:smile: I hear ya, they are nice units. personal preference in that case I suppose

Not sure how you want to mount your LEDs over your new tank. But if you have a tight space like inside a canopy, the Radions might be better. As I understand it, the AI SOLs need 12 inches height above the water, while the Radions work fine at 6 - 8 inches above the water.

In my case, mine are mounted 7 inches above the water surface, and still plenty of room for rails and cooling. I made my own mounting (cheap and easy) from Home Depot parts, and allows for quick removal for cleaning, as well as adjustment fore and aft.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...t=81535&page=2

In terms of styling alone both the sol and radion fail. They look best within some kind of canopy, and when simply just hang above a tank they look pretty ridiculous. They do however look pretty decent with the L type mounts a few people are making now that extend from behind the tank but the stock mounts on the Radions in particular with the four points of cable per fixture is nothing close to something that would be considered style. Even the fact they are modular meaning multiple fixtures per tank is typically a negative style point.

Also comparing the two I don't see much difference is style anyway, the sol is only 3/4" thicker but is narrower and comes in both black or white.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/prodi...mages/LED3.jpg

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/prodi...mages/LED4.jpg

AI is also releasing a new hanging kit for their new vega model, not 100% sure it will work with the sols though. If you can get away with only two modules this looks pretty good.
http://reefbuilders.com/wp-content/b...enix-led-8.jpg

Well the tank we are going with is a cube and is only 24x24x24 I believe so I think I would only be needing one unless I am incorrect there, and we are going to be having a canopy but that doesn't matter as my husband will be building it so its not too much abut the appearance I'm just torn cause the more I read about then sol the more i think that one however my husband needs more conveincing
Does the sol have a sunset sunrise option? If I do go with the sol do I need a whole myher controller separate?

Also in terms of "disco ball" be aware the radions will present their own issues with the multiple color LEDs. It blends pretty good but you'll still see some effect. The sols cluster the three colors tightly together in each array so they should be comparable but they only really use two colors compared to 4 in the radions.

In either case my experience is it doesn't really matter if your tank is deeper than 12". It's a concern with small nano, the bigger the tank the less the concern.

for me, the cooling fins throw off the SOLs. I have a concept for building a case to hold Radions, which would make them much more attractive.

You'll have to look into how a single sol would do on a tank that size, if you need 2 sols for then it's kind of a no brainer vote for the Radion. The AI will do dimming for sunrise and sunset, the radions will probably be able to shoot a little more red in at these times for a little effect. The sols will need an external controller, either the simple one made by AI which will likely do everything you want or you can use an aquarium controller like profilux which can control the rest of your tank to.

If you can use a single sol that extra $400 will make a good chunk on a starter profilux kit.

Hmmm so in the end my hubby may just win and get his radion! If I would need 2 sols I would definitely go with one radion that's a no brainer to me

hows the hubby in the DIY area?

I would for sure talk to martin at modular he can make sure you dont buy too much or too little light for what you need.