DIY Led's VS T5's

[Kleko]

Man oh man have I had allot of issues with my DIY leds. Im fed up with them. So the question is which is better Led's or t5's? I anticipate an all for led's. So Im asking which is better over all in these sections. Price, Reliability, keep up cost, and affect on the tank. Thank you for you input.

 

[reeffreak]

Im going to have to say T5 hands down .... I am not down with the whole LED rave going on just nobody real knows long term what there capable of . I was over at Hayes ( Flagswipes) or Dwayne whatever you know him by and he was doing a little test with LEd compaired to his T5 in his frag tank and it was even compairable T5 blew the LED away . I have always used T5  and will never change .

 

[Duke]

Man oh man have I had allot of issues with my DIY leds. Im fed up with them. So the question is which is better Led's or t5's? I anticipate an all for led's. So Im asking which is better over all in these sections. Price, Reliability, keep up cost, and affect on the tank. Thank you for you input.

My DIY Kit has been flawless so far, almost 6 months now. Im very happy with them, every coral i have has done very well under the LEDs and i can say ive seen improved growth vs my old lighting. Coming from MH lighting, the heat difference in my living room in the summer time alone was well worth the switch, even with the central air on i couldnt keep temps in check last year with the MH lighting and this year my heaters are actually running during the day even sometimes. i dont really have any SPS corals to comment on but i did use petercars apogee par meter and was getting well over 300 at the top of my rockwork and over 150 at the sand, and that was with 50/50 optics i think with optics on all the LEDS i would be over 500 par 6" below the waterline.

 

[davesolo29]

i have LEDs now.  Im still unsure of what i think of them.  The ability to control them is great, but i still feel the colours of the t5s were more relaxing.  I have been told to try a couple of the UV modules and that should make a difference, but im not sure i want to spend the money on a gamble.  I have not had a chance yet to compare coral growth but since i have not sold my t5s yet i think i will hold on to them for a bit until i make a decision.

 

[Poseidon]

where could one find said parts for a t5 diy?

 

[teebone110]

where could one find said parts for a t5 diy?

BRS sells these and many others.

You need good reflectors which would probably be the most expensive part of the build. Try workhorse ballasts and your good to go with some endcaps, wires and bulbs.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I don't think it's an easy question, as LED's are not built equal.  I'll never go back to old tech, but I also went with 5W and 3W CREE bulbs, I'm thinking if I had gone with one of those underpowered fixtures (especially the early ones) I likely would have a different opinion.

Reeffreak has seen my setup, it's 100% LED, and I'm pretty sure he can attest that I have good sps growth, and it has been 100% LED since the rebuild...


That said, I don't have anything against T5, I have thought of adding a couple of bulbs for 'showtime' but I don't have room in my hood (for now).  I wouldn't run them except for those days I'm sitting there tripping out over the colours in the tank

 

[Neopimp]

I agree with Salty.  I  dont have a tank that is stocked to the max though.    I am dutch so the thought of a one time investment and no bulb changes ever was too good to bypass.

What did you use kleko for your build and what are the issues you are having now?

 

[unibob]

Im going to have to say T5 hands down .... I am not down with the whole LED rave going on just nobody real knows long term what there capable of . I was over at Hayes ( Flagswipes) or Dwayne whatever you know him by and he was doing a little test with LEd compaired to his T5 in his frag tank and it was even compairable T5 blew the LED away . I have always used T5  and will never change .

Lol that fixture Dwayne was running the LEDs were not comparable to a 3w led, of even a 2w. Lol the fixture he was running(not sure of brand) but only had led the size of sand, they were absolutely tiny, and were in clusters.
What about the huge flame tip anemone he has under 1 cheapy do marine land led fixture? Oh and he also had red digi not thriving but living under that same fixiture with cheato all together...so there must be something good to led.

And also in his little tank with the unknown led fixture yes some things weren't doing so good, but then again some things looked better then in his big frank tank

 

[reeffreak]

[quote author=reeffreak link=topic=3280.msg27243#msg27243 date=1349744344]
Im going to have to say T5 hands down .... I am not down with the whole LED rave going on just nobody real knows long term what there capable of . I was over at Hayes ( Flagswipes) or Dwayne whatever you know him by and he was doing a little test with LEd compaired to his T5 in his frag tank and it was even compairable T5 blew the LED away . I have always used T5  and will never change .

Lol that fixture Dwayne was running the LEDs were not comparable to a 3w led, of even a 2w. Lol the fixture he was running(not sure of brand) but only had led the size of sand, they were absolutely tiny, and were in clusters.
What about the huge flame tip anemone he has under 1 cheapy do marine land led fixture? Oh and he also had red digi not thriving but living under that same fixiture with cheato all together...so there must be something good to led.

And also in his little tank with the unknown led fixture yes some things weren't doing so good, but then again some things looked better then in his big frank tank
[/quote]

ya could you imagine if it was T5 .....

 

[BIGSHOW]

I HATE LED's!

I run Pacific Sun units (Black Python XM gen 2) over my 150g and the colour on the SPS corals looks like ..Sh*t!.  (these are a relatively high end LED fixture, see link below).

http://www.pacific-sun.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72acific-sun-black-python-xm&catid=1:latest-news

IMO (and experience) a blue/white LED fixture will never produce the same colors as a multiple bulb T5 fixture.  I have no experience with the multi colour LED units so I won't comment on them.

I would ONLY use LED's to accent a T5 or MH fixture.

Anyone who wants to see a comparison feel free to come to my house, you are more then welcome!

 

[xxmurrxx]

Pretty happy with my led's but I came from pc lighting.
Love the t5 colours in some of the tanks I have seen though.

 

[Salty Cracker]

Yeah I def like the T5 lighting, just not the expense of running them and replacing bulbs. 


I will say that going from 500W of MH and 260W of PC lighting, down to just the LEDs made about a $40-50 difference in my hydro bill, which is great, because it went up $150 this year with their awesome new 'time of use' scam. 

 

[Kleko]

This is the thread about the issues ive had.
http://www.thefragtank.ca/forum/index.php?topic=3277.msg27242;boardseen#new

 

[BIGSHOW]

The way I see it is....

Why would you want to run lighting that doesn't give your livestock the full potential?...trust me blue and white LED's do NOT.

You are probably already going to be spending $100's if not $1000's on livestock, so do yourself a favour and get the best possible lighting to show off the true potential of your system/livestock.

......if you can't have T5's or MH due to restrictions on money or heat issues then I understand, but for most of us that are in this hobby a $100 here or there is peanuts in comparison to the amount of money our systems are worth.

IMO of course

 

[Salty Cracker]

I have good colonies going, all sps.  I believe that the quality of the bulb has a lot to do with growth.  I went with the most expensive bulbs, and have good growth and good colour.  I just don't think it's fair to say it doesn't work...

That said, we all have to make our own calls, I certainly can't say that MH and T5's don't work, thats for sure.  For me it's the power consumption and the bulb replacement cost that made me switch over. 

 

[BIGSHOW]

Please let me clear the air and say it's not that I don't think LED's won't work, its just I have yet to see a tank where you can replicate the colour of a T5 or MH fixture, especially for SPS corals. 

...Also I would like to state that I can grow SPS with little problems under my LED lights, again, its just the colour of the SPS looks like crap...to me anyways.

Dave