Led vs Metal Halide!!! HELP

[parrotchute]

The AI whites aren't blue at all - that's why a lot of people went to the blue sols.

 

[Northstar24]

There are currently two versions of the AI units, the standard white which has 2 white and one blue led per puck, and the Super Blue which has one white, one blue, and one royal blue LED per puck so you can get the fixture with the coloring of your liking.

I looked at the Orpheks while researching LED's (I ended up putting 3 AI Sol Super Blues over my 180) - all I was able to find was obvious schilling by someone related to the company, and a review on a blog that was sponsored by Orphek - hardly an unbiased opinion. They arent that much cheaper than the AI units, I'd rather pay a little more and know I'm getting quality equipment

 

[time2reef]

There are currently two versions of the AI units, the standard white which has 2 white and one blue led per puck, and the Super Blue which has one white, one blue, and one royal blue LED per puck so you can get the fixture with the coloring of your liking.

I looked at the Orpheks while researching LED's (I ended up putting 3 AI Sol Super Blues over my 180) - all I was able to find was obvious schilling by someone related to the company, and a review on a blog that was sponsored by Orphek - hardly an unbiased opinion. They arent that much cheaper than the AI units, I'd rather pay a little more and know I'm getting quality equipment

Nice fixtures though. AI uses 6500k Whites unless I am mistaken.... I like a lot of white and a little blue. I haven't seen any AI LEDs that aren't blue. Maybe I just haven't seen any that aren't the SOL blues....

Which one do you have?

I just am looking forward to seeing a tank totally developed by someones LEDs... not just someones tank who just switched.

 

[Northstar24]

I have the Sol Super Blue, but the regular Sol has twice as many white LEDs. Look at Parachutes build thread, he had the white version before upgrading to the Super Blue. IMO the super blue is plenty white if you dial down the blue and royal blue LEDs, it's almost yellow. With both versions, the blues and whites are individually controllable. On the super blues, the white, blue, and royal blue are all individually controllable.

As far as coral growth, after one day with the fixtures at 30% (to avoid burning the corals with the extra par) they looked better then they ever did under 850 watts of MH and T5's

 

[parrotchute]

Northstar,
One thing to look out for (and looks like you already are) - be very slow on ramping up your lights during the switch. I got a hell of a dino outbreak from the sudden increase in light.

 

[Northstar24]

I'm planning on starting at 30% and raising 5% a week to a final value of about 70% or so

 

[time2reef]

Here is a good writeup on converting from MH to LED.

How to Choose and Compare LEDs - They're Not Metal Halides! - Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blog

 

[Northstar24]

+1 Parrachute. I was acutally the other way. I had a bad dino outbreak and switching from MH / T5's to LED's killed the dino's off