T5s vs LEDs

[Reef Krazy]

Hey MR, I have been running T5s on my tanks for over 9 years. I've been thinking of taking the plunge and going the led route. I have noticed alot of led owners selling and going back to t5s or hybrids. Should I stick with t5s or go leds? Any input will be appreciated.

 

[Jazeel55]

I have been having the same thoughts. I have been running T5 and thinking hybrid for the new build


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wilson416]

Hybrid the way to go you?ll have the best of both

 

[Wondering]

Definitely hybrid. I was running led for a year and added t5 recently. Big improvement in the way corals appear and in amount of new growth. Corals do fluoresce more under led so hybrid is better than each one alone.

 

[Rookie2reef]

hybrid

love t5 and led combo 3 radion g3 pros on aquatic life hybrid t5

 

[Donewiththisplace]

I had T5s for a while...only stopped because I had an odd sized fixture and couldn't find replacement bulbs. If I had kept with that fixture I probably would have supplemented with less though.

Having gone over to led (hydra 26 hd), I don't know if I'd go back to T5. I'm having decent growth, I can adjust the intensity if the corals are not happy, I can change the color of the tank if I am not happy, power consumption and heat transfer are a fraction of what they are with the T5s and aesthetically it's a cleaner look over the tank with one small fixture vs the larger 6 bulb T5 fixture.

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

I am with rookie. I have AI Hydras with aquatic T5 supplement setup.

Not having control and ramp/moonlights is required.

 

[Donewiththisplace]

Yeah that's another good feature of led that I forgot about..the ability to ramp up/down the light schedule.

My T5s had 2 switches...one controlled 4 bulbs the other 2 bulbs. So id place actinic bulbs in the 2 spots that went on together and used that as a dawn/dusk feature.

With the hydra I set a 3 hour ramp up time and 3 hours ramp down in addition to the 2 hours full light. Moon lights follow the actual moon schedule.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

I've had both, but didn't notice any thing spectacular with LEDs, except the LEDs are much cheaper to operate per year, (switching five T5 bulbs every 6 to 9 months, was adding up). Did you guys observe differences in growth rate between the two? As for the best of both worlds, what specifically are you guys referring to? I thought LEDs were the future of reefing.