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Considering LEDs

jose7878

jose7878

Its that time to purchase new mh bulbs and t5 bulbs. So if I can keep my purchase of new LEDs to the same price of replacing my bulbs I will be doing the swap to LEDs.
My budget will be $400 if anyone know we're i can get something to light my tank in that price range LMK.

Will also need to know how many fixtures I'm gonna need.

Here's a little input of my tank it measures 72x18x27 , it has a center brace I'm keeping sps, lps and zoa's.
 
jose7878

jose7878

So with this light system I would need 2 if them correct?

Does anyone on this forum own them? Please give me your input on them? Like the dislike ,which optics your ordered and etc......
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

I have two of them. 90 degree optics and 2 separate programable channels. Love them ,they really enhance the coral color. You can change each channel intensity every half hour or hourly. Comes with programs for cloudy, sunny, moon etc.
 
spotter

spotter

stick with mh and t5's. IMO for your budget I dont think you find lights that will give you the coverage and color. If heat wasnt an issue for me I would switch back from led/t5 to mh/t5. Just my .02

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
 
jose7878

jose7878

spotter said:
stick with mh and t5's. IMO for your budget I dont think you find lights that will give you the coverage and color. If heat wasnt an issue for me I would switch back from led/t5 to mh/t5. Just my .02

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Heat isn't a huge issue for me ,my system its in my basement. I was considering the change only cause a lot of people are having success with them. And if I can save a few $ for a few yrs I was considering the swap. Don't get me wrong i love my mh and t5's combo I've had nothing but success with them.

I know my budget is on the low-end side for the swap. That's why I'm asking. That will determine if I do it or not.
So far it's looking like I'll be sticking to my mh and t5 .
 
spotter

spotter

since you have t5's on there now, what about looking for some used AI sol's? You can put purple bulbs in the t5's and run the AI's in place of the MH's. If you look at Sunny's tank (Monroereef) he is running that set up and his corals are gorgeous. Something else to consider since a lot of Sol owners are upgrading to Vega's you could probably find them pretty cheap.
 
spotter

spotter

you will probably need three but could start with two and carefully place your corals. As your corals grown you can keep an eye out for another unit to add to it.
 
spotter

spotter

they do look interesting but I am confused....they say the 32" fixture is 200w but they also say it has 99 x 3w LEDs which is 297w's. I would love to see one on a tank or a demo video to see how the ramping up and down of the colors is. Nice part with using multiple fixtures on this one is you can delay the sunrise/sunset on the 2nd fixture so it starts a little later than the first one and you could have a left to right or right to left sunrise/sunset. I've been running an led/t5 fixture for 9 months now and one of the biggest struggles is finding the right spectrum and intensity.
 
natesreef

natesreef

spotter said:
they do look interesting but I am confused....they say the 32" fixture is 200w but they also say it has 99 x 3w LEDs which is 297w's. I would love to see one on a tank or a demo video to see how the ramping up and down of the colors is. Nice part with using multiple fixtures on this one is you can delay the sunrise/sunset on the 2nd fixture so it starts a little later than the first one and you could have a left to right or right to left sunrise/sunset. I've been running an led/t5 fixture for 9 months now and one of the biggest struggles is finding the right spectrum and intensity.
Click to expand...
I'm not 100% sure but I'm pretty sure they run their 3w LEDs at 2w's. thus making it 200 instead of 300.
 
jose7878

jose7878

spotter said:
I've been running an led/t5 fixture for 9 months now and one of the biggest struggles is finding the right spectrum and intensity.
Click to expand...

That's my only concern. I here so much about people can't get the correct spectrum and bleaching out the corals.
 
spotter

spotter

The one thing that I have learned and Alex will tell you this, is that just because the lights can be run @ 100% intensity doesnt mean you have to. My light consists of 4 leds banks that are 150w each and 4 x 80w t5's. Seems like that as soon as i bring the leds higher than 70% intensity things go south. Its a lot of trial and error and a lot patience along the way.
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

Jose, if you want you are welcome to check out my two from reef breeders. The color combination does really help bring out the corals color. Each is programmable with 2 separate channels. I determine sunrise time and at what intensity and can do this at half hour intervals throughout the day. All in all I like them. For the price, programmability,color range worth the money. My corals are doing well and growing just fine. The red planet I have is now red like I saw when I got it from Sunny ( Monroereefer). With regards to bleaching coral, yes you can so you start off low amd over weeks or months increase to a max intensity they seem to handle. Mine max at 80-90% for only 2 hours in the light cycle. More seemed to wash out some of my lps. Trial and error.
For me, the idea of not having to replace bulbs every 6 months and the energy efficiency was key. I have heard all stories about MH, T5, or LEDs saying one is better than the other. Nonesense, they are all photon emitters and at the end of the day a photon of light is a photon of light no matter what brand or source it comes from. If you have enough photons reaching your coral, they will grow. The key is to find a spot in your tank the coral is happy with the amount of photons it receives.
 
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