I havent used clouds yet its available in my lights but havent used it. Acclimation mode is great not having to do it manually almost set and forget (how you would forget I am unsure) it just works and you can do it safely and as slowly as needed.
By leaps and bounds. When I left the hobby around 2010 led was just really starting to come online. Lucky for me I worked part time in an lfs for a couple years from 2018-20 while I was out of this part of the hobby so I had some knowledge of newer lighting tech but it has progressed so far.
Ease of cleaning and ability to adjust height are very important factors to me when choosing lights.
I usually will replace the current lighting when adding newer tech unless adding a new light just for a little extra pop then ill mount along side.
Acclimation helps prevent me from bleaching them out from overexposure and I believe clouds help mimic natural conditions and weather events. I also believe corals know when these events are happening due to changes in atmospheric pressure but thats just my theory.
I have just started reefing so technology has never been better! I however cannot argue with some of the classic setup results I have seen on here using metal halides and t5 technology. I prefer led just because of the lower power consumption and heat.
Went from halides to compact fluorescent's combo to Halide LED combo to just LED at least thats how it went for me
There's a lot more controllability and LEDs have become the lighting of choice compared to halides and T5s so there's less cost on replacing bulbs and electric bill.
One of my tanks has lights with a coral acclimation program which makes it possible to just put new corals exactly where you want them right away instead of having to constantly move them up. The problem with frag racks is they they mount to the glass where the light may not be as strong.
I started about 7 years ago so leds were already common place. I first had a hydra 26hd and a kessil a360we. Ive seen a lot more focus on usable wavelengths but not a whole lot in the led world. More efficient, more par and more players
Daily question entry: it seems like i change lights every 2-3 years. Not becuase they dont grow coral but because of new features and excellent science behind the lights. Currently im on x2 orphek atlantic icons with x2 or4 bars added today from x2 or3’s
When I started with saltwater - I don't think it was reefing, was T8 and then MH. When the MH was running, the entire living room warmed up and it "glowed" the entire room. Still my favorite lighting system - 400w MH in middle, 250w MH on each end, and two atinic bulbs - 15yrs ago
