Do you prefer radion or ai lights and why? I would like your thoughts. Good, bad or down the middle. Big small i would like to hear it all.

[worstcaseontario]

Good Morning,Afternoon/evening fellow reefers.

I know the is a debate between weather ecotec or ai lighting is better. I would like to know your thoughts and opinions on either. Have to pull the plug on a new lights. Just want to know if anyone has any gripes/issues/connectivity reliability. All things of the sort. It is between the xr15 g6 blue or the hydra 32. It's going on a 24gallon nano cube. I just want to be able to make a properly informed purchase as I know this light will have a long life of use moving forward. Thanks so much every one!!

 

[Derrick0580]

Both owned by same parent company….g5 and older ecotechs are great, g6 puts out way less par for the money. Ai’s are nice lights, just as controllable. Both can be ran on mobius which is a garbage app. Not even sure if you can still get the ai app or not. Ai’s are also prone to melting lenses, had it happen first hand! Never used them but the guy I call my personal reefing guru swears by reefbreeder photons….if my radions ever crap out I will probably go that route next!

 

[Lolleo]

Good Morning,Afternoon/evening fellow reefers.

I know the is a debate between weather ecotec or ai lighting is better. I would like to know your thoughts and opinions on either. Have to pull the plug on a new lights. Just want to know if anyone has any gripes/issues/connectivity reliability. All things of the sort. It is between the xr15 g6 blue or the hydra 32. It's going on a 24gallon nano cube. I just want to be able to make a properly informed purchase as I know this light will have a long life of use moving forward. Thanks so much every one!!

So the issue you may run into with the xr15 g6 I know because I have two over my red sea 300xl and I get like only 210 par after being about 8-10 inches under the water but I do get like 125 par to the sand anywhere using the tank mounting arm. I don't know how deep a 24 gallon nano cube is but if you wanted higher par than that it might be a little hard with just one xr15. Like right now I am looking to add 2 AI grow blade to my tank along side my two xr15's once the hybrid fixture mount comes out because I currently can't really grow much acro or atleast not with the par and height I would like. Other than par the light is really good they just put such a wide spread lens on it to give it even par which is does have but it also lowered the par numbers from the previous generations which is why I will be supplementing with an AI blade grow.

LPS tank go with xr15 as it can do it with ease and it has even spread of par but I also have never had a hydra 32 so I won't speak on it.

Both are great lights from what I have heard and from my experience but I was just a little disappointed with the par measurements over my tank for sps possibilities as I currently only have LPS with the radions G6.

 

[Lolleo]

Both owned by same parent company….g5 and older ecotechs are great, g6 puts out way less par for the money. Ai’s are nice lights, just as controllable. Both can be ran on mobius which is a garbage app. Not even sure if you can still get the ai app or not. Ai’s are also prone to melting lenses, had it happen first hand! Never used them but the guy I call my personal reefing guru swears by reefbreeder photons….if my radions ever crap out I will probably go that route next!

100% agree g5 was amazing but g6 is just so sad with the par like good design but not good par at all compared to the g5 which is sad because I never thought buying a radion I would have to be where I am today thinking of having to buy a supplementary light like a blade to just get the desired par.

 

[shakacuz]

AI. cheaper option out of the 2.

personally regret going for the hype behind the name and not getting cheaper alternatives from aliexpress/amazon

 

[Derrick0580]

I guess it also all depends on your mounting style you choose. Radions and ai’s have much nicer mounting options than some of the much cheaper options. But if you are using a canopy it won’t really matter!

 

[exnisstech]

I have both. I prefer AI because I like the app. Mobius sucks IMO but my radions are gen4 so I use PC and ecosmart live. I have 8 ecotech devices and control all with my PC. I won't be buying anything new that only runs on mobius. Last I knew mobius was Bluetooth only with the Ai app I can adjust from anywhere that has internet. Mobius was a step backwards rather than forward. JMO

 

[Derrick0580]

Lol mobius wasn’t a step anywhere seeing how it barely works and more people hate it than even like it!

 

[Tamberav]

Good Morning,Afternoon/evening fellow reefers.

I know the is a debate between weather ecotec or ai lighting is better. I would like to know your thoughts and opinions on either. Have to pull the plug on a new lights. Just want to know if anyone has any gripes/issues/connectivity reliability. All things of the sort. It is between the xr15 g6 blue or the hydra 32. It's going on a 24gallon nano cube. I just want to be able to make a properly informed purchase as I know this light will have a long life of use moving forward. Thanks so much every one!!

My radion has fell out of sync and one was on at the wrong time

Primes sometimes like to melt lenses

I have both but they both kind of junky for 2023 tech.

 

[SaltwaterScoop]

So the issue you may run into with the xr15 g6 I know because I have two over my red sea 300xl and I get like only 210 par after being about 8-10 inches under the water but I do get like 125 par to the sand anywhere using the tank mounting arm. I don't know how deep a 24 gallon nano cube is but if you wanted higher par than that it might be a little hard with just one xr15. Like right now I am looking to add 2 AI grow blade to my tank along side my two xr15's once the hybrid fixture mount comes out because I currently can't really grow much acro or atleast not with the par and height I would like. Other than par the light is really good they just put such a wide spread lens on it to give it even par which is does have but it also lowered the par numbers from the previous generations which is why I will be supplementing with an AI blade grow.

LPS tank go with xr15 as it can do it with ease and it has even spread of par but I also have never had a hydra 32 so I won't speak on it.

Both are great lights from what I have heard and from my experience but I was just a little disappointed with the par measurements over my tank for sps possibilities as I currently only have LPS with the radions G6.

I didn't know there were any plans for a hybrid AI Blade fixture mount. Do you happen to know if it will attach to the XR15 similar to the Reef Brite XHO-15?

 

[ZoaAddiction81]

I’ve been running 3 Ai Primes for years now never an issue with them. I clean the grill once a week on them never had a melted lens yet fingers crossed. App works fine for me I use one of the downloaded apps from ai and tuned it a little bit. Would like to upgrade down the road.

 

[doubleshot00]

I run dual AI 32 HDs and wish I went Radion but didn't have the funds at the time.

What I did to keep the lenses from melting is keep the percentages under 100% and added a Quanta Pro light bar under my open hood to get the 300 par I wanted. My AIs are currently running at 60% blues and 20% white; so with the light bar I'm getting 265 par at the top.

But if I had dual radion g5-g6 I could just run them two and no light bar.

But will say I like the more purple/blue look in my tank now that I have the light bar.

edit: i use the mobius app

 

[worstcaseontario]

Thank you so very much

Both owned by same parent company….g5 and older ecotechs are great, g6 puts out way less par for the money. Ai’s are nice lights, just as controllable. Both can be ran on mobius which is a garbage app. Not even sure if you can still get the ai app or not. Ai’s are also prone to melting lenses, had it happen first hand! Never used them but the guy I call my personal reefing guru swears by reefbreeder photons….if my radions ever crap out I will probably go that route next!

So it looks like if I go the ecotech route, I will get the xr15 g6 blue. I managed to find one locally. I wouldnt mind doing reef breeder photons but unfortunately my timeline isnt not feasible to get them. If I had a backup light to use until they arrived I would be very tempted to go that route!!

I've got an ai prime HD, the older 13 diode unit. Works for what it is but melted the uv out of it over the weekend. It most certainly isnt strong enough for my goals moving forward. I clean the thing twice a week and it still roasted lol.

Thanks so much!!!

 

[doubleshot00]

Thank you so very much

So it looks like if I go the ecotech route, I will get the xr15 g6 blue. I managed to find one locally. I wouldnt mind doing reef breeder photons but unfortunately my timeline isnt not feasible to get them. If I had a backup light to use until they arrived I would be very tempted to go that route!!

I've got an ai prime HD, the older 13 diode unit. Works for what it is but melted the uv out of it over the weekend. It most certainly isnt strong enough for my goals moving forward. I clean the thing twice a week and it still roasted lol.

Thanks so much!!!

IMO the xr15 are not apple to apples equal to the AI 32s. I would say the XR15 are not as powerful. But one over a 24" cube is gonna be cutting it close for coverage.

 

[Lolleo]

I didn't know there were any plans for a hybrid AI Blade fixture mount. Do you happen to know if it will attach to the XR15 similar to the Reef Brite XHO-15?

This is a picture of how they will look

 

[SaltwaterScoop]

This is a picture of how they will look

Looks pretty good. Too bad I can't use with my RMS mounts. That looks like it'll require a hanging kit.

 

[Lolleo]

Looks pretty good. Too bad I can't use with my RMS mounts. That looks like it'll require a hanging kit.

I plan on hanging it but if I can use two rms mounts I will. I have seen on YouTube reefdudes used the rms mounts but did a diy using a piece of aluminum like a 90 degree and using the m8 thread.

 

[mfinn]

I have been using Radions since 2011 and I have been happy with all the gens.
Using ESL was pretty easy for me and I really liked the ability to change up pre-set programs and create new ones.
Mobius is a little harder for me. I'm not a person who uses their phone for everything. I don't seem to have much of a issue getting into it, but I'm not seeing all the options ESL had.

 

[exnisstech]

I wouldnt mind doing reef breeder photons but unfortunately my timeline isnt not feasible to get them.

I have one if these also. A 32 v2 over a 36inch tank. I really like but my LFS stocks them.

 

[worstcaseontario]

So please correct me if I am wrong. If I go with the hydra 32, it will have a bit more of a even light spread with slightly less power, 5 watts I believe. And the ecotech has slight less light spread but a little jump in power consumption for minimally higher par?