A lot of negative feedback about radions?

[acroholicanonymous]

I’m currently researching all the lights to see what I want to get, but I’m a little surprised about how much negative feedback there is on radions and how they aren’t good.

I was at WWC a couple weeks back and it looks like it’s all they run on most tanks, and we all know how good they look.

So I guess my question is, what am I missing?

 

[exnisstech]

They're not bad just underpowered for the price. Mobius is finicky as well, at least for me. I have three gen4 xr15s sitting on the shelf because one time too many I woke up in the middle of the night with the lights blasting because mobius decided to change date and time. This has been an issue since mobius was released and ecotech won't even acknowledge it much less fix it. Gen 4 radions are stronger than the gen 5 and 6 and my gen 4s can't hold a candle to my noopsyche K7 III pros in a par test and the noops are sub $200 lights. I also have ReefBreeder photons which I'm happy with. There are just too many better options out there IMO.

EDIT : I guess I could have just said they're overpriced and under powered but I ramble

 

[rtparty]

Haters gonna hate.

There isn’t a single light on the market with more success and all the big farms using them proves that.

WwC iS sPoNsOrEd….every company in the industry would gladly sponsor them and give them all the lights for free. Sticking with Radions shows how much they love and trust them. Any companies on their level would switch lights tomorrow if it got them better growth, color, etc…since that would bring more money in the door.

There are plenty of good lights out there today. Few are great. Pick the one that fits your budget and what you want

 

[slingfox]

The ReeFi Uno look like a great alternative to Radions. I wish someone would do a head-to-head comparison against Radions.

 

[exnisstech]

@slingfox
Google reefi uno vs radion and I found a comparison But the video link isn't working for me here

 

[SamsReef]

Reliability of Radion is horrible. All my 3 gen 5 died within 3 years. Now 1 of the gen 4 is dead as well. On top of that, fans are super noisy.

For your pleasure of reading - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/radions-worst-light-fixtures-in-its-class.1065216/

At the same time, other fixtures ATI, reef breeders are all going like a champ. Overpriced, poor design and low reliability sums it.

Sam

 

[Reefer Matt]

I wouldn’t gauge the quality of lights based on who uses them. Businesses don’t pay retail prices, and may get manufacturer discounts based on sales volume. With that said, some Reefers like them, some don’t. I have never owned an Ecotech product myself, but have many reefing buddies that do. One complaint with the G6 Radion is that it isn’t intense enough. Some prefer the G5 or G4 lights more.

 

[Jekyl]

Good luck finding anyone with halide or T5 complaining about needing better lights

 

[FishTruck]

The four radion GEN2s that I bought are still going from 8 years ago. The AB+ program is hard to beat.

The reef link and mobius have had issues, but, I always figured it out.

My Gen 2 radions are the longest functioning parts of my system... come to think of it. Keeping the heat and humidity down in your canopy makes a big difference, I think.

 

[alindell]

Ecotech makes decent products. Just too pricey

 

[alindell]

I run radions ab plus with t5 hybrid. I run up to 70%. Seems fine to me

 

[reef’r]

I’m currently researching all the lights to see what I want to get, but I’m a little surprised about how much negative feedback there is on radions and how they aren’t good.

I was at WWC a couple weeks back and it looks like it’s all they run on most tanks, and we all know how good they look.

So I guess my question is, what am I missing?

I went with a single xr15 over my 24x24x20 cube. It’s an AIO tank so realistically it’s 24x20, which should be in the range of the light. A couple weeks ago I decided to add an aquatic life t5 hybrid fixture to the tank and thought I would see some definite bleaching or at least some kind of negative reaction from the corals due to essentially doubling the lighting over the tank. What I found was absolutely nothing, no bleaching, no closed up corals, nothing. I say all that to say if I was to go ecotech again it would be an xr30 unless I had a very small tank or was prepared to put more xr15s over a tank than you think you need…. Or I would just go another route.

 

[reef’r]

Just another note, I switched from a WWC spectrum to ab+ and started at 60% schedule. Thats for 12 hours, the t5 runs for 6 of the 12. I will be bumping the % of the Radion no doubt

 

[VintageReefer]

People think I’m a radion hater and I’m really not. I just feel they charge way more than they are worth, and they need many units to become usable.

Xr30 I think is a good light for medium and larger tanks, but they are 1000$ each

Xr15 is a great light for a smaller tank. For larger tanks you need one every 12-18”, at $500 each

You will see people praising the xr15’s but look at the overall light setup on anything larger than a nano to medium tank. How many are they using? What other lights are they using? Do they also have t5 or led bars? The cost adds up. 4 xr15 is $2000 and then someone still needs 250-500$ in led bars? Those bars aren’t for fun. It’s because the tank needed more. Better spectrum, coverage, par, whatever.

I have one fixture over my 75g reef, it covers the entire tank end to end, front to back, and was around 700$ new and I got it used for under $500 And I don’t need to go over 40% power on it

 

[Northern Flicker]

I could light my 48x18" reef with 3 x $1000 USD radions or I could do some research and likely spend half that or less.

They are good lights that will grow coral but you pay a brand fee. Same with Vortechs or anything Red Sea. Newer hobbyists will get sucked into it but old saltys rarely will.

 

[alindell]

People think I’m a radion hater and I’m really not. I just feel they charge way more than they are worth, and they need many units to become usable.

Xr30 I think is a good light for medium and larger tanks, but they are 1000$ each

Xr15 is a great light for a smaller tank. For larger tanks you need one every 12-18”, at $500 each

You will see people praising the xr15’s but look at the overall light setup on anything larger than a nano to medium tank. How many are they using? What other lights are they using? Do they also have t5 or led bars? The cost adds up. 4 xr15 is $2000 and then someone still needs 250-500$ in led bars? Those bars aren’t for fun. It’s because the tank needed more. Better spectrum, coverage, par, whatever.

I have one fixture over my 75g reef, it covers the entire tank end to end, front to back, and was around 700$ new and I got it used for under $500 And I don’t need to go over 40% power on it

You can buy used radion Xr30s regularly on here for like $400 to $500. They are basically plug and play at least for the g5 models. I agree they are definitely overpriced, but what can you do for a hobby that is kinda a niche and expensive hobby to most people. Also most corals don't need as much light as some people think. It's all about how you place and acclimate them. I think the xr30s shouldn't be more than 500 brand new and even that is a stretch. Everything in this hobby is like 5x what it should cost.

 

[VintageReefer]

You can buy used radion Xr30s regularly on here for like $400 to $500. They are basically plug and play at least for the g5 models. I agree they are definitely overpriced, but what can you do for a hobby that is kinda a niche and expensive hobby to most people. Also most corals don't need as much light as some people think. It's all about how you place and acclimate them. I think the xr30s shouldn't be more than 500 brand new and even that is a stretch. Everything in this hobby is like 5x what it should cost.

I agree. If xr15 was 250 and xr30 was 500, there would be a lot less complaints.

Buying used saved money for sure, but those should be the new prices.

 

[rtparty]

I could light my 48x18" reef with 3 x $1000 USD radions or I could do some research and likely spend half that or less.

They are good lights that will grow coral but you pay a brand fee. Same with Vortechs or anything Red Sea. Newer hobbyists will get sucked into it but old saltys rarely will.

Bad information if you think you need 3 XR30s over a 48*18 tank.

3 XR15s covers that easily

 

[Northern Flicker]

Bad information if you think you need 3 XR30s over a 48*18 tank.

3 XR15s covers that easily

The crazy thing I could still likely get the same performance for half the price even if you know one of the lights off.

Not a radion hater. I would love to get some brand new G4s.

 

[alindell]

Bad information if you think you need 3 XR30s over a 48*18 tank.

3 XR15s covers that easily

I have 3 over my 5ft and that barely covers the whole tank so it's not too far off