Northern Flicker
Valuable Member
lol this is silly.
Primes have better PAR for $ than Radions. Not to mention you can get 2 Primes for the same price as 1 XR15 and get much better coverage.
Can ai prime 16hd grow acro or sps in general?
- Thread starter sweetcoralina
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Primes have better PAR for $ than Radions. Not to mention you can get 2 Primes for the same price as 1 XR15 and get much better coverage.
How many primes?
Northern Flicker
Valuable Member
Started with 2 Primes. Grew SPS directly beneath them. The coral doesn't know if it's in a nano or a 4ft tank, they only know many photons are hitting them.
I've since upgraded and added a Hydra 32 and some T5s, but that's just because I wanted to be able to grow SPS everywhere rather than just under the Primes.
I don’t know if the photon comment was sarcastic or not but Adam uses rb photons on all of his tanks except his main grow out tank, which due to size is still using halides and t5 I believe. And he just upgraded to the new rb meridians for almost all his frag tanks.
He’s posted here saying 95% of his frag inventory is under led. And the only leds he’s using is photons and now meridians
The photon is a top of the line light and one photon 48 can hold its own to multiple radions
He’s posted here saying 95% of his frag inventory is under led. And the only leds he’s using is photons and now meridians
The photon is a top of the line light and one photon 48 can hold its own to multiple radions
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AI primes are pieces of junk. I had to run mine at 100% for 12” cube sps frag tank to get 300 par and they started melting the lenses at 1 year and then the LEDs completely failed at 2 years.
My prime melted it’s lens and I never ran any channel over 80%
And the fan is buzzing and rattling. I’ve dismantled and cleaned, no help. Light is less than 2 yr old snd needs a new lens and fan. I’m not giving them a cent. I’m running it till it dies and buying something else
I’ve run aquaknights that lasted longer and looked better. I thought this would be an upgrade. It’s not. I wanted individual channel control and an app. Well I got that but the trade off was quality. Should have kept the aqua knight
Northern Flicker
Valuable Member
I meant photons as in the elementary particle lol but I also consider the photon lights to be one of if not the best option out there for LEDs.
If they were easier to get in Canada I wild have switched to them when I upgraded my tank.
GatorGreg
Well-Known Member
I wasn’t being sarcastic at all. Honestly If I wouldn’t have gotten such a good steal on my like new hydras and already had some primes laying around. I would’ve 100% bought the Reef Breeders. In fact I used to own a Reef Breeder and it was awesome. My point was that people don’t need 2000 dollars worth of Radions to grow beautiful corals.
This is my scape. So basically two piles of rock under the light. As you can see there’s a butterfly in there and I’m going to add a declivis butterfly soon so this is more of an experiment. I was considering mixed reef but I think LPS would stand no chance with my fish while SPS might have a chance.
Tank looks way too deep for those primes. I wouldn’t even waste the money on buying more. Just sell them and get something made for your tank size so you’re not trying to plug in 6 lights down the road when you realize you need to keep adding more and more to get what you want when corals become colonies.
Then you crank the primes up to make them work for a deeper tank and then your lenses melt.. the fans run higher and it becomes noisy over time…
Nah.
Northern Flicker
Valuable Member
I think I've gotten lucky - I run my Prime blue channel at 125 and 144% and no lens issues. I don't run my purples that high due though.
For the record, I was just answering can they grow SPS - the answer is definitely yes.
Would I pay full retail from them on a 4ft tank? No. I'd go reefbreeders, sunpower T5 or maybe one of those new Quanta lights.
At the end of the day, though, these fixtures all have wildly different price tags.
For the record, I was just answering can they grow SPS - the answer is definitely yes.
Would I pay full retail from them on a 4ft tank? No. I'd go reefbreeders, sunpower T5 or maybe one of those new Quanta lights.
At the end of the day, though, these fixtures all have wildly different price tags.
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dr_vinnie_boombatz
Active Member
Is this why coral vendors use primes? The ones I buy from all seem to use Radions
My personal experience is it was a day/night difference when I upgraded.
Northern Flicker
Valuable Member
Radions are more expensive - I would assume they would be better! Many vendors get free Radions as a marketing strategy, I wouldn't read too deeply into what they use.
The question in the thread was can Primes grow SPS and the answer is yes.
I think we get hung up on lighting too much. I see beautiful tanks with all of the above. A lot depends on quality (admittedly AI is lower on this), what features you want (app, etc), spectrum of LEDs in the light, brand loyalty, etc.
GatorGreg
Well-Known Member
because Ecotech is giving them the lights for free. Or at highly discounted rates. For the promotion. It helps them sell lights. Clearly from your post it’s working quite well.
No one is saying that Radion is a bad light. It’s not a bad light. It’s a wonderful light. A wonderful light that not everyone wants to spend that much money on. You can spend much less money on lighting and still have good results. I’ve seen some really crappy tanks running 2000 dollars in radions. Then ive seen some really beautiful tanks running 400 dollars in Viparspectras or black boxes. That’s pretty much the consensus of this thread. Also that OP will for sure need some different lights to grow SPS in that big of a tank. As tamberev said. It wouldn’t be economical to have that many Primes because too many plugs for just lights. It’d be smarter to buy one more powerful light.
Reef Puncher
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Radion will set you back $2000. You need two xr30’s for a 48” tank
Affordable options
Reefbreeders photon 48 v2 - roughly 800-900$
Maxspect razor $450
Maxspect Razor X 200w LED Lighting Fixture (CLOSEOUT)
Limitless Spectral Combinations to Fit Your Tank’s Needs Effective Coverage: 48in x 22in | Maximum Coverage: 50in x 26inDimensions: 33in x 10.2in x 1.25in (LxWxH) | Suited for tanks: 32.5in - 47instore.coralvue.com
Noopsyche k7 pro - would need 3-4 of these
he could get away with 2 XR15s, i have roughly same size tank as him and my par is sitting anywhere from 400-50 depending where in the tank it is.
I doubt it looking at his rock scape. He would need to even it out and build up a bunch
Spare time
10K Club member
So basically, 4 primes would work in the upper half of the tank. However, primes do have problems with lenses melting. I personally would sell the two primes or use one for a refugium, then get either noopsyches or ai blades. The noopsyches would be the best value.
Agree completely. 4 primes for even horizontal coverage and you can keep sps in the very upper portion of the tank.
4 primes is a waste of money IMO to light the top of the tank.
Noopsyche is one example of a less costly light that could light the entire tank with 3 fixtures
scotty333
Valuable Member
Do not buy maxspect , I have an r6 240w over a 4 foot corner tank and yes it’s 5 years old but it pushes out 80 par at the surfaceRadion will set you back $2000. You need two xr30’s for a 48” tank
Affordable options
Reefbreeders photon 48 v2 - roughly 800-900$
Maxspect razor $450
Maxspect Razor X 200w LED Lighting Fixture (CLOSEOUT)
Limitless Spectral Combinations to Fit Your Tank’s Needs Effective Coverage: 48in x 22in | Maximum Coverage: 50in x 26inDimensions: 33in x 10.2in x 1.25in (LxWxH) | Suited for tanks: 32.5in - 47in
Noopsyche k7 pro - would need 3-4 of these
Consider par values when buying obviously depends what you want to grow
I now have 2 popblooms and for 300 euros both I keep anything I want with 450 par at the surface and 150 on the sand 24” deep)
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