Mike Paletta finally recognizes some of the superior qualities of METAL HALIDES over LEDs...

[BeltedCoyote]

You guys make me feel even better about my choice to go with a 48” 6 bulb ati dimmable sunpower as my lighting for my 120

 

[Jeffcb]

I will just continue to squeak by without MH over my display. It is never going to happen in my living room.

I wouldn't mind at all. I could go kind industrial-retro look. Its very popular!!

 

[hart24601]

I went with the Photon V2 with two of the blue bars to cover my 4x2x2 120g. Does that count as the large panel? All the montis growing on the side walls and back wall slowly died as they just did not get enough light. The ones about 4 or 5 inches from the wall were fine. A few other places that were slightly shaded before (slightly underneath a birds nest and slightly under a hammer) also turned into dead zones for other corals.

I mean if you could tell they lacked light now sure what to tell you. Mount higher? Therman which I linked earlier uses those and states they are good for 24” wide and had no shading issues. That’s what makes it hard, it’s not like I never lost coral or clams when I had MH either. Or t5, or power compacts, or leds. Heck I lost coral when I did bulb or ballast swaps back then, it’s never been easy. I guess I could blame that tech for needing those swaps.

I am sorry you had the die off. That does suck.

 

[Jeffcb]

If you’re like me, tank in basement where heat isn’t an issue, it can work great.

What about a nice big chiller?

 

[A. grandis]

I'm guessing the vast majority of members here who have used all 3 can confirm MH is superior when it comes to coral health. T5 is second best, and LED is a distant 3rd.

Not sure why everyone is giving so much grief to the OP. I realize the delivery is off but there is nothing wrong with being passionate and trying to make sure everyone is aware of what the best light for coral is.

So many members here appear to be on the brink of a brain aneurysm at the first inclination that a tang may potentially go into a tank less than 5000 gallons, or any other fish for that matter has the potential for a small amount of suffering. You see these people litter almost every thread about fish stocking. Why is it not acceptable for the OP to be so concerned about coral health?

Grandis - You do come across as a bit of a fanatical lunatic when you post the same topic/thread in multiple places. Although it may not meet your webster's dictionary definition, I think general society would agree what you did is considered spamming and most people will take offense to that. When conveying info you want people to pay attention to and absorb, it's helpful to try and not be the most irritating person in the room.

The subject of lighting is the most important at this moment IMO and to spread the word in multiple channels is the best way I see we can help each other.
The fact that I am (or actually became) passionate about publishing the truth about reef lighting is simply because we all should know the facts, not to trust propaganda. I think any channel here is somehow connected and this should be seeing as one group, united.
I did not published "multiple posts in different forums" as some may claim. I posted links to this forum, which is the right thing to do IMO. We all see things differently. Bottom line is that people will do anything to distract or ignore a subjects like this and deviate to other sides, unfortunately.
If the main idea would be of sharing information, this behavior wouldn't happen. I still think people should be appreciative that I posted links to this. We are just different.

 

[A. grandis]

You guys make me feel even better about my choice to go with a 48” 6 bulb ati dimmable sunpower as my lighting for my 120

You should have an 8 bulb fixture for the 48", 120 gallon though. I used a 6 bulb over my 75gal. Nonetheless a great coverage with the 6 bulb. Better than any LED IMO.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

You should have an 8 bulb fixture for the 48", 120 gallon though. I used a 6 bulb over my 75gal. Nonetheless a great coverage with the 6 bulb. Better than any LED IMO.

well, it’s an oceanic and has a eurobrace that doesn’t let light through. So 2 more bulbs wouldn’t do much.

that and I’m fortunate enough to get the fixture for the sort of deal that you just can’t ignore. So yeah.

I’m confident that with how I’m building my scape with regards to the eurobrace that I’ll be more than good to go the the sunpower

 

[A. grandis]

well, it’s an oceanic and has a eurobrace that doesn’t let light through. So 2 more bulbs wouldn’t do much.

that and I’m fortunate enough to get the fixture for the sort of deal that you just can’t ignore. So yeah.

I’m confident that with how I’m building my scape with regards to the eurobrace that I’ll be more than good to go the the sunpower

I love your dogs! Give them a treat for me!
Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving to all here!

 

[brahm]

1st let me say I was/am a die hard luminarc / 20k radium fan, however on this recent iteration the tank setup I purchased came with AI 52hds. I was skeptical but pleasantly surprised, using a basic out of the box setting my colour is great, growth is good but starting from .5” frags is always a drag until they hit a decent size, power consumption low (200g costs me around 30-50 a month in Cali), and was able to get away with only a single 4xFan to keep temps stable all summer.

I now need a second set of lights to cover my 4x3 tank. (Switched from a 4x2) If I still had my ole luminarc setup I’d toss it over especially for the winter where heating is my biggest cost, over the summer ehh not if I had to run a chiller.

After a year of LED I can’t find any faults outside of a lack of ‘free’ winter heat.

imop they both work, I put more focus on flow then stressing over led vs halide (which reminds me I need more flow!)

reading more of this thread def some misinformation my halides would noticeably increase the room temperature let alone the water temp directly under it fan or no fan.

Oh lastly the lack of acknowledgment to the sexists combo 400w SE 20k radium with VHO supplements.. shame!

 

[xiaoxiy]

Interesting. I may stand corrected.

For the record though I'm talking about strictly coral growth and health. Not the cost / heat / etc. I switched to LED for many reasons but not for coral health. I much prefer all the other aspects of LED's as mentioned over and over again not related to coral.

I didn't visually notice any difference when I swapped from a Halide/T5/LED combo over to straight LEDs. However, my alkalinity consumption increased significantly, suggesting increased growth when I swapped over to LEDs.

 

[N.Sreefer]

I love mh bulbs but power in my area is crazy if I ran mh bulbs I would be paying at least 1000 dollars per bill I cannot afford that. And lots of people still get good growth with LEDs, yes I agree mh are better but by what degree are we talking? When you can run a thriving reef with leds mh really isn't worth the crazy power consumption. If I was a public aquarium with a 28 million dollar budget sure I would go MH.

 

[smiley28]

Even after leveling the playing field as far as par/coverage there is something to be said for the number of leds used to make up the difference.. then there is the wiring aspect.. one plug on my ati seems pretty nice. Bulky ballast with mh and loads of wires with led..

 

[jft]

Took him 30 years I knew Paletta back in The 80s was prompting actinic bulbs and 50/50s bulbs. I went my own way after speaking and being friends with Albert Thiel for many years. I did Halides for years with great results. Leds are great now . Halides were Hot and expensive to run bUT I GOT EXCELLENT results to each his own!

 

[i_am_mclovin]

What about a nice big chiller?

I’ve gone that route too!

 

[A. grandis]

Took him 30 years I knew Paletta back in The 80s was prompting actinic bulbs and 50/50s bulbs. I went my own way after speaking and being friends with Albert Thiel for many years. I did Halides for years with great results. Leds are great now . Halides were Hot and expensive to run bUT I GOT EXCELLENT results to each his own!

I also knew Albert Thiel and he knew my preferences in reef keeping. Most of the time we were discussing any type of subject we always had to touch the halide X LEDs somehow. His thoughts were very similar to mine overall. It was always a pleasure to exchange references and other information with him. Even though we knew LEDs had to be part of the deal, we also knew how bad it was to have it as the primary source of light by many, generally speaking. And that is because of the way the market is using LEDs to make their extra profit. I was glad he had my vision on this because I respected him too much. His book was one of the very first reef books that I've read when I was a kid. I still think the subject of lighting is the most important in order to have a decent and progressive future for the reef keeping hobby as a whole. We are regressing in terms of quality! Priorities aren't the actual QUALITIES of the light we offer, but either the pocket or anything related to that. Before we would do ANYTHING to have a tank similar to what we would see snorkeling, diving or the idea we had from pictures/videos. Today we allow the rules of the marketing to run our reefs. I miss Albert.
I didn't agree with some of his thoughts, but yet our mutual friendship and respect was an example. I'm so glad for that.

 

[MnFish1]

What about the subject? LOL!

The subject? - you posted a video - in which 2 people discussed halides vs LED's. What are you expecting to happen? Everyone is going to go out and change based on Mike Paletta's interview?

BUT about the video - Most of it has nothing to do with the topic of LED and MH. And I did not hear Mike Paletta say he was changing all of his tanks to LED. Additionally, I did not hear Mike Paletta 'endorse changing from LED to anything else. He is going to TRY to see IF MH makes a difference with RTN/STN - because of the UV penetration from MH as compared to LED. In the next sentence - he states that he already uses a UV sterilizer -so its unclear to me how he is going to get benefit from UV from metal halides - so I'm not sure exactly that he is making the point you're suggesting.

Did I miss a quote? or was there some other point that he made? I have to admit I did not watch the ENTIRE question and answer session.

 

[MnFish1]

I'm guessing the vast majority of members here who have used all 3 can confirm MH is superior when it comes to coral health. T5 is second best, and LED is a distant 3rd.

Not sure why everyone is giving so much grief to the OP. I realize the delivery is off but there is nothing wrong with being passionate and trying to make sure everyone is aware of what the best light for coral is.

So many members here appear to be on the brink of a brain aneurysm at the first inclination that a tang may potentially go into a tank less than 5000 gallons, or any other fish for that matter has the potential for a small amount of suffering. You see these people litter almost every thread about fish stocking. Why is it not acceptable for the OP to be so concerned about coral health?

Grandis - You do come across as a bit of a fanatical lunatic when you post the same topic/thread in multiple places. Although it may not meet your webster's dictionary definition, I think general society would agree what you did is considered spamming and most people will take offense to that. When conveying info you want people to pay attention to and absorb, it's helpful to try and not be the most irritating person in the room.

I disagree. I have not seen any difference in my tank comparing MH to LED - (I had MH in the distant past).

Since you asked, IMHO The problem here - is that the video has very little to do with comparing MH to LED's. The OP SEEMS to just be using it in a slightly dishonest - or at least not completely honest way - to justify his opinions about MH and LED. To me thats a problem.

 

[ScottB]

I wouldn't mind at all. I could go kind industrial-retro look. Its very popular!!

My wife is all about everything being minimal and white. So the 3 X ATI Stratons were approved.

 

[X-37B]

You guys make me feel even better about my choice to go with a 48” 6 bulb ati dimmable sunpower as my lighting for my 120

Good choice. I ran a 6 bulb ati for over a year when I first setup my 120. I added 2 more but it was not really needed. 3b+ 3c+ 4" off the surface. Check my build for results and pics.

 

[A. grandis]

My wife is all about everything being minimal and white. So the 3 X ATI Stratons were approved.

Happy wife happy life. Ha!