I was on the fence about the AI's and Radions as well. What's the point of ordering 3 or 4 of them for a tank when it seems like everybody is only running them at less than 50 %. Also, they don't seem to have a very aesthetically pleasing hanging system, so I just ordered a pair of these from Jeff at J& L. Should be the first one in Canada to get them.

http://www.kessil.com/products/a350_led_aqua_light.php

I'm also very lazy and don't like playing around with programs. Set it and Forget it !

Well ya, but no. The question is rather than going with 4 or 5 or 6 lights at 50% intensity, why not go with less units, a little higher, at say, 80%? Most threads you read claim to run at much lower than full intensity. I'm sure visual coverage with three units in my case will be fine at 50 or 100, but what I'm concerned with is color of corals. I need to maintain that.

But more generally, just asking why most people run lower than 100. a single unit on a small tank is self explanatory, the lamp is clearly too powerful and you can't run less than one. But for 4' tanks, why run the lamp or multiple units at less than full, then buy additional lights to make up for it?

Pretty much my point exactly...

I run my AIs at 32% both white and blue (two on a 30x27x18" cubish). I cannot suspend them so if I ran at a higher % would blast everything as the tank is shallow. If you can suspend them up higher your idea of getting fewer should work and you should be able to maintain the colour of your corals. I don't have many SPS but the colour is pretty good on the frags that I have.

I know a lot of people were doubtful about leds when they first came into the hobby, so I hear, but after buying sps that had been under metal halides and putting them in my tank, they have 100% more color to them, and the rest of the corals seem to flourish under them as well.

What size tank are you thinking of for this Brad? for a 4' I cant see why you couldnt get away with 2 AI's as they cover a 24x24x24ish area with stock optics, with the wider ones I would imagine if hung at a respective height you could probably get close to 30x30x30 spread with a higher intensity. same thing for radions (aside from the optics part, I dont believe they have any):wink:

I have a DIY LED , it's a 72 led unit, 36 XPG white, 36 XPE blue and royal blue, spread out on a 4' x 1' heatsink 3 inches above the water on my 90 gal 48x18x24, no optics, my white drivers are set at 1.3 amp and my blue drivers are set at 1 amp, I run my whites at 85% and my blues at 100% it looks about 50% brighter than my 4 bulb t5 ho, I am LPS Zoa dominate and all growing well.
I think part of the problem with the AI and Radion units is the concentration of the LEDs

It's a 180, 72x24x24. Corals mostly cover a 60x18 area, so I'm going to try 3 SOLs, and blast them at near 100% and see what happens. (Not out of the box, but build up to it :))

I think you'll be fine, Martin would be able to confirm for sure, but if each light is capable of 24x24x24 area, there should be no problems. Personally, if I ordered one again I would get wider optics. I have a bit of dark on the top inch around the edge (no biggie) but its there, I can also eliminate that bu raising my light an inch or 2

For me it's because I only have LPS and softies and I don't want to torch anything. I think this is the case in the other thread. There didn't seem to be alot of feedback from SPS only tanks. I increased the white by 5% one day and there seemed to be alot of corals less than fully opened, could have been fine in a few days after an adjustment period but I have way too many corals to take the chance. There will always be a give and take regarding coral colors when switching lighting systems...some will look better some won't.

I guess that makes sense. Do you have multiple units? Or single fixture? If multiples, could you have gone less units at a higher intensity? Or would that still be too much, just more localized?