Lighting Upgrade for 125 gal 6ft long (from 3 Red Sea 90's)

August · Nov 23, 2022

I am looking for an upgrade for my tank to replace three RedSea 90's I have had for almost 5 (maybe 7 actually) years now. I currently do not have much in terms of corals, just a few Nems, a frogspawn, candy cane, a clam, and usual fish. I would like to be able to add some more light intensive corals, but it just hasn't really worked out in the current setup, and I am more suspicious of the lighting than I was before.

I don't know the par measurements for the tank, but I think I am biting the bullet and getting a Par module for my apex unit so I can get some trends and see what has been working out well for the tank vs what has not been working in terms of placement.

With the Black Friday deals, I was thinking of picking up 3 ecotech Radion xr15 pro's. but I have seen discussion that Radion's have been a bit under powered and maybe 2 x15's and 1 x30 might make better sense? I am a bit wow'ed by the diversity of their led colors but I don't want to make a poor purchase.

Sorry about the photos not being the best quality. thanks in advance for your opinions and considerations

Spare time · Nov 23, 2022

I wouldn't be suspicious of the lights unless you know the par. Those should be fine for the tank. The radions are good and I wouldn't worry about par levels as much as people emphasize. If you have a large amount of blue then you dont like likely need as high or a par value since par is a poor measurement of the relative energy potential from different wavelengths.

Spare time · Nov 23, 2022

If you rent a par meter, try and do it with the glass on as that could impact things

August · Nov 24, 2022

ok, thanks to the both of you

I have a jumper, so I do need to swap out to net lids instead of the glass ones. I'll go about getting the par meter rented or purchased.

blaxsun · Nov 24, 2022

The G6s have more spread than the G5s. On my 6' Red Sea 750XXL I run a pair of XR30 G5s and a pair of XR15 G5s (probably overkill, but the SPS are super happy!) The chip's acro in the center is now almost 10" across...

August · Dec 26, 2022

Well I ended adding the Radions pro x15's to my setup. I added a par meter to my apex setup and it really opened my eyes that I was not putting in enough par to the tank as I originally thought I was. The Radions at full intensity AB+ preset were barley pushing out 75 par at the sandbed... The RL 90's could do 125 with the blues at full and the White channel at 65%. So in combination, I am doing 130'ish and will bump up to about 150 which leaves room for increase intensity later on when I have things that need the light. The few things I have in the tank are responding really well so I am excited, but I need to get real shades for the Radions and also the Red Sea 90s. With both the RedSea RL90's and the x15's I am in a better place. I honestly can't believe that the Radions did not perform as well but I suppose they were doing something different than what I was expecting.

I am just glad I have the par monitor module which helped me catch this before I had stuff die off with me scratching my head. I watched a few BRS videos where they talk about how different tank shapes and setups will result in different par metering. Thanks to the guys recommending the par meter

August · Dec 26, 2022

Oh, I did end up doing egg crate lids. While they are white, they will do for the time being and it will be good to not have to worry about cleaning glass in the mean time.