Bad news for halide users!!

skate020

Member
i was just at the LFS trying to get a halide unit and he told me i could get one but there going to be ditched in 2012. bulbs, units, the lot.
because there incredibly inefficient and harmful to the eco system.
i need a ligthing system for my 130g FOWLR with the occassional hard coral.
should i chance it and buy halides or should i go for t5s?
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by skate020
http:///forum/post/3227625
i was just at the LFS trying to get a halide unit and he told me i could get one but there going to be ditched in 2012. bulbs, units, the lot.
because there incredibly inefficient and harmful to the eco system.
i need a ligthing system for my 130g FOWLR with the occassional hard coral.
should i chance it and buy halides or should i go for t5s?

If people quit buying them they will...
As long as there is a market, they will sell the units and bulbs. T5s are not as good as MH, they will never be equal, they will never look as good. The LFS guy is full of you know what. He wants you to buy what he believes in. I admit the bulbs that are small and double ended will replace the mogul (big one ended type)
T5s are cheaper, they last just fine, and the coral lives. However they just don't allow the light to dance on the water like MH, and a fish tank is all about beauty.
I choose MH lighting for the beauty of it.
 

wangotango

Active Member
I wouldn't say T5 are not as good at all. Granted if you're lighting a tank that's three feet deep you're not going to get much out of them, but still.
LEDs are what's next. Once the cost goes down they're going to be more mainstream.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by WangoTango
http:///forum/post/3227636
I wouldn't say T5 are not as good at all. Granted if you're lighting a tank that's three feet deep you're not going to get much out of them, but still.
LEDs are what's next. Once the cost goes down they're going to be more mainstream.

As long as there is a market, there will be MH lighting...Do LEDs dance on the water?
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3227639

As long as there is a market, there will be MH lighting...Do LEDs dance on the water?
Crazy people dance on the water.
I agree with Flower. Unless a law is passed or people decide to follow this man's socioeconomic trend, MH is here to stay. I do believe that one day MH will be obsolete as far as aquarium lighting goes. That day will not occur in 2012 however.
 

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by PEZenfuego
http:///forum/post/3227644
That day will not occur in 2012 however.
of course it will thats when teh mayan calander ends, which signifies the end of metal halide lighting. tyhey knew that when they wrote their calander.
 

jmill

Member
Originally Posted by PEZenfuego
http:///forum/post/3227644
Crazy people dance on the water.
I agree with Flower. Unless a law is passed or people decide to follow this man's socioeconomic trend, MH is here to stay. I do believe that one day MH will be obsolete as far as aquarium lighting goes. That day will not occur in 2012 however.
I had heard there was some sort of law passed that was going to outlaw incandescent lighting by 2012.
Like I said I "heard" this, I don't know if it is true. If it is true will it include MH. I think we would here a lot more about this since every parking lot is filled with MH lights.
 

cranberry

Active Member
Remember to NOT listen to the peeps at that LFS. Evidently, the advice they feed you is not a factual one. The focus now is incandescent lighting.... I'm sure that's where he dragged up this "fact".
Edit: as JMill said
 

btldreef

Moderator
There is just NO WAY this will actually happen in 2 years or even 5 years time. There are too many people in this hobby that use those lights, including large aquariums and research centers.
However, the single ended Mogul bulbs are slowly being phased out for the HQI double ended bulbs. This is due to efficiency of the lights, so yes, there is a movement for the moguls to be done. (I still don't think it will actually happen). If they're going to do away with MH's, they'll get rid of PC's and T5's as well and everyone will be forced to LED's, it's just not going to happen.
Relax, the HQI bulbs will be around for a long while, they're used in the medical field as well.
Skate, I think it's time you stop listening to your LFS, they haven't given you the best advice over the past 6 months
 

skate020

Member
hmm yeh, i think i will probably risk it and get the MH.
yeh its sounds like crazy talk to me, i just hope its not true lol
i want the lights to support the corals and a RBTA, and also look nice yes.
i just dont wanna spend more than what i paid for the tank, on the lighting
 

btldreef

Moderator
Originally Posted by skate020
http:///forum/post/3227709
hmm yeh, i think i will probably risk it and get the MH.
yeh its sounds like crazy talk to me, i just hope its not true lol
i want the lights to support the corals and a RBTA, and also look nice yes.
i just dont wanna spend more than what i paid for the tank, on the lighting
Yeah, besides your tank is deep, you'd need a ton of T5's to penetrate through that depth, you're going to need halides.
 

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by skate020
http:///forum/post/3227709
hmm yeh, i think i will probably risk it and get the MH.
yeh its sounds like crazy talk to me, i just hope its not true lol
i want the lights to support the corals and a RBTA, and also look nice yes.
i just dont wanna spend more than what i paid for the tank, on the lighting
Purchase a used MH light, there are lots of them for sale.
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Saw this back in 2008
Don't know if it's still going through, or if it has been quietly buried. Personally I don't think it's worth worrying about right now. Get yer MH system. Get a used one of you can. in 2 years time, LEDs may be cost effective enough to mass produce units capable of supporting reef environments. With luck, at least the components will be cheap for DIYers. I'd love to experiment with some, but it's just out of my budget for the time being.
Heck....I'm unemployed! Right now, EVERYTHING's out of my budget!
 

scsinet

Active Member
Halide is NOT an incandescent technology, it's an HID technology. Anything related to phaseouts of incandescent does not include halide.
Any tier 1 legally mandated phase out will only affect incandescent since it's the most inefficient lighting technology (so much so that it's almost laughable to call it "technology.")
Halide efficiency is very similar to fluorescent... so close that depending on the form factor of halide or fluorescent, the efficiency tips on one side of the scale to the other. Ergo, halide probably won't go anywhere until fluorescent does, and that's a very long way off. The only technology out there that is higher in efficiency than halide or fluorescent is HPS, which will never replace them because of poor color rendition, LED, which is currently too costly, and induction which freaky efficient but also very costly (and rare).
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
funny, someone just posted the other day that if greenies get ahold of the difference in LED's and Halides they will have them all gone lol.
 

nanoized

New Member
I was at my LFS yesterday and they had an awesome T5 Giessmann fixture in Ferrari red.
Problem was the tank full of life looked dead. No shadows. No shimmer.
No T5's for me except as supplement lighting.
Go with what you like.
 

nycbob

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3228225
funny, someone just posted the other day that if greenies get ahold of the difference in LED's and Halides they will have them all gone lol.
in nyc, they hv been slowly converting some of the street lights to led over the past several years.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by skate020
http:///forum/post/3227709
hmm yeh, i think i will probably risk it and get the MH.
yeh its sounds like crazy talk to me, i just hope its not true lol
i want the lights to support the corals and a RBTA, and also look nice yes.
i just dont wanna spend more than what i paid for the tank, on the lighting

Are you sitting down? You ARE going to pay more for the lighting than the tank. Lighting is the most expensive purchase you will make in the hobby, unless you use regular fish lights on a fish only system.
So sit down and figure what you want to keep in the tank, and get the very best lighting you can afford from the start. Upgrading is more expensive than just getting the right lights to start with.
 

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by skate020
http:///forum/post/3227625
i was just at the LFS trying to get a halide unit and he told me i could get one but there going to be ditched in 2012. bulbs, units, the lot.
because there incredibly inefficient and harmful to the eco system.
lol bullsh*t on ALL accounts
and SE halides arent going anywhere either. Phased out by who, all in one fixtures which have already phased them out a long time ago (not because they are more efficient because they cost much less to manufacturer and can ---- you better on the mark up). High end reflectors (lumenmax elite,lumenarc, lumenbright ect) SE selection out number DE choices 5:1 and there is NO broader selection of choices than SE 250w bulbs. You think phoenix introduced SE bulbs just to be banished in a few years? Horticulture anyone? Halides and SE are going nowhere.
did he tell you cars would all have to be electric in 10yrs too.
 
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