Radion G6 xr15 vs AI Blade

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Radion XR15 vs AI Blade

  • Radion XR15 G6

    Votes: 25 44.6%
  • AI Blade (2 grow, 1glow. 21")

    Votes: 31 55.4%

  • Total voters
    56

dedragon

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Ive been an AI guy since the Vega. Its tough to switch brands. Ive looked into reefbreeders, they dont seem to sit right with me for some reason
Probably because they are rebranded alibaba/express leds, never sat right with me either. Ai blade looks pretty nice tbh, not sure about their choice of led colors but who knows yet because they are so new. Might be cool to do a aquaillumination blade vs orphek or quanta reef led as well. Maybe they would also work well in conjunction, hard to say as not many have really seen the blades in person yet. The coral glow is kind of expensive tbh, the coral grow is well priced. https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/evergrow reef.html?src=googlesearchbox
 
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reeferpat137

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If your about the brand then I would say go with the radion since ai and ecotech are owned by the same company. I currently have the 2 radions set up on my main display and an old ai prime set up on a frag tank that’s plumbed in and they are all through mobius and everything works well together.
I really was set to drop the 5hundo for a radion, then i get an email this morning. Now im torn
 

JGK17

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@reeferpat137

IMO See what lights you can find a good deal on 2nd hand. Alot of used lights from other reefers are in good condition and are proven to grow corals. For example, I am lighting a Red Sea 250 w/ 3x Kessil a360we bc I got them for $500 w/ mounts shipped. Also, I am running 3x XR15's over my sps 40b tank bc I got them for $200/ea ($600 total). Both my tanks have overkill for lighting but I went with them bc I found them for such a good price.

Radions, AI, Reefbreeders, and etc. will all grow SPS IMO. I have a friend that is running 500+ gal of saltwater and is using Radions, AI, Reef breeder, Orphek's, and AliExpress (aka populargrow) and all of his tanks and corals look amazing.

FYI I just saw two pretty good deals on FB reefing forums: 1) 16" Reefbreeder for $200 2) 2x Kessil a360we w/ mounts for $250. If you were to go w/ the 16" Reefbreeder you could add 2x 24" AliE LED bars and light your tank for under $320.
 

Tamberav

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Coverage is definetly a deciding factor to take into account. I feel like the AI set up will deliver a more consistant spread and less shadowing. Ill take a look at the quanta pro bars, i dont think ive heard of them

You haven’t heard of them because they are a small company. Just like reefi which is also a killer light.

This means BRS doesn’t sell them so they will pretend these lights don’t exist even though they are killer ;)

So ya take a look at quanta and reefi lights, the reefi is more like a radion type but more powerful. Sort of like getting a xr30 at xr15 pricing and a 3 yr warranty to boot. It’s just better than radion. Built better, glass cover instead of plastic, cooling system sort of like a computers, nice housing.

Hey I have radions and I am telling you, you can do better lol Don’t fall for marketing. Remember these lights are expensive because they have to pay for marketing so other lights you never heard of will be cheaper since they are not wasting money in marketing and going by word of mouth by building a quality product.
 
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AquariumSpecialty

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We just received a sizable batch of AI Blades today. We haven't hooked one up yet but they are sleek and built really well as you would expect from Ecotech/AI.

 

enb141

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You haven’t heard of them because they are a small company. Just like reefi which is also a killer light.

This means BRS doesn’t sell them so they will pretend these lights don’t exist even though they are killer ;)

So ya take a look at quanta and reefi lights, the reefi is more like a radion type but more powerful. Sort of like getting a xr30 at xr15 pricing and a 3 yr warranty to boot. It’s just better than radion. Built better, glass cover instead of plastic, cooling system sort of like a computers, nice housing.

Hey I have radions and I am telling you, you can do better lol Don’t fall for marketing. Remember these lights are expensive because they have to pay for marketing so other lights you never heard of will be cheaper since they are not wasting money in marketing and going by word of mouth by building a quality product.
I understand the part of marketing, but why I had to go to Radions and AIs is because their software smokes the rest, with normal cheap lights you can't control the intensity per channel, most are just grouped by 2 or 3 instead of per channel (Current USA).

Radions can have lots of options like ramp up for climating, so I would like to know if the cheap lights you are mentioning can do all those programming or are just turn off on and that's it?
 

Tamberav

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I understand the part of marketing, but why I had to go to Radions and AIs is because their software smokes the rest, with normal cheap lights you can't control the intensity per channel, most are just grouped by 2 or 3 instead of per channel (Current USA).

Radions can have lots of options like ramp up for climating, so I would like to know if the cheap lights you are mentioning can do all those programming or are just turn off on and that's it?

Reefi has all of that, 9 channels of control and 270w vs 105w? of the radion. It's not a cheap light in anything but price.

I bought radions before they were available or would have went reefi in a heart beat.

 
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14 foot reef

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Ive got a 20L that im building out. It will have 24" of viewing in a peninsula setup. I was planning on buying a radion, but the AI Blade just came out. The idea of having 3, 21" (2 grow, 1 glow) Blades is very enticing. The plan is for sps dominant. What are your thoughts?

View attachment 2961529 View attachment 2961530
Watch this skim through to see what applies to your set up. This may help. About minute 5:30 start there.
 

enb141

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Reefi has all of that, 9 channels of control and 270w vs 105w? of the radion. It's not a cheap light in anything but price.

I bought radions before they were available or would have went reefi in a heart beat.

Seem to be an interesting option, I'll check more videos from this lights.


It's gonna be hard to compare with other lights because most videos are from marketing lights (AI, Ecotech, Red Sea).
 

Tamberav

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Seem to be an interesting option, I'll check more videos from this lights.


It's gonna be hard to compare with other lights because most videos are from marketing lights (AI, Ecotech, Red Sea).

You can find more info here (they are a vender there):

 
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enb141

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You can find more info here (they are a vender there):


I got more questions:

When the lights switch between "profiles" do they smooth or they switch to those settings immediately?

In other words I would like to know if the transition between "profiles" is smooth or it just changes to that profile without ramping up/down?
 

Tamberav

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I got more questions:

When the lights switch between "profiles" do they smooth or they switch to those settings immediately?

In other words I would like to know if the transition between "profiles" is smooth or it just changes to that profile without ramping up/down?

Smart LED ramping maintains spectrum ratio in your preset modes as it ramps the LEDs up and down between modes.

Under controls and automation:

 

enb141

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Smart LED ramping maintains spectrum ratio in your preset modes as it ramps the LEDs up and down between modes.

Under controls and automation:

Cool, another question.

What if you turn the lights off for two or three days (dynos / cyano treatment), do they keep the settings or you have to programm them again?
 

Tamberav

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Cool, another question.

What if you turn the lights off for two or three days (dynos / cyano treatment), do they keep the settings or you have to programm them again?


Keeps settings, it syncs with the internet date/time and uses a web server. A huge list of everything from what they do to components is on the website and a little background about the guy who makes them, he is a computer engineer.
 

enb141

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Keeps settings, it syncs with the internet date/time and uses a web server. A huge list of everything from what they do to components is on the website and a little background about the guy who makes them, he is a computer engineer.
Nice, it seems to be a real good replacement for my old G3 Radion XR15
 
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