T5's, MH, or LED... what do you prefer? Why?

[jordancemery65]

What is everyone using for lighting? Are LED's really the way to go?

[manchreef7]

Matter of personal preference. I have had all 3. Currently running AI Sol blue leds , switched from a 250 watt hqi, with a pheonix 14k. Im getting better growth now with all but 2 of my corals. Although i am still on the fence as far as long term performance withthe leds. I would really like a hybrid of all 3. A fixture with one 150w hqi, and about 12-3 watt leds, and 2-24" t5s. Lol. That is for my 24x24 cube

[aandfsoccr04]

Metal halides. Radiums in particular. Tried and true to grow corals and produce great color. I'm not an early adopter not one to experiment much...

[reef_guy81]

I too am in a dilema to decide between the three of them for a saltwater tank that i am going to start..

Led's though cost more upfront, make up the difference in the power consumed and heat generated, but not many are happy with the color spectrum. As for MH and T5, its the cost of the bulb changes and power consumed(MH esp) thats of a concern but again, they are time tested and proven and give excellent color spectrums.

Urrrgghh !! Decisions Decisions!!!

[cthedaytrader]

I am using all three right now and I couldnt be happier.

I have the Radium, 2 t5 blue plus bulbs and I just installed two pannels of LEDs as well, together I love the hybrid so far.

I didnt think I could improve on the radium and two t5s but when I had the two panels, one has 12 Royal Blue the other 10Roayal Blue and 2 blues Dimmable, it really gave even more pop to the tank not to mention even cooler dawn and dusk than just the t5s

[nanojg]

Leds: cheaper in the long run, more flexible than any other source (dimming, optics, etc.), more efficient (which leads to much lower heat).

Although over the years I have had all three and with quality units you really cant go wrong. I am however, partial to the shimmer of halides and leds.

[zeeter]

My preference at the moment is T5. Assuming a six bulb fixture you can get any number of light temperatures combinations in there, while a MH will only give a couple. Of course, if the tank is deep then MH is the way to go.

MH has straight growth vs a broader growth with T5. IMHO the spread out growth is more natural. MH also has been known for coral burn.

The biggest benefit toward MH is the penetration. Several studies have found that a good T5 fixture with the right combination of bulbs can be equally as effective at growing corals as MH as long as the corals are kept within the limits of the T5's penetration. To me, it is all about color temperature and less about lumen.

[sneaton]

whats the best for a 12" deep frag tank? im thinking a sunpower

[Sidewaydaze]

LEDs. but wondering if the technology has still room to improve and whether or not current prices will go down.

[wildman926]

T5's initially, went to LED's exclusively, and now have just added back a double bulb T5 due to a couple of corals losing color. After a week of that addition, the color started coming back. Everything else was doing fine I might add.

I have just replaced the standard double bulb T5 with a double bulb T5 HO.

[James77]

I've tried them all, and prefer the halides by far over any of them.

T5s I liked least, mostly becuase of their flat look. They add less heat than halides do, but save only marginally on electric. The bulbs are very expensive and need replacing every 10-12 months, in half the time of the two years that sold me on them about 4 years ago or os.

LEDs would be my second choice, but I did not like their overall appearnace and effect on my coral. Granted this was a DIY dimmable setup using only royal blue and a mix of whites. But even others I have seen in person fail to impress me to much. I think their savings are way overblown to the average hobbyist. Unless you are running a chiller frequently or have ridiculous electric rates, the overall savings will be negligible if they even exist. Also the bulb life has yet to be seen over our tanks. What is sold as 20,000 or whatever hours in a lab setting will vary greatly over a hot humid saltwater tank. Drivers and other electronics will also fail, and be a larger problem on an obsolete fixture that has parts no longer available.

Halides are by far the best IMO. I supplement mine with actinic LEDs. The shimmer is great from them, and full spectrum is easily attained throughout the entire tank. A very large area can be covered with one bulbs and a large reflector, and I owuld bet that in some cases could use less watts than LEDs. Corals that had started dying or failing under my attempt at LEDs snapped back quickly under the halides again and are now thriving. Heat is a non issue for me since I am in a colder area. The 2 hot months in the summer are no real proble with using fans, although I barley needed them in the summer due to open tank top. Heat from halides is pretty easily managed with correct venting and a proper height off the water. If you have your halides 4 inches above the water in a fanless canopy, of course you will have heat problems. Most bulbs are in the $40- $70 range and will last a full year. Parts are easily had and replaced since your are only dealing with a ballast, reflector and bulb. Extra electric usage is a joke for me as well, I think I figured it somewhere in teh $7 area more per month over LEDs and that is using 250 HQI bulbs.

[viggen]

I haven't seen a set of LED's that I like the looks of yet. To my eyes when you see the shimmering of the water, I see every color bulb that is used & to me it just looks crappy/bad. Thus I stick with MH's

I have T5 on my fuge & the MH's to me look a LOT better

No clue on how the growth rate compares for the different types of lighting, always been FO & just switch to FOWLR.... always preferred the shimmering of halides & did consider LED's when I did my present tank, but couldn't get over how the color shows

[Devaji108]

my 2 cents...
I did a DIY LED for my 75 and love the shimmer, color control/dimming ability and low cost of running it. it also way cheaper than the 6 bulb T5 fixture that i was looking at.
I have had MH in the past a i think the shimmer of cree LED's are better.

but like said above it's a personal choice and you can't go wrong if you get a quality setup.
my over all thoughts are get what makes you happy and that you are going to be happy with. every day I am so happy I went with LED's....

[jbannick18]

T5, get great growth and color from all my coral. Been thinking about switching to LED's in the future but still on the fence with them.

[ange062]

This is a question that gets 100 different answers from the 100 people that answer it. My take is pick your poison and go with it. Ive seen world caliber tanks growing under each of the options, as well as various combinations of them.

[A. Grandis]

T5s all the way for me!
Do a search and you'll see that many people came back from LEDs to the T5s.

They are the best IMO because of:
1. The heat is not bad at all.
2. Great chance of spectrum (bulb combinations).
3. Uniform light for the aquarium's length.
4. Great PAR with the right bulb choice.
5. Choosing the right reflectors you'll have an amazing advantage of the light bulbs per square inches.

I choose ATI PM as one of the best fixtures worldwide.

I do like MH, but between the MH and T5s, I changed because of the light distribution, regardless of the reflectors. T5s are better. MH has the heat point.

LEDs are still young and IMO needs more time to be improved.
Again, when some people came back to their old T5 systems after investing that much on the LEDs ...

BUT, it's really your choice. All 3 have a good reputation to grow corals.

Grandis.

[bif24701]

My preference at the moment is T5. Assuming a six bulb fixture you can get any number of light temperatures combinations in there, while a MH will only give a couple. Of course, if the tank is deep then MH is the way to go.

MH has straight growth vs a broader growth with T5. IMHO the spread out growth is more natural. MH also has been known for coral burn.

The biggest benefit toward MH is the penetration. Several studies have found that a good T5 fixture with the right combination of bulbs can be equally as effective at growing corals as MH as long as the corals are kept within the limits of the T5's penetration. To me, it is all about color temperature and less about lumen.


T5s equal no shimmer, I can't do without that. Must have shimmer. I've seen a Radions and the color of the leds isn't perfectly blended when looking at shadows and shimmer. It's wierd, but I don't want a chilled or changing bulbs. I think LEDs need to be without optics or codey optics and mounted low. If they are in bunches you still get good shimmer. What a problem lighting is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate it because I have a hard time choosing. I like the Pacific Sun Hyperion R2 though looks very promising.

[3Watt]

LED all the way. But only if it's DIY and you have a pretty good understanding of the visible spectrum and time to work with blends. Manufactured fixtures are still stuck on the whites and blues pretty much. There's a few more colors out there that will widen the spectrum and make more color pop in your corals.
The shimmer is amazing. To the point that if your water surface has good turbulence it will make you sea sick watching the light wave across your aquascape.
I have growth and color with LED that is just as good as MH. The only light I've ever owned that grew sps better was a 6X39W T5HO on a very shallow tank.

[gpx1200]

i have had MH,pc,vho and led's over my reef tanks and my favorite has been and is a 14k 250w hqi mh with 28 3w led's arount it, it has the full spectum frome the mh and added color mixing and fuller coverage frome the led's 12 cool whites and 16 royal blues on seperate dimmable strings. before i added the led's i had 3x96w and 1 65w pc's along with the mh over my 92 corner bow and the heat was unbearable without a chiller and airconditioning all summer long now i no longer have heat ishues and theirs no chiller or ac needed. the diy led system for this tank cost about the same as 2 full bulb changes for the old system and my electric bill went down by about $20-30 a month
i also have a 72 bowfront with only led's for lighting and so far the corals do not do as well when moved into this tank from the one with the mh/led hybrid. the all led tank is capable of much higher light levels than the hybrid so i don't think it's a brightness ishue but a spectrum ishue so i'm going to try and add some other types of led's for a broader spectrum cw,ww,uv,cyan ect..

[rodneyri]

id say go look at some tanks with the various lights and pick what you like the best for you.

I started with a giesemann infinity with phoenix 14k + 4 T5HO (this is still my favorite!), my tank was hot and needed a chiller. I had this light for years!
then moved to a ATI PM, corals loved it, very bright great coverage..but T5 looks a bit flat and not the crisp light you get from MH. Chiller would still go on but not as much as the MH
I now run Vertex Illumina LED, the light is as crsip as my old MH unit but no heat. shimmer is as good as the MH and i think because the LEDs are in clusters there is no color separation even with turbulent flow. Spectrum is missing though, i cant keep reds red..they turn orange. Corals dont have the fuller color look that the other light sources had, saying this though i prefer this light than T5. once a few more LED colors come out ill add them to my fixture to try get back that full spectrum.


If power was so costly here id have MH any day, then LED then T5. but thats the look i like.

[bvoss]

I have done them all. I really dislike the look of LEDs and the color coloration is really bad. I have been fiddling with supplements to my AI Sols for the better part of a year. I have a choice between brown and bleached.

Best system I ever had was XM10Ks with lots of actinic VHO.

I may go to XM 10ks with lots of Royal Blue LEDs to supplement. I just have to explain o my wife how I blew $3000 on LEDs.

Several others in my club are changing back from LEDs. Shallow-water SPS really don't seem to like them.

[Mike_Noren]

I still prefer MH, mainly because the LEDs I've seen have had poor color rendition (about 80 CRI) and doesn't look natural to my eyes. There's been 90+ CRI LEDs announced and when I can have a look at those I'll reconsider my view.
(I'm pretty fussy about color rendition, partly because I take a lot of photos, and if you're one of the guys who like very blue tanks well then CRI is obviously not an issue at all.)

[bvoss]

(I'm pretty fussy about color rendition, partly because I take a lot of photos, and if you're one of the guys who like very blue tanks well then CRI is obviously not an issue at all.)

I grew up in a custom color photo lab. I was shocked by the CRI on my AI Sols the first moment I turned them on.

[Mike_Noren]

I grew up in a custom color photo lab. I was shocked by the CRI on my AI Sols the first moment I turned them on.
Shocked in a good way or a bad way?
I tried a bunch of different metal halide lamps and after some horrible duds (http://mnsystematik.dyndns.org/temp/Belysning_Dscn7527.jpg) I got Giesemann Megachrome Marine 12000K, 96 CRI lamps with crispy white light with faint blue tinge, which I love.
I like the lower electricity consumption and longer lifespan of the LEDs but I wont switch until they look as good to my eyes as my MHs.

[Saadatski]

here is a pretty decent, quick summary to all of the different lights

T5's, amazing growth, good color, but looks VERY blan, and flat with no shimmer

MH, Best growth with greatest intensity, however adds too much heat and uses too many watts. Also has amazing shimmer along with beautiful color from different bulbs.

LED's, after owning them for a while, they look very nice, however, MANY mixed reviews on them. i read about a 50% chance of people like them and report good growth, but the other half report many problems with spectrum and growth. It is yet to be perfected in my opinion, and that is why i sold my setup.

[rc4kinu]

I just added double t-5's to supplement my LED's. And I love this combo. Shimmer, controllability and par from led with spectrum and shadow compensation of t-5.

[pardalis]

I liked my LED's but I was not in love with them. I just sold the fixtures and I went back to T5's. I had good growth and with the LED's but my oranges, reds and yellows just didn't look good under them. Anything blue and green looked great. All are good choices, as stated above I think its personal preference.