MH or T-5?

[ClosetFishGeek]

Hey Thane,
That's awesome. I have yet to see LED's over a hobbyists tank in person, only in the store which doesn't mean jack ... I am VERY curious though ... and there seems to be some heated battles on this site over which LED's to use as well ... making it more interesting to get involved with them.[
/QUOTE]

Do check them out buddy......Now if I had to choose between Mh or T5 I love my MH's with VHO actinic supplement(at the moment lol) I have lumenbrites fixtures which are unique in the fact that they hang higher than normal halide fixtures thus putting much less heat into your tank. I love the shimmer lines and the Crisp brite look of MH. It is a very personal view on picking t5's over halides. There is no right answer just personal preference. However, If i was going to get a t5 fixture it would be ati or a constelation.

Thane


P.s- How are those frags from Michael doing....

 

[DCG1286]

[/QUOTE]
Do check them out buddy......Now if I had to choose between Mh or T5 I love my MH's with VHO actinic supplement(at the moment lol) I have lumenbrites fixtures which are unique in the fact that they hang higher than normal halide fixtures thus putting much less heat into your tank. I love the shimmer lines and the Crisp brite look of MH. It is a very personal view on picking t5's over halides. There is no right answer just personal preference. However, If i was going to get a t5 fixture it would be ati or a constelation.

Thane


P.s- How are those frags from Michael doing....[/QUOTE]

See this is the problem ... giving up the shimmer of the MH ... lol. Very difficult to live without. I have been shopping on aquacave.com for a little bit tonight ... and came across the lumenbrites ... I believe this is what you are talking about:

http://www.aquacave.com/detail.aspx?ID=2255

This is the HQI model ... which if I do stick with my MH I would like to continue to use my bulbs ... i have at least 8 different HQI bulbs in the closet. What ballasts are you using with your fixture?

Another problem on my tank is that it is eurobraced ... so the glass on the corners blocks out quite a bit of light (it gets dirty VERY easily) ... which makes me think there was definitely a reason that ShaunW ran 3 halides and 4 VHO's over this baby. lol. I would prefer NOT to run 3 and just go with bigger and better reflectors.

The frags from Mike are amazing ... The Red Table is already encrusting. That tank is just drop dead gorgeous. How's your Kedds colony doing? What else did you get from him that night?

 

[ClosetFishGeek]

Do check them out buddy......Now if I had to choose between Mh or T5 I love my MH's with VHO actinic supplement(at the moment lol) I have lumenbrites fixtures which are unique in the fact that they hang higher than normal halide fixtures thus putting much less heat into your tank. I love the shimmer lines and the Crisp brite look of MH. It is a very personal view on picking t5's over halides. There is no right answer just personal preference. However, If i was going to get a t5 fixture it would be ati or a constelation.

Thane


P.s- How are those frags from Michael doing....[/QUOTE]

See this is the problem ... giving up the shimmer of the MH ... lol. Very difficult to live without. I have been shopping on aquacave.com for a little bit tonight ... and came across the lumenbrites ... I believe this is what you are talking about:

http://www.aquacave.com/detail.aspx?ID=2255

This is the HQI model ... which if I do stick with my MH I would like to continue to use my bulbs ... i have at least 8 different HQI bulbs in the closet. What ballasts are you using with your fixture?

Another problem on my tank is that it is eurobraced ... so the glass on the corners blocks out quite a bit of light (it gets dirty VERY easily) ... which makes me think there was definitely a reason that ShaunW ran 3 halides and 4 VHO's over this baby. lol. I would prefer NOT to run 3 and just go with bigger and better reflectors.

The frags from Mike are amazing ... The Red Table is already encrusting. That tank is just drop dead gorgeous. How's your Kedds colony doing? What else did you get from him that night?[/QUOTE]

I ran Coralvue ballasts at first then 2 died went to Icecap and then on the new setup I have vertex ballasts which are pretty much Icecap copy cat down to the warrenty. Have had no problems with either the ice cap or vertex....Trust me 2 250 watt lumenbrights over your tank will give it plenty of light. I had three over my 210 which was also 30" deep no issues...loved them. I also got the purple slimer and a nice peice of his oregon tort taht is glowing blue in my tank....loveing it it

 

[James983]

LEDs are very intriguing. However, if you have a large tank the cost is very high. It will take several years to realize any savings from the electric use and cost to replace bulbs. Also, we still have no real data on the life of the bulbs. They may last a long time before burning out, but what is the yearly PAR deterioration? How difficult is it to replace bulbs? Does that involve returning the unit every time you need bulbs replaced? I am unsure about all this. Taking all that into consideration I believe buying a quality T5 setup is still the most cost effective. At least for now. When LEDs become more common and mass produced and the cost goes down, I may reconsider. Just my 2 cents.

 

[topmav1]

I have 4x54 tek and I retro fitted two 175w halides. The look of my tank with the halides to me is MUCH better than without them. Regardless of color that nice shimmer effect is awesome but I guess you can apparrently get that look with LED too.