Can you still buy new metal halide fixtures?

[ole farny]

have seen some recent musings about LEDs lacking UV and many successful reefers that swear by metal halides for long term sps success.

it got me thinking enough about exploring metal halides as an option for some of my ever evolving plans with rebooting a tank and/or setting up a frag system. but i couldn't find any new fixtures clearly designed for use over an aquarium for sale at the usual places.

are any manufacturers still making led fixtures? are there only hybrids that need to be cobble together out there as options in new equipment? are people repurposing horticulture or other mh fixtures for reef use? or is buying on ebay or used the only way to get into the metal halide game these days?

 

[diana a]

the only place i know is but i would think there are other online sites: Metal Halide Aquarium Lighting | Premium Aquatics

 

[Rjmul]

I saw the same musings. I agree with chris, fully.
I shopped around. Didn't see much outside of Amazon fixtures with weird reviews. I won't give reefbrite $1 so they're out.

 

[diana a]

Giesemann Spectra SE Metal Halide/T5 Fixture, Reefbrite, Hamilton and Coralvue are the only ones I know of now

 

[Raffle King]

I got some metal halides stuff very cheap

 

[amado]

Let me say this leds can grow corals. If your corals are not growing it’s not the lights. You have one person tulio that’s selling metal Halides and making this point about UV. No science behind his claim just a few reefers that also don’t want change. You have farms like WWC that only use LED and they are successful.

we are able now to have corals breed in captivity under led lights.

 

[reefsandrotts]

I believe Hamilton and Geisman are still building hqi fixtures.

 

[Rjmul]

Let me say this leds can grow corals. If your corals are not growing it’s not the lights. You have one person tulio that’s selling metal Halides and making this point about UV. No science behind his claim just a few reefers that also don’t want change. You have farms like WWC that only use LED and they are successful.

we are able now to have corals breed in captivity under led lights.

The only claim I saw him make (if we're talking about the same video) was that that there's no UV under led, and that the UV from kessil disappears under water.

 

[DYIguy]

I have a MH fixture and bulb if your interested

 

[amado]

The only claim I saw him make (if we're talking about the same video) was that that there's no UV under led, and that the UV from kessil disappears under water.

yeah that’s a big claim. We don’t know if corals use Uv in any way. Tulio doesn’t grow corals in a farm he sells metal halides. So he has a huge gain if he can convince people that metal halides are the best way to grow corals.

the hobby has moved on and getting metal halide will be very difficult.

 

[diana a]

It's great that reefers are able to have a successful tank by doing things differently.

 

[ole farny]

Let me say this leds can grow corals. If your corals are not growing it’s not the lights. You have one person tulio that’s selling metal Halides and making this point about UV. No science behind his claim just a few reefers that also don’t want change. You have farms like WWC that only use LED and they are successful.

we are able now to have corals breed in captivity under led lights.

all valid points. part of my interest is cost, part results and part experimentation/experience. and totally agree, let's see some science behind this.

yeah that’s a big claim. We don’t know if corals use Uv in any way. Tulio doesn’t grow corals in a farm he sells metal halides. So he has a huge gain if he can convince people that metal halides are the best way to grow corals.

the hobby has moved on and getting metal halide will be very difficult.

one aspect i saw presented was not so much that the corals themselves need and use uv, but rather that uv may affect bacteria, algae or dinos that can affect coral health.

I have a MH fixture and bulb if your interested

thanks for the offer, i'm still a long way off from making a move on a mh fixture, so move it if you can. i may be in touch years from now, at the rate my plans get executed lol.

 

[DYIguy]

@ole farny , the light isn't going anywhere anytime soon- it's a 150w I think, I'll take anything you have to offer ( frags are best )- even future credits if you want- just sitting on a shelf

 

[Rjmul]

yeah that’s a big claim. We don’t know if corals use Uv in any way. Tulio doesn’t grow corals in a farm he sells metal halides. So he has a huge gain if he can convince people that metal halides are the best way to grow corals.

the hobby has moved on and getting metal halide will be very difficult.

I don't own a spectrometer. My only first hand experience is that my tank took off when I started using t5. Successful growth aside, I own a couple, but these led reef lights on the market are very expensive.

 

[amado]

I have both t5 and expensive leds I also had some cheap leds all on the same system sharing the same water and the same tank.

you don’t need 1k lights to grow corals. You can grow corals with cheap Amazon lights with no problem. The reason why I think people are finding success with t5s is that it takes US out of the mix. Leds allow the user to change and add intensity and color and that is where the problem is.

t5 being on or off and that’s it. Leaves less room for mistakes.

at the moment I am replacing t5 bulbs 4 bulbs at $25 is $100 per fixture I have two fixtures= $200 ouch

once my t5 hybrid system dies or I can’t get bulbs anymore I won’t use them anymore. I would just use leds

 

[ole farny]

@ole farny , the light isn't going anywhere anytime soon- it's a 150w I think, I'll take anything you have to offer ( frags are best )- even future credits if you want- just sitting on a shelf

you sir, are too kind. thank you.

i'm currently rebuilding a steve's leds install on a red sea max 250, so we'll see how that goes. a 150 mh might work in there too, but i'd be too worried about heat, which is a big turn off on mh for me in general.