T5 vs LED? Or what about both?

[coralreefexplore]

Well I am building my 65 gallon. I have a few questions on my lights. I was planning on using 2 Ecotech Radion Pros. But I have heard this and that about them. I want to clear up some questions on what’s best for me. I do love corals. I really only buy softies. I would like to buy SPS now. I don't want to frag. I just want color and growth. What have y'all seen out there that does both? Also I have been researching and ATI has a fixture that now has the both of best worlds. I think the model is ATI2605 or ATI2607. It comes with 2 75watt LED clusters and either 4 or 8 bulb T5's. I will have to go with the 36" model. Can y'all give me some advice? Thanks

[glarior]

Well I am building my 65 gallon. I have a few questions on my lights. I was planning on using 2 Ecotech Radion Pros. But I have heard this and that about them. I want to clear up some questions on what’s best for me. I do love corals. I really only buy softies. I would like to buy SPS now. I don't want to frag. I just want color and growth. What have y'all seen out there that does both? Also I have been researching and ATI has a fixture that now has the both of best worlds. I think the model is ATI2605 or ATI2607. It comes with 2 75watt LED clusters and either 4 or 8 bulb T5's. I will have to go with the 36" model. Can y'all give me some advice? Thanks


The LED vs T5 debate still seems to be 50/50

I have used 60 RB and 40 white (unknown which white) for a softies tank. They did very well. With that said, I have been reading that a full spectrum LED is the way to go. Right now I am messing with the LEDs and added two 48" T5HO bulbs to the setup. Not sure what will happen with that.

The AI Vega's seem to be doing well. Maybe someone else will chime in to help.

The most critical thing for the corals is the values. Never mattered if I used LED or T5 lights on the softie tank unless the values were off. Everything grew like crazy!

[350gt]

First off....

there is no miracle light.....

mh will work, t5s, and leds will also work.... Its been proven...

there is few out there with impressive led/sps tanks... But there is some...

But same goes with mh, there is plenty running them with not great results... But some with awesome tanks.

Reason why..... It takes more than lights to have a succcessful tank..

I am currently running 3 vegas with 2 48" t5s... They were there when i had the sols and i plugged them back in a little after swapping to the vegas.... My tank wasnt looking as good with them off, so i thought it was the vegas...

it turned out it was my fault on trying to slack off on my water changes.... With my bio load as great as it is, skimping on it really made my tank take a dive...... I blamed everything.. And in the end, it was because of the slacking off...

i have bumped up my water changes drastically and everything is bouncing back, as a matter of fact, i smiled at my tabk today as it is looking awesome........


So it doesnt matter which lights you choose.....

[350gt]

Hey if you have the loot....


Check out the vertex line of leds.....


after seeing chris's (bigpun) tank.... I think that will be my next light oneday... Not cause of his results, he swapped over from 2 250watt mh n 4 t5s with little to no problems... But cause of how the light looks in his tank... Closest thing i have seen to mh..... There is shimmer but not overbearing like on my vegas or on other led units....

they are high dollar but worth every penny imo......


check out this review

http://myreefstatus.com/2012/10/24/vertex-illumina-sr360-led-saltwater-aquarium-lighting-review/

[jrossjr79]

I think this has to do with personal preferences, as mentioned earlier there is a 50/50 debate on which is better. Once I get enough money to set up lights in mine I am going with LEDs, mainly due to less energy being used, less heat (rather no heat from what I have heard), and dont have to go out and replace bulbs every 6 months.

[footballdude2k3]

I really think you can get away with any kind of lighting and get everything that you want out of it, but I think that in 5 years, just because of the $$$ savings that not many people will be running anything but LEDs, they have come so far in the last 5 years already.

[Big_Pun]

I really think you can get away with any kind of lighting and get everything that you want out of it, but I think that in 5 years, just because of the $$$ savings that not many people will be running anything but LEDs, they have come so far in the last 5 years already.

agree plus in mh/t5 there are many factors, ballast, bulbs, reflectors.the right combo can give you impressive results skip on any and you will hate your set-up

[EpicWin]

I'm experienced with them all. LED do great with sps but not as well for lps and zoos. T5 are my favorite. Having said that I have 400 watt of led over my DT just for the look, heat and controllability.

[Big_Pun]

I'm experienced with them all. LED do great with sps but not as well for lps and zoos. T5 are my favorite. Having said that I have 400 watt of led over my DT just for the look, heat and controllability.

from what ive seen lps and zoas do well under lps, its sps that do not fare well. i lost tissue in shadow areas on my colonies. it doesnt punch back off the sand like mh

what leds are you running

[Scuba Sam]

I recently run two 120V 16k Maxspect Razors and I am loving the color so far. I have not had them up long enough to report on growth and I am still ramping up the power week by week as they are much brighter then my old set up but so far I am loving it!

I understand there are several users using the maxspects and all seem to be very happy with the color and growth factor.

[ramsey]

from what ive seen lps and zoas do well under lps, its sps that do not fare well. i lost tissue in shadow areas on my colonies. it doesnt punch back off the sand like mh

what leds are you running


I agree with this from what I've seen. I think SPS can be done under LED but I think a lot of people that have problems blast too much light on SPS.

I have 5 AI sols that are going over my 185g. I'm thinking about adding four retrofit t5's as well and have them in a floating canopy. The radion pro has me spoiled and I think a fuller spectrum is better for the coral and certainly better for looking at them. The T5s will probably be purple, pink and full spectrum. I think that'll give me nice coloration for a softie tank.

[Reefnub]

I have run led on my 65g for almost 2 years with sps dominant and can say the the under side iLife the sps do suffer a little and has always bothered me. I'm running ai sol blues and will continue to use led and try a led with uv in it which prolly will be the hydras. But I also believe that the more led coverage the better so more is better but tame down the percentage on the lights. Seems to me they try to mimic m/h with one unit but like bigpun says you don't get the bounce back off the sand or rock like halides. So I'm thinking more LEDs covering every inch of the top of the tank as possible to make up for the coverage. 2 ai sols don't seem enough for my 65g, I think I should have 4 to cover it all and get what coverage/ all angles that is what's needed. I hope this makes sence, I went to HOoter and had some buuurrrrs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[jcnkt_ellis]

It's not necessarily about having LEDs cover every inch of the canopy, its about having LEDs at multiple angles to the sand bed. I was wanting to run a heatsink and led setup set at a 45 degree angle to eliminate the shadows and found this article in support of it:

http://reefbuilders.com/2013/07/11/rough-draft-solving-led-woes/