Ecotech Marine’s Radion XR30w wins the 2011 Reef Builders LED showdown

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by cale262

Maybe you have too much light coming from the Radion?...I went from a 200W PS BP LED fixture, to the two Radions...I ran the PS @ 90%, I put the Radions over the tank initially at 90% @ the same height and burnt a couple coral right away...I now run My Radions at a max Of 60% for about 3 hrs a day... everything is growing fast and happy.

Before any LEDs I had 4x250 mh and 4x 39 t5

[cale262]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

Before any LEDs I had 4x250 mh and 4x 39 t5

I was also running 250w MH and T5 before switching to the PS LED,...I started the PS fixture @ 50% and slowly worked my way up to the 90%...then I assumed the Radion was less W Than the PS and there should be no shock when switching the two LED fixtures as previously stated above...I was wrong... LED's are really new in this hobby and from what I have read, we are making a mistake by measuring LED fixtures with PAR....PAR undergrades the blue light spectrums and focus's more on the white/yellows...Higher end LED's used for reef lighting have no yellow as fould in traditional lighting (MH, T5, PC etc) thus measuring in PAR is old tech and not the correct tool for the job when measuring LED...this is also why less expensive 1W LED show more PAR, they have more yellow spectrum to measure yet this yellow is not usable light in reef corals...I think we'll see more about PUR (as oposed to PAR) as the LED fixtures become more common place in this hobby...


Stolen quote:

PUR (Photosynthetically Usable Radiation) also known as "Useful Light Energy" is what concerns us as aquarium keepers even considerably more than PAR in providing correct lighting (yet provides a lot of confusion, especially when considering LED Lights).
PUR is that fraction of PAR that is absorbed by zooxanthellae photopigments thereby stimulating photosynthesis. As noted above, PUR are those wavelengths falling between 400-550nm and 620-740nm.
Generally a Spectrograph is used to rate PUR (these are much more expensive than a PAR meter, with the result of many falsely considering PAR and ignoring the more important PUR.)

[Nano]

Originally Posted by cale262

I was also running 250w MH and T5 before switching to the PS LED,...I started the PS fixture @ 50% and slowly worked my way up to the 90%...then I assumed the Radion was less W Than the PS and there should be no shock when switching the two LED fixtures as previously stated above...I was wrong... LED's are really new in this hobby and from what I have read, we are making a mistake by measuring LED fixtures with PAR....PAR undergrades the blue light spectrums and focus's more on the white/yellows...Higher end LED's used for reef lighting have no yellow as fould in traditional lighting (MH, T5, PC etc) thus measuring in PAR is old tech and not the correct tool for the job when measuring LED...this is also why less expensive 1W LED show more PAR, they have more yellow spectrum to measure yet this yellow is not usable light in reef corals...I think we'll see more about PUR (as oposed to PAR) as the LED fixtures become more common place in this hobby...


Stolen quote:

So how do you really measure the light then if par is irrelevant? I am just wondering cause I am getting an AI for my new tank, and going from t5's to AI will be a huge change, I know I have to start it low, but how low is low lol? might seem like a dumb question

[Zoaelite]

Thanks for the post Cale, that clears up some misconceptions in my head!

[cale262]

Originally Posted by nanomano

So how do you really measure the light then if par is irrelevant? I am just wondering cause I am getting an AI for my new tank, and going from t5's to AI will be a huge change, I know I have to start it low, but how low is low lol? might seem like a dumb question

I think it's really a case by case basis and there is no easy answer unless you have a Spectrograph. Start with considering what you currently house in your glass box atm, either way, popular consensus say to ease your system into the new lighting, watch your corals for undesired changes while increasing the intensity of the LED fixture.

The next big question comes when adding new coral to the system, this is why I’m going to use the same lighting on my frag tank as the DT, this way I can ramp the intensity up and match the photo period while acclimatizing the coral/frag to match my DT.

[MarkoD]

here are pictures.

first picture is the zoa colony under the ai sols



and this one use to be a colony but since i put the radion over that side of the tank they've all disappeared. all i've got is one here and there and theyre closed up into little balls

[Nano]

yikes that sucks Marko, I wonder if the radion was too much for them?

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by nanomano

yikes that sucks Marko, I wonder if the radion was too much for them?

it was only 65% power

they were previously under 90% power ai

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

here are pictures.

first picture is the zoa colony under the ai sols



and this one use to be a colony but since i put the radion over that side of the tank they've all disappeared. all i've got is one here and there and theyre closed up into little balls

ummmmmmm you have a moorish idol in your tank.....they have been know to eat polyps


the feature I like about the radions is......you can start the morning off with the red spectrum (which BTW is beneficial for you coral ) to simulate a sunrise effect, then have the spectrum change to natural sunlight during the day when your not home to see the yellow-ness, then have the color change to more of a blue in the evening when you are home to see tank.....I'll agree that the thunderstorm feature is more for the user than the reef

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by fishytime

ummmmmmm you have a moorish idol in your tank.....they have been know to eat polyps


the feature I like about the radions is......you can start the morning off with the red spectrum (which BTW is beneficial for you coral ) to simulate a sunrise effect, then have the spectrum change to natural sunlight during the day when your not home to see the yellow-ness, then have the color change to more of a blue in the evening when you are home to see tank.....I'll agree that the thunderstorm feature is more for the user than the reef

I've never seen it pick at any polyps. But even if it did, why would he only go for the ones under the radions?

Before the radion, these same zoas were under the ai and open all day.

And how do you figure that 12 watts of red LEDs are beneficial to corals?

This weekend I'm going to try this out. I'm gonna have the reds on only, for the first 5 hours of the day. And I'll take a time lapse video of a zoa frag to see if it'll even react (open,close,twitch) at the red light