Lights!

[sherman]

I am not sure. There may be some efficiency loss. why buy a 150w set and run it at less than its full potential though? Also with MH, u replace one or two bulbs every 5,000 hrs or so, compared with 8 T5 tubes every 3,000 hrs. So MH much cheaper in long run. I don't know the replacement cost of LEDs, but the drivers can't be cheap. I think they are also not as robust as MH or T5 on the whole.

A proper design LED light set can last 50,000 hr.

Replacement is mainly the power supply or driver which depend on design.

A good driver last you many years.

My LED driver has last me from 2009 till now.

Same as my power supply.

Choose a power supply able to support light with another 33% buffer minimum.

Do know get one that is just enough or under the require reading.

For LED ensure heat is well dissipated. If you burnt your finger when you touch a running

LED light set then the life is drastically reduce

[Arronpsw]

Seems like LEDs savenore money in the long run, however I've not seen an led produce the same colouration on an sps conpared to mh or t5

[christan1959]

Besides having a somewhat unnatural rendition, LED can be temperamental. I hv heard of failures within a year. And very little study has been done on rate of degradation. For instance we know we need to change T5 and MH after 3,000-5,000hrs because outputs dip after that. But what about an LED driver - how often do we need to change to maintain same level of output?

[Edmund Koh]

The studies cannot be conclusive because many factors determine the lifespan of an LED.

One of the biggest reason for failure of an LED would be Heat. Although LEDs are supposed to produce very little heat, most LED fixture comes very tightly packed causing a lack of heat exchange. Being an electronic component, heat can cause either the driver or the bulb itself to be burnt or worse still, melt the connections causing a short circuit.

The other common reason for failure would be a wrong polarity connection. LEDs are built as one-way components. Driving a current the opposite direction may cause permanant damage to the LED. This usually shouldn't happen in well made products but I won't be surprise if this happens in a mass produced OEM item.

So to avoid both of these issues, we would prefer going for well established LED brands like AI or Ecotech, etc. Then again .. All these easily costs close to a thousand for 1 and u would often need more then 1. I have seen some tanks with 6 - 8 AI Vega.

[sherman]

Donot forget Orphek, maxspect,Eshine and many more

[christan1959]

Read old post before this on Lighting Level. MH found to be superior.

[Atropine_]

🏻🏻🏻


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