Led VS MH?

[Ed Hahn]

I have been tagging along with talk of LEDs. Here is what I remember of talk from experts. LEDs are comparible to 250-close to 400 watt MH. The coverage again is not as good as MH.

LEDs- energy efficient, no need for chiller, bulb life- no need for replacement for 5 years plus.

cons- expensive, not proven in person to me how well they work for coral growth and color, coverage spotty,

MH- better reflectors allow lower watt bulbs to cover more area, proven to be producers of coral growth, experience has shown coverage.

MH- expensive replacement of bulbs, heat issues with most likely need of cooling devices,
Not energy efficient,

What else am I missing?

Plasma Arc- 280 watt bulb- price is coming down- 300 dollars from first time I looked at it. Coverage is really good. Does not put out as much heat as 400 MH. Bulb replacement rated at 5 years. compact unit. Used at Monterey Aquarium as model.

con- cost is still over 1035 dollars, Has not been on the market with aquarium use that long. I would prefer to see someone with this unit in person to see proven experience.

 

[BBLINKS]

I am running 3x400W and now I will be switching over to 3x160W cree led panels, I have a full tank of sps, if you are interested I can post pictures and results on how the led will effect the growth of sps and lps. I know the intensity is more focused on leds, you need to turn it down and slowly acclaim it. I am a strong beliver on slow and steady wins the race, with good parameter and prestine water quality led will eventually take over.

 

[TJL]

Agreed, LED and Plasma will definitely be taking over. Most of Europe has already stopped producing any & all types of incandescent style bulbs/lamps and when China follows suit there will be very limited sources for MH lighting. I have been up to Justins to first-hand see his Plasma in action and it's a pretty sic, the actual lamp is only about the size of a jellybean with minimal heat and tons of crisp light output.

I'm just about to begin a fairly advanced LED lighting system with most components from rapidled.com plus steve'sleds.com this was to address a issue in mind on the very limited range of spectral value that most all of the commercial LED units have. Simplified I'm going to be using (3) different whites 6500K/8000K/10,000K, (3) different Blues 445/460/470nm peaks, Green 525nm, Red 625nm. My plan "A" is to have (6) front-to-back linear circuits on a controller for a East-to-West Solar Light Schedule and (1) circuit spread out over whole tank for a noon-day spike in PAR. I'll post a build thread in the DIY forum starting in a couple weeks.

Cheers, Todd