CHeap LEDs?

phastroh

Do Not Listen To Me!!!
So I have finally decided, screw LED's for my system. Not only because they are far overpriced but worth the investment I suppose down the road but not one store I purchase corals from grows them exclusively on LED's.

Yeah they may use the on their displays but the corals in there do not need to even double in size to be presentable like the frags most people buy.

I typically just buy a large coral and stay away from some but not all frags. I don't like to just waste money on an expensive large coral and have it die.

I use the normally frowned upon all in one system and have not ha any major issues with growth. Could it be improved of course but I am not that obsessed with making it so.

Sooooo.......

I have 3 150 Watt MH, 8 T5's and the 4 Blue LEDs along with the Marineland Reef LEDs with white and blue LEDs'.

Before you read anything into this or think I may not know, I do know the limits of all of these lights and my tank is set up accordingly as I have had this set-up for years.

I do have my 4 Acros up near the MH bulbs and the flow is great for them. They are and have been fine for a while there.

I have decided after one day flipping on only all my Blue LED's and watching my corals explode with color that I no longer have a need for LEDs except for the use of making my corals pop.

Can I just purchase those LEDs on a rope that are actually on a roll and water proof for this purpose? Has anyone used Blue LEDs just for decorative purposes or for the look they produce. I mean my huge orange Palys are badass under the LED's with black centers. I actually have a shit load of these types in different colors and corals just because they look great.

I just slap on the LEDs and sit back and watch the tank glow and the fish too. There is enough to clearly see the tank. Yes nothing like the white blue glow the MH bulbs provide along with the Actinics but the whole point is not for that. That I enjoy in the day, this I enjoy in the evening and for guests. I have all shutters in my house so I can make it real dark before the sun goes down.

So to get to my point finally, what is there out there that is not an over priced LED system I can use strictly for entertainment purposes. YES I would take all lights you have Dennis haha

My friend sells corals from his store and he said he likes the MH better but he uses the LED's for his sales tanks. My tank looks great during the day but at night we all know the LED's make it all pop and during the day too.

Ok so any suggestions let me know.

NOTE: Please do not post to me how great LED's are as I cannot argue against them or want to haha, I just choose MH and want cheap LEDs to add to may tank so I can leave the white LED's on my current system as they are on a timer and support some corals underneath them. I want to ad the strips even if the stick to my current lighting system and have them come on with a timer or manually with my RKL which I love by the way Dennis.
 
I bought two of these.

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You might check out led units because they have spectrums that hqi and t5 don't and some like radions and ai sol are adjustable. If those are too pricy, there are the reef breeders that seem really good.
 
I am not sure if you can use cheap-ish blue/actinic lighting to provide pop or color supplementation if you are already using MH.

The newer MH fixtures are using LED actinics but even those LEDs alone are on the high end of the price range.

Strip lights and low-end accent lighting might just end up being washed out by the MH light and you would not get any discernible color imrovement.
 
I am only talking when all the MH and T-5's are off.

I have my LED's on a timer but I have to turn them back on if I want to relax and see the glows of the corals and I also have to switch the to Blue only.

Just want something to give pop when all the lights are off so those strip Blue LED's seem reasonable.

It is not that they are pricy, I just do not want pricey LED's for show. Well they are pricy but that is not the issue I mean. If I was going LED I would get the best.

I may lean that way because every 3 years I spend about the cost of one set of replacements for my T5's and MH bulbs.
 
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