Led Vs Metal Halide Aquarium Lighting

Metal halide mh or high intensity discharge hid lighting makes use of a large glass bulb that contains a small quartz tube containing argon gas and a minute amount of mercury.

Led vs metal halide aquarium lighting.

The quartz tube also contains halide salts like silver chloride that are used to fine tune the color produced by the bulb. In the picture to the left a 12 watt led grow light similar to the natural daylight led aquarium light showed superior growth to a 175 watt full spectrum metal halide. 3 ft aquarium lighting systems. Leds are the only lighting technology that can be designed to meet specific light spectrums for plants.

Correlated color temperature read more here. Led lighting has higher initial cost and very low lifetime costs. 2 ft aquarium lighting systems. Led lights last for up to 50 000 hours almost six years as compared with two to four months for incandescent bulbs six to 18 months for standard fluorescent bulbs and metal halide bulbs and up to 28 months for compact fluorescent bulbs.

Moon accent led lighting strips. Luxx lighting is a group of hands on southern california cultivators that believe if you don t do it you don t know it. It pays back over time with lower energy consumption and reduced maintenance costs. When current is applied to the mh bulb the tube glows like the sun.

I strongly suggest freshwater plant and reef keepers read this in depth and more importantly well researched and current article about aquarium lighting. We are constantly testing and when we find what works best we challenge ourselves to make it better. This means that many growers with hid light setups have separate veg and flowering lights or at least multiple bulbs which adds to the expenses of maintaining an hid setup. Aquarium metal halide t5 lighting.

Metal halide lamps generate a very cool white light. Metal halide lights have a lower initial cost but are expensive to maintain. Metal halide the best lighting for your aquarium true 20 000k ideal choice. Those who use hps lights most often use metal halide for vegetative growth as well since its light spectrum is better suited for vegging.

Metal halide bulbs consume more energy than a led fixture and have a higher maintenance cost.