T5HO vs MH! Ahhhhhhh the confusion!

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by mike31154

L E D. Upfront cost may be higher than T5HO or MH these days, but in the long haul, they will save you $$$$s when you start to factor in bulb changes, which are not generally required with L E D. Radion has all the bells & whistles, many of which we never had using T5 & MH, so if you can do without all those b&w's, there are plenty of cost effective L E D solutions out there. Won't be long & T5 tube & MH bulb selection will be even harder to source. If cost is really that much of an issue, keep your current T5 set up & DIY a L E D supplement of some sort.

I tried DIY led once but the cost started building up so I stopped. LED do save lot of money in the long run but I really don't want to spend on it since after graduation (hopefully by the end of next year), I will definitely be getting an LED because I believe price of LEDs will drop SEVERELY (possibly by 50%+) with way cooler techs. I just need something that will keep my corals pretty for a year or something.

Look at how radions keep on changing their models. And to make things worse, they only reimburse USA customers

[Coralgurl]

All LEDs will continue to evolve as time goes, less than a year ago, people didn't think LEDs could sustain a reef. Ecotech will keep upgrading their models, us first gens paid a premium for them, 2nd gen offers more for less $$$. Jump in when you can, there will be more options available when you do, and 6 months after that, prices will have dropped again and there will be even better products available.

4 bulbs a year will cost close to $160-200 to replace- there's your fixture but you have to live within your budget, once you r done school, you'll be able to do more - like a bigger set up

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

All LEDs will continue to evolve as time goes, less than a year ago, people didn't think LEDs could sustain a reef. Ecotech will keep upgrading their models, us first gens paid a premium for them, 2nd gen offers more for less $$$. Jump in when you can, there will be more options available when you do, and 6 months after that, prices will have dropped again and there will be even better products available.

4 bulbs a year will cost close to $160-200 to replace- there's your fixture but you have to live within your budget, once you r done school, you'll be able to do more - like a bigger set up

Haha. Yah that's the most and still half of 2nd hand radions :P

Oh yah once I am done with my school and get a job, I will stop counting gallons and start counting tanks by dimensions

[Coralgurl]

Radions aren't the only option, just an expensive one. My Illuminux can be expanded and is programmable, but I just have it on a light timer and don't plan on expanding it.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Radions aren't the only option, just an expensive one. My Illuminux can be expanded and is programmable, but I just have it on a light timer and don't plan on expanding it.

Ah you are just wasting the beauty of LED!

[Coralgurl]

Nope, keeping it simple! They work fine as they are, set and forget.

[mike31154]

Radions appear to have caught your fancy, but like Coralgurl says, there are plenty of less costly LED options out there that will grow your coral nicely, especially for a 20 gal long tank. Kien's idea for a couple of Kessils sounds like a good match.