Lighting LED or MH?

T

tbellinger

New member
OK so Ive had a fresh water tank for over 20 years. I am finally going to move on to Salt Water.

I have a 120G Tank. 60/18/25H

I am looking for lighting for a Reef Tank and have been told by my local fish store owner than the Marineland Pro Series Metal Halide is the way to go.

Now the 60" is $900. Thats more than my tank and stand cost.

If I am going to spend $900 I want the very best. Ive heard that LEDs are now out and are gaining popularity.

Is the Marineland brand the way to go?
LEDs are half the price, is it just as good?
Being a Nooby should I just save some money and go HO Flourescent?

Thanks all in advance. Excited about my tank!
 
This is a loaded question that will get you differing answers from just about anyone you ask. IMO, which is based on reading threads here, there is still a little "catching up" that LED systems have to do to be on par with T5 and halides in every way (referring to growth, color, polyp extension, etc.) They have rapidly advanced over the past 2-3 years even, and I suspect they will continue to advance and in a few years I bet they will be the mainstream.
 
personally I would suggest to make a hood and build the SE MH into that and have some VHO's for actics. really easy to do and much cheaper as well. personally i dont like the HQI due to you need a UV shield that always get salt on it. LEDs are gaining more popularity and are quit expensive as well. a nice HO T-5 set up is good as well as long as you get the right bulbs. with that set up i personally like the sunblaze T-5 by sunlight. it is a very cheap set up and the reflectors are good but not as good as their Tec series but they are half the cost.
i would read up on the different lighting sources and see what you want to go with first.
 
I second fatrip on building a hood and putting the MH and actinics in it yourself if you think that is within the realm of your construction abilities. However with MH in a hood heat can be a issue, I would put serious thought into a good fan system, which can be loud, or a chiller which are very pricey...
 
id go for halide now, i think leds are actually good but already plasma lighting is developing, once this gets going leds wont get a look in imo, halides are tried and tested, leds are still in the early stages, i like them and have owned them, just wait untill plasma lighting hits the marine scene, it could be the next biggest thing sinced sliced bread, so halides for me at this moment in time, or t5s haha

mike
 
That is amazing, a few questions though, how much will it cost do you think, how much head does it produce, and is there a way to narrow the light angle so my living room wont be a sunny Florida Beach in July haha
 
I recently re-did my entire lighting system. I poured for hours and hours on this very question. I ended up right where I started, with MH's.

I completely agree with building/acquiring a canopy and installing the system yourself. Hey, even a moron like me can do it, and it is FAR cheaper to go this route. And if something ever goes wrong (actually when, not if), it is much cheaper to replace one lighting component than an entire lighting fixture.

And actually, I have NO heater, NOR a chiller, NOR fans (I have fans installed, but they aren't needed). I am not attempting to be arrogant or a smart a**. However, set up the way I have it, my tank has temperature swings of about 2 degrees around 78 degrees at most. I am not sure I could accomplish this again in a million years, but I stumbled across a very fortunate combination of equipment. Experiment, and you never know what might happen.
 
MH is currently the most tried and true method. I currently have the aquaillumination leds and they are fantastic. The LED technology has grown leaps and bounds the past couple years. However they are expensive, I would not go with the cheap leds right now because they don't have the newest technology leds and most use off name brands and quality of leds varies considerably. I amm experiencing good growth and color with these leds. In the near future I think plasma lighting and leds will become much more mainstream. I don't think plasma will get rid of leds, they will both have their applications. As for the marineland, I think its over priced. Search on the web, also go over to the lighting and equipment forum.
 
sgiordano said:
That is amazing, a few questions though, how much will it cost do you think, how much head does it produce, and is there a way to narrow the light angle so my living room wont be a sunny Florida Beach in July haha
Click to expand...

oohhh, i wish i had the answers, the reefers in europe are going nuts over this new lighting, i cant answer your questions yet im afraid, but will put some info up when i get it.
 
tmgrash said:
. I don't think plasma will get rid of leds, they will both have their applications. .
Click to expand...

actually you may be right, perhaps the plasma lighting drive the cost of the led lighting down, it would be great if it did.
 
im a huge fan of T5's, 6-8 t5 bulbs would suffice, having nearly half the watt usage of a MH fixture of same caliber, not to mention the heat factor in your water is pretty much not a concern.
 
I have that same footprint and I run 2x250 MH 20k looking to go with reeflux 12k

Picture048Medium.jpg
 
If you are not going to have clams and high demand SPS corals I would go
with T5's. I live in SW florida and the heat off of my mh's is quite a lot. That may not be an issue living in TN
 
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