Switching from LED to Metal Halides (1 Viewer)

[Cody]

Have any of y’all switched from LEDs back to metal halides? If so, what your experience like?

I was at That Aquarium Place the other day and he has both halides and LEDs over different sections of his large tank. Minus the Kessils, I have yet to see a LED that can come close to halides on just pure aesthetics, IMO. The shimmer always has some banding issues whereas the halides look crisp, just like the ocean.

Like I said, the kessils look great too, but by design, the sacrifice a lot of spread to keep the aesthetic of the light. I would want 8-10 of them to properly cover my 5’x2’x2’ display, and at $500 each, that’s just too much money to spend on lights. Having said that, they definitely have the benefit of being able to ramp, which is something I also want too. Either way, just looking to see if anyone else has made the switch back to halides.

 

[jrounding]

I’m too broke to switch out my hydras, but I would be interested in hearing people’s opinions on it. Lol!

 

[Cody]

I’m too broke to switch out my hydras, but I would be interested in hearing people’s opinions on it. Lol!

That's another aspect too. You can blast out a 150 with heavy PAR for the cost of one Radion.

 

[Reefahholic]

I did. Corals seem to like the Halides better. I’m getting better PE and Growth. I still run Radions though, but the difference in light is pretty significant. When you fire them up you’re thinking oh wow, this is like the sun.

I’ve been running 14K Hamilton because they run to spec on Tullio’s ballasts. I also have some Ushio 14K, but I’m gonna pick up some Radiums soon to play with. I’ve seen them in person on M80 ballasts and they are like a crisp white blue. On Tullio’s ballast they are more blue. The M80’s overdrive them. Can’t lie, I like the Halides a lot. I think my favorite colors come from T5’s. I just like the flat look and the corals like the light and have a different growth pattern. They branch more, but I seem to get a little faster growth from the Halides. Had to say because this tank had issues from the start and I’m only 16 months in. I think once I hit the 2.5-3 year mark I’ll have some better observations.

 

[Reefahholic]

Here’s a few pics:

 

[Lambianz]

above is that with MH, both or just LED's? I'm seeing better growth with MH. Buut stilll leaning towards LED's for color....Has anyone ever researched the farming of corals and what they use when farming. I would go with that, and see what happens..

 

[RR-MAN]

Soon it will be tough to find MH bulbs - imagine if the most popular one is terminating production:

Radium metal halide bulbs will not be produced anymore!

I just got an official email from my friends in Germany at the Radium factory saying that both Radium bulbs (250W and 400W) will not be in production anymore! This is very bad news for those who have been using them for such a long time! Radium bulbs were the best sellers for so many years! When...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cody]

above is that with MH, both or just LED's? I'm seeing better growth with MH. Buut stilll leaning towards LED's for color....Has anyone ever researched the farming of corals and what they use when farming. I would go with that, and see what happens..

I work with a lot of the large, national retailers and they’re all pretty much exclusively using LEDs these days.

 

[Reefahholic]

Do not do it!

 

[Reefahholic]

I work with a lot of the large, national retailers and they’re all pretty much exclusively using LEDs these days.

To be honest, there’s something very special about the light that Halides put out, but they’re not needed. If you go LED you just need really good coverage/spread to get the blanket of light needed and PAR numbers.

 

[Cody]

To be honest, there’s something very special about the light that Halides put out, but they’re not needed. If you go LED you just need really good coverage/spread to get the blanket of light needed and PAR numbers.

I hear you. I mostly just don't like the price of LEDs these days plus the quality of the shimmer. Haven't really found a happy medium.

 

[Reefahholic]

I hear you. I mostly just don't like the price of LEDs these days plus the quality of the shimmer. Haven't really found a happy medium.

That is why I’m running Halides because to buy more Radions it’s not cheap. I’d prefer at least (6) XR15’s on 48” length.

 

[TX_Punisher]

MH flat out grow them better. I’ve seen it. If you can deal with the heat and bulb replacement they are still the gold standard imo. A mh for 4-5 hrs with 5-6 of ramp up and down from additional leds like Jared has going would be the best of both worlds.

 

[Cody]

MH flat out grow them better. I’ve seen it. If you can deal with the heat and bulb replacement they are still the gold standard imo. A mh for 4-5 hrs with 5-6 of ramp up and down from additional leds like Jared has going would be the best of both worlds.

Are you speaking from personal experience of observations of other people's tanks?

 

[TX_Punisher]

Personal. Had radium’s on my lowboy. Same frags from my display were under g5 pros and just plain grew faster under mh.

 

[RR-MAN]

Personal. Had radium’s on my lowboy. Same frags from my display were under g5 pros and just plain grew faster under mh.

And the best part of mh - little to no par testing. The spread is so nice corals grow anywhere.

 

[SCUBAFreaky]

I hear you. I mostly just don't like the price of LEDs these days plus the quality of the shimmer. Haven't really found a happy medium.

I know I'm a little slow to this rodeo, but I finally decided to add my $0.02 to the discussion. I used metal halides for 20 years. My last rig was a dual 150 watt double ended combo with two 48" T5s and two 48" low power blue LED strips intended to serve as "moonlight". I absolutely loved this setup! I think it was an Ice Cap Reef Illuminations fixture originally with 250 watt bulbs that I converted to 150 watts. I was eventually forced to switch to LEDs when the 150 watt ballasts burned out and I could no longer find electronic ballast replacements. I certainly wasn't going to run it with magnetic ballasts. I was very sad. But the reality was that MH is just no longer widely supported and I was tired of not finding what I needed. I sighed, but took the plunge to LEDs.

So I struggled to find what would provide that same satisfaction of MH shimmer with T5 spread...and not break the bank. I eventually settled on 2 Kessil A360Xs and 2 48" Reef Brite Blue XHO strips. It's essentially my version of the BRS "Randy Rig". Brand new, this rig would bust the bank. The happy medium is that I took my time finding used lights in good shape...and for a good price. I even ended up with an extra Reef Brite strip. So, are the LEDs the same as MH? No, of course not. However, does it still give me good shimmer and excellent blue LED color pop, yes! And, I no longer have to replace bulbs. I really like that part of it! Replacing bulbs sucks. So at the end of the day it's not the same, but it's good enough. Being patient and buying used lights made it affordable. My tank still looks great. Corals grow great. The colors pop great. And I have my shimmer. Unfortunately, MH just doesn't have very much life left I'm sad to admit.

 

[Reefahholic]

MH flat out grow them better. I’ve seen it. If you can deal with the heat and bulb replacement they are still the gold standard imo. A mh for 4-5 hrs with 5-6 of ramp up and down from additional leds like Jared has going would be the best of both worlds.

I’ve been running the MH’s 6 hrs. I think it’s too much because I’m running 14K. That’s even with all the traces dialed in. Some corals love it, some not so much, others showing light stress. I think the corals would tolerate Radium’s much better, but probably not grow as much unless I put them on the old M80 ballasts which I do have access to, but I would rather run the Hamilton reflector’s with them.

I’m kinda thinking about bumping them back 1hr or maybe even just run them for 4hrs, and peak my LED’s hard at the same time with a lot of whites. I feel like they need intense light, but maybe not for 6 hrs because I’m running the LED’s for 12hrs too.

 

[Reefahholic]

Personal. Had radium’s on my lowboy. Same frags from my display were under g5 pros and just plain grew faster under mh.

On M80’s?

 

[Reefahholic]

I know I'm a little slow to this rodeo, but I finally decided to add my $0.02 to the discussion. I used metal halides for 20 years. My last rig was a dual 150 watt double ended combo with two 48" T5s and two 48" low power blue LED strips intended to serve as "moonlight". I absolutely loved this setup! I think it was an Ice Cap Reef Illuminations fixture originally with 250 watt bulbs that I converted to 150 watts. I was eventually forced to switch to LEDs when the 150 watt ballasts burned out and I could no longer find electronic ballast replacements. I certainly wasn't going to run it with magnetic ballasts. I was very sad. But the reality was that MH is just no longer widely supported and I was tired of not finding what I needed. I sighed, but took the plunge to LEDs.

So I struggled to find what would provide that same satisfaction of MH shimmer with T5 spread...and not break the bank. I eventually settled on 2 Kessil A360Xs and 2 48" Reef Brite Blue XHO strips. It's essentially my version of the BRS "Randy Rig". Brand new, this rig would bust the bank. The happy medium is that I took my time finding used lights in good shape...and for a good price. I even ended up with an extra Reef Brite strip. So, are the LEDs the same as MH? No, of course not. However, does it still give me good shimmer and excellent blue LED color pop, yes! And, I no longer have to replace bulbs. I really like that part of it! Replacing bulbs sucks. So at the end of the day it's not the same, but it's good enough. Being patient and buying used lights made it affordable. My tank still looks great. Corals grow great. The colors pop great. And I have my shimmer. Unfortunately, MH just doesn't have very much life left I'm sad to admit.

There’s something special about MH’s and T5.

IMO, it just takes more LED’s to achieve the same growth. If you go that direction, just make sure the coverage is good.