Metal Halides vs. T5's vs. LED's vs. Ecofriendly Bulbs Which is better?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Carrera75

That can't be the only reason. I use a MH/T5 combo and I am super content with this fixture that I see no need to switch to LED. Oh, and I should mention that I have seen a few set ups that use LED lighting and I have not been impressed, so this is not just about money. I have the cash for it and I chose my current MH/T5 fixture over any LED fixture.

Correct. I had MH, switched for humidity reasons, and the MH was a better light. It has a few negatives for sure, but for coral growth and color, as well as the overall look of the tank, I prefer MH.

[somewherebeyondthesea]

How cool would it be to have OLED? imagine the possibilities!

[Baldy]

I don't really think I would say steves display tank at red coral in Edmonton looks too bad and he's using leds. The spectrum issue is catching up, but the manufacturers are letting us DIY people test everything out for them. The manufactured units are a ways behind the DIY crowd except maybe for the mitra.

And I think it speaks for itself that led outnumber mh by almost 3:1 in this vote so far

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Baldy

And I think it speaks for itself that led outnumber mh by almost 3:1 in this vote so far

Although, while I have to vote LED as that is what I use, I do think MH is a better light source for my needs.
I don't think anyone, including me has said that LED tanks don't look good, they sure do. I don't think I've seen a bad LED tank. I'm just saying that while my tank is still nice, it was nicer with my MH. Maybe not noticeably, but I still see the difference.
For my current needs, the benefits of LED outweigh the slight difference MH made, and I'll stick with LED. In fact I just ordered one more for my frag tank.

But, if I had more money than I could count, and built my dream tank with appropriate ventilation and cooling, I would go with MH lighting.

[Northvan]

We are thinking of switching from Hamilton tech MH/T5 2X250 with Geismann 14000k, to Kessil 350's, running on a drilled 90 gallon, but we don't yet have an opinion on which is better, since we havent tried it yet. We are running 2x150 M/H on our 72 gall bowfront, and it is underlit. Might switch both. I ran LED on a small quarantine tank & liked it alot. We would LOVE to see someone elses tank with Kessils or something similar before we put out the cash. And/or hear opinions from people who have tried or seen both.
On a side note, our first salt tank was T5's only, and I liked the colour they gave, but hubby wanted the ripple effect of M/H.

[Aquattro]

The Kessil is a really nice light. I like how close the diodes are, really limits any color separation. Not sure how many you'd need on a 4' tank, guess it depends on what's in it.

[Bryan_k47]

I have 2 Gen 1 Radions on my 90 and they perform great
I've never used MH so I can't say which is better
I have T5's over a recently set up frag tank and they are boring as **** lol

[somewherebeyondthesea]

I have MH's in one Tank and LED's in the other and it goes without saying you get what you pay for. Many of the cheap LED lighting out there is absolute garbage especially for coral color and growth.

It wasn't until I started experimenting with different colored LED bar lights, that the colors were arguably better than my MH setup. I had just a white with blue setup initially, but when I added a blue bar and a magenta bar, more of the coral colors started to "pop"!

Again, strictly an opinion

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by somewherebeyondthesea

Again, strictly an opinion

I suppose. But I've seen AI tanks, Radion tanks, Vertex tanks. None of them have what I would consider MH quality corals, and by corals I'm referring to SPS. Maybe it's different for other types, I know my LPS look the same or better. So I guess my opinion is solely based on SPS tanks.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Carrera75

That can't be the only reason. I use a MH/T5 combo and I am super content with this fixture that I see no need to switch to LED. Oh, and I should mention that I have seen a few set ups that use LED lighting and I have not been impressed, so this is not just about money. I have the cash for it and I chose my current MH/T5 fixture over any LED fixture.

So if someone gave you a few GHL mitras you wouldn't use them? Doesn't matter if you have the money or not, take that right out of the equation. If you had the option to run as many of whatever LED fixture you wanted, would you still stick with your halides? Doubtful....