halide or t5 or led
 

Im Just getting back into the hobby and wondering what I should use on my 90gal with soft corals. I would like your opinions. We used to have a 48" coralife pro with 2 250w halide and compacts.

I think for soft corals, 150 watts halide is more than enough.

For soft coral I would go with T5HO, no need for MH.

If you decide down the road to go with SPS though, that could also work as long as you have 6 neons.

T5HO's would work great for soft corals without putting off as much heat as halides. With the right T5 fixture you can grow LPS and SPS with proper placement as well.

I have an 8 bulb T5 with a Reefbrite XHO Actinic Blue strip on my 5 X 2 125 Peninsula and the colors are amazing. I can grow anything like a weed in my tank. I around 75 SPS corals in my tank and they are grow very well with nice color. I rarely have heat issues and I like the look of the fixture.

You can see my tank and a "review" of the Reefbrite XHO here: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=79427

I have had two fellow reefers sell their MH setup and buy what I have after seeing how nice the tank looks. Hope that helps.

Controllable LED......run it at lower intensities and the bulbs will last for years:wink:

But that's like driving a Ferrari at the speed limit :(

actually, more like driving a Tesla at the speed limit:mrgreen: thats the beauty of LED.....its a sports car that you can drive around town at the speed limit and then when/if you need to (like if you wanna move up to SPS), you can drop the hammer and burns the polyps off your coral:mrgreen:...a controllable LED will allow for a great range of corals, from speed limit softies to full throttle SPS......the Tesla reference is that it is a green sports car......LED will save on bulb changes, save on electricity and save on water production because you will evaporate less......especially if you drive the LED at the speed limit:wink:

You won't sell that to me. I love the shimmer and life of the MH way too much and my SPS are also growing like weeds (acros grow 1" per month)...so any light with proper wavelength and good water parameters and food and they will grow like weeds. It's not only about light you know. I don't have any heat issue with just some little fans.

I agree it's more than just light. My corals grow like weeds. I almost wish they would grow slower. Regardless, It was the colors that persuaded them to change, however. With Fiji purples and the different blues and a 17.5K duo white, you can really bring out the colors in corals. They said their reds and pinks were WAY nicer after they switched. Add an LED or two to supplement and you have some shimmer. Personally, i don't like the shimmer. i like the "cleaner" look.

BTW, I didn't sell anyone on them. they simply chose to switch after viewing my tank. As for the heat, Unless you have them in a hood which is cooled and vented, I don't like the look of the pendants and fans, but I am a little over the top when it comes to a clean set up. I went to great effort and money to make my set up very clean and quiet.