by with less than a quarter of the electrical consumption now. After some tweaking I have better color both reflective and fluorescent as well as lower water and ambient air temperature. What's not to like about that? Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 While there's no need to switch from MH to LED (or any other lighting technology) I've made the switch and I'm pleased with the results.y I used to run a 175w mh pendent over my 20 gallon(24"x12"x16"). I now maintain the same animals with 40w of custom built LED goodness. Perhaps I was overilluminating my tank previously, I can't really say but I'm getting by with less than a quarter of the electrical consumption now. After some tweaking I have better color both reflective and fluorescent as well as lower water and ambient air temperature. What's not to like about that? Call me crazy, but it looks to me that you just created an oxymoron statement? Link to comment
blasterman Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 As already stated tank size is important here, where most people go wrong with LEDs is they stick them in the middle of a large tank like you would a MH, but as already stated they are point light sources producing 'cones' of light. True, but the reason for the problem (cones of light) isn't quite the fault of LED's. It's the fault of an industry that is absurdly obsessed with optics on LED's and the same design in 90% of fixtures to gain PAR readings to impress idiots for the same reason overclocking impresses computer geeks. Remove the optics and your LED array starts to behave just like a MH, albeit with an inefficient reflector. Not sure why we don't have an LED light that uses a dense array of mixed colors like a Lumia, or dense SMD package in long rows, but rather than optics it uses a common reflector where the panels are adjustable to change coverage and also textured enough (orange peel) to reduce any chance of disco shadows. Then again, that would make sense. Wide angle Kessils to my eyes are damn near dead ringers for small HQI type pendants in terms of light structure. Call me crazy, but it looks to me that you just created an oxymoron statement? I think what he's getting at is he doesn't have the flexibility or options with a 175watt MH to match the 40watt LED. Yes, they make halides for reef tanks below 175watts, but that low power category is extremely limited in terms of bulbs and options. Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Wide angle Kessils to my eyes are damn near dead ringers for small HQI type pendants in terms of light structure. This, a thousand times this... Link to comment
SchnauzerFace Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I currently have a Nanocube 28 HQI, ballast went bad and it's also time to change MH and PC's. Was considering the switch now but have not found compelling arguments to make the change. I wouldn't go bigger than about 45, another AIO. I started with the same Nanocube with HQI. My ballast died and I ended up just transferring everything to my 75g and I sold the 28. The 75g had T5s which I later swapped for LED. If I'm being honest, my best coral growth came from the nanocube w/ MH, even when I was making newbie mistakes with water parameters, etc. I definitely prefer the look and controllability of LEDs. But if growth is your top concern, you can't beat MH, imo. (And this comes from someone who just bought an XR15w a week ago.) Link to comment
blasterman Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Halides aren't going to grow corals better than LEDs per PAR reaching the tank. Same With MH -vs- T5 -vs- LED. Please stop spreading FUD, or go look at RC's tanks of the month and tell me LEDs don't grow coral. Link to comment
SchnauzerFace Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 go look at RC's tanks of the month and tell me LEDs don't grow coral. OK, but first, please point to the comment here that says "LEDs don't grow coral." Link to comment
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