"Affordable Lighting Question (1 Viewer)

[Miller]

Anyone ever use these? If so, what was your experience?

MH 72" Metal Halide T5 LED Aquarium Light Marine Coral Reef 6 ft 3X 250W Bulbs | eBay

Thanks!

 

[Clownfish Chris]

Yep. I have a smaller version. Worked great after I threw away all the bulbs and put some decent ones in it. After 2 years it runs like a champ. If that is from top dog sellers, he is in Houston. It will be here next day if you order early in the day.

 

[Miller]

So you didn't have to swap ballest? I read a post that the better lights burn up the ballest or something to that affect.

 

[reeftopia]

Those lights are money pits, bulbs need to be replaced ofter and theyuse much electricity

 

[Clownfish Chris]

I have not swapped out the ballasts. In fact, I swiped the ballasts and re wired them into pendants. The bulbs I'm running are 14k Phoenix HQI.

David is correct as to the long term cost.

 

[APynckel]

Metal Halides "burn out" after about a year to a year and a half. If you want long term affordable, go straight T5's.

ATI's run on Icecap ballasts. During their entire lifespan, they will not lose more than 20% of their effective PAR rating.

 

[Miller]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I am currently running only T5 so was looking to add MH. I'll just bite the bullet and get a combo fixture from one of the more reputable brands.

 

[Clownfish Chris]

If you can afford it and want MH, that is definitely the way to go.

 

[jqsquared]

Metal Halides "burn out" after about a year to a year and a half. If you want long term affordable, go straight T5's.

ATI's run on Icecap ballasts. During their entire lifespan, they will not lose more than 20% of their effective PAR rating.

MH and T5 both need to be replaced on a yearly schedule which factors into your long term cost. FWIW every once in a while people will be selling MH setups that are pretty affordable and a lot higher quality, if you need something quick then the ebay lights are there!

 

[steveb]

and LED's are no guarantee of being long term "maintenance free"..(well maybe more so on the higher end units...) I have two of the reef breeder value line that have a significant # of LED's burned out on them..., one of them the blue's don't even come on anymore, sitting in a corner... Now using an ebay fixture of similar design...

 

[Miller]

Thanks again, no rush on my end. Everything is growing and looking great so just looking to change things up a bit. Seems like the MH combo setups have a bit more color to the corals.

 

[reefling]

I have used MH, T5 and LEDs.
I have an LED fixture now that I modified to suit my needs. It was meant for a planted tank.
Amazon.com : Green Element EVO Quad 48"-52" LED Aquarium Light Fixture - Plant 64x3W : Pet Supplies

that is the exact one i have. As you can see it is for a planted tank. I have replaced lights on it once before and i need to do it again. That is my fault because i keep it about 5 inches above the water with open tops. the connections get corroded and the lights dim or dont come on at all.
The lights when i got them were for planted tanks. The whole fixture had 16 or less royal blue LEDs. The first thing i did was order about 20 from china and did some replacing. All that said, I would never give up LEDs to go back to halides or T5. While the combo is beautiful, the heat it puts off in your house and the added evaporation(humidity) in your house is a huge con. I have not run a dehumidifier since the halides left the house, and when testing electrical usage with that device you get from your electric company and plug into the wall, I realized that the dehumidifier pulled as much power as the lights we use. It was right up there with the lights and AC. I am currently planning to DIY a newer fixture to make it full spectrum, but it is not necessary. I just want to add red, UV, green, and cyan to the mix.

halide bulbs are super expensive and you need to change them every 10-14 months. You can get the cheap chinese ones, but from experience you will order 20k and it will look 12. The fixture put off so much heat, the A/C ran like the oven was on half the day.

Fluorescent bulbs are even worse(replacement-wise), you need twice as many and they need to be changed every 9 months. My old tank had 3 halides and 4 CF bulbs. I added T5s to it because CF bulbs to fit that one were about 90$ each. T5 bulbs were $30+. The tank was beautiful because I had top of the line T5 actinics and Hamilton MH bulbs.

my point is that at 70$ per halide bulb and $35/Fluorescent bulb, it was very easy to spend 300-400$ per year on bulbs.... my current DIY fixture made from LEDs will probably cost me under 150$ for a 4' one. One for a 125g or other 6' tank would probably cost 220$, give or take. It depends on cost of proper power supplies. That is using meanwell LDD-700 dimmable drivers, 3w LEDs on stars, and the aluminum that Lowe's carries.

 

[flipside]

Yup! I have that fixture (48") and it works great to this day. Same ballasts, but I have manipulated the bulbs over the past 2 years.

They are unlabeled versions of "Odyssea" fixtures, and have a few aftermarket products like legs and hangers that you can get for them. Decent low-budget setup, IMO.

Here's a guy that shows before and afters of running a 150w MH version after a year. HTH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynrSJiZEJKQ

 

[APynckel]

MH and T5 both need to be replaced on a yearly schedule which factors into your long term cost. FWIW every once in a while people will be selling MH setups that are pretty affordable and a lot higher quality, if you need something quick then the ebay lights are there!

I distinctly remember that not being the case when T5's were becoming mainstream back in 2005ish. We made the change from 3x 250w MH's to a German (ATI) overcharged T5 array and never looked back. Water temps drastically decreased, coral growth increased, and coloration flourished. We never replaced the bulbs and coral life never degraded.

There was a graph of par over lifetime of T5's vs MH's that sealed the deal with us. Overcharged T5's showing no less than 80% of their initial output over the course of several years vs MH's losing more than 1/2 after nearly 2 years.

 

[flipside]

I may be confused with the above post; so if I am, I apologize if this comes off too bluntly... Definitely not my intent. Please educate me if I'm wrong.

That said...

I measure my PAR when I add new T5 bulbs, and I change them out at the 7-9 month mark. PAR drops drastically after that... I've recorded 20% drops in a year (all bulbs overdriven). I'm not sure where you're getting "several years" from, APynkel. I've searched online for research/data on that, but can't find nothing.

Most Europeans that run T5's (no one runs T5's better than our EU brethren) start noticing a drop in coloration at around 8 months. That's a good rule of thumb, on when to change your T5's (if you're overdriving them). 10-12 months if not overdriving, but I still change them out, then.

The problem with waiting longer to change: if you lose 20% or more of your PAR values, when you change your bulbs out, you'll cook your corals. Even when I change my bulbs after 7 months, I only change one bulb at a time. With my MH's, I change one bulb at a time, and I raise the fixture a little. I write my PAR values to try and match what I had the first time. That, or I measure how far up my fixture/light/pendant is off the water to get a baseline. I'm very careful with light exposure values to the corals.

This is why I always have a PAR meter. I've learned too many expensive lessons in the past. T5's will never last several years, other than just "put off light." PAR is what is important. Well, mainly to SPS/Clam/Nem lovers like myself.

I'm running an 8 bulb ATI setup w/LED supplements, a 6 bulb ATI setup w/LED supplements, a Hamilton 400w SE MH w/Galaxy ballast, and a Advanced/Odyssea fixture, for what it's worth. Only one I'm not running anymore is LEDs and that's just my personal preferences. LED's are much better today than they were yesterday, but I'm studying D2mini's thread on R2R to ensure he gets the kind of growth I'm used-to seeing before biting the bullet again. (pardon the digression)

So, please... if you do have some information on T5's lasting longer than a year, please post it up. I'd really be interested in recreating the experimentation that was done to perfect their methods. These bulbs ain't getting any cheaper!

 

[APynckel]

It was way back in the day before T5's were mainstream here in the US, and who knows, maybe it was a marketing gimmick.

I could be entirely wrong. If there is documented data showing it, especially so.