I miss my Radiums. :( I was soooo reluctant to switch to LED but a year ago everyone was still in "full on switch to LED and GHL is the bestest of the bunch" mode. But a part of me worried that anything-not-Radium would be a step down.

But then came the challenge of replacing the Radiums. So I bought into the hype.

Man how things change.

Will you be selling the Radiums going forward? If they become easier to buy then I might consider switching back. Although the heat and power bill aren't something I'm hugely happy to go back to, I do have to admit that my tank just looked better with them than without.

Do the Halides give you the par you were looking for Xenon

I am not sure if we are going to offer these lights to our customers.

From our experience, LED is what everyone wants still.


I haven't measured PAR since they were installed. I borrowed one from a friend when I tested the Mitras. I am gonna have to just buy one myself.

With that said, the tank is MUCH brighter to the naked eye.

Q: How do you NOT spend money here?

A: You don't. You spend $ on very nice and healthy eye candy. I highly recommend it. It will make you feel much better. Trust me. :razz:

It's been awhile since I lasted visited. I used CanReef member: "2pts" as an excuse to drop by (not that I ever needed one) last week. ;) Mobile phone pics are the best I could do. ;)

2pts and I didn't walk away disappointed. Special thanks to the staff :mrgreen: Great service as usual.

Worthy notes:

- SPS have coloured up even more from previous pics.

- Fish system is up and running. Cycling now. http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif

- Very attractive pricing on a lot of dry goods http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/imag...es/biggrin.gif Did I mention dry goods nirvana?

- Radio controlled flying clownfish. Who wouldn't want one?

http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps3472e624.jpg

http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps13a5094c.jpg

http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb53cf7b6.jpg

http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps47b022b0.jpg

http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps8ab006fc.jpg

http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps747ddd45.jpg

I think this is what love looks like.

That scoly makes your heart race, your palms sweat and your wallet cry:biggrin:beautiful!!!

WOW! Way to harness the power of the sun there! :-D Glad to hear the corals are responding favourably. Makes me want to try some radiums :-)

Everyone is doing it!!

400w 20K Radiums seem to be the gold standard for SPS coloration but it has lots of disadvantages compared to LED.

The heat produced from both the light and ballast is incredible. We are running a 1/3hp chiller but its not enough. More than twice the cost for power. The bulbs fire pretty white with electronic ballasts that are available on the market so they do still need actinic supplementation to make them look right. Evaporation has also increased.

I am patiently waiting for LED technology to catch up so that I can take these suckers down but something tells me that's not gonna happen for a very long time.

Yup, I am all too familiar with the disadvantages of halides. Luckily I live in winter so it's not as bad for me. When we do have summer heat waves I use central AC to cool down the house and the tank.