Radions - 5 of the 5 local stores/farms run them. What makes them the go to for growers?

[Northern Flicker]

I decided to ask around at my local coral farmers/retailers about what lighting they run. 3 of the places asked are mainly wholesale aquaculture, while 2 frag and sell but are less about farming.

All 5 of them run Radions.

I've always thought Radions seemed a little overpriced for what they offer, probably because I was overly influenced by this: BRS investigate PAR for $ performance. The Radions did okay, but it would be hard to argue against the Photon or Hydra.

However, I felt pretty shocked to find out that all of the places I get my coral from are all growing them using Radions.

What makes them the go to for so many?


edit: for the record, I am not an Aperature shill - I don't use Radions or MPxx powerheads, nor do I run any of their controllers or testers. Just curious about their lighting.

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

I am not a farm nor do I sell to these farms. Most coral farms purchase enough lights to order directly. The light manufacturers see having lights on farms as a powerful marketing tool. Often they will sell lights below cost and loose money to get them over a farm hoping that this will sell more lights to consumers. To the farm it is an economic decision. There are many lights that work but if one vendor will give them a better deal then they will go where the price is right.

All that being said Radions are great lights that have a proven track record of growing beautiful reefs in commercial and home environments. Just don't be disillusioned into thinking the decision is all about what grows coral the best.

 

[ryanjohn1]

If you have business license you can buy wholesale. I’m guessing they get better bang for their buck. I’d be willing to bet they would use another if they got the price point they wanted. And they are pretty decent light

 

[Northern Flicker]

If you have business license you can buy wholesale. I’m guessing they get better bang for their buck. I’d be willing to bet they would use another if they got the price point they wanted. And they are pretty decent light

I’m not so sure about this - 4 of 5 places I asked do not sell dry goods or show their set ups off. They started as smaller operations without the wholesaler or farming designation.

I imagine they could get wholesaler pricing on any light but chose Radions.

I think it just surprised me as I was expecting more T5 usage, or maybe just less “frilly” and frugal options.

It’s possible that I’ve been underestimating Radions by always thinking they were an overpriced product that put ease of use over performance.

 

[Daniel Rosenwinkel]

I think when you take into account how long these lights can last and how much they corals they're supporting are worth, the lights are still going to be a relatively low expense even if they're II$1000 each

 

[Waters]

They are good lights....cheap to run....and most places carry them so it makes sense to advertise them for future sales. What is the first thing you ask when you see a tank full of colorful coral....what lights are you running lol.

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

If you have business license you can buy wholesale. I’m guessing they get better bang for their buck. I’d be willing to bet they would use another if they got the price point they wanted. And they are pretty decent light

This is not the full story. Wholesale may be 30% off of retail but some light manufacturers will sell lights to stores at 60% off of retail which is below their cost and a marketing expense. They are losing money to get their lights over farms so that consumers see the lights over farms and want to buy them.

 

[UtahReefer]

If you back out of the box and put all opinions aside the fact is the just grow corals, especially SPS.

 

[Reef Psychology]

Think it just comes down to two things. Farms run shallow wide tanks and Radions have good spread. And they were designed specifically to mimicking T5s and MH spectrum (later they focused on AB+).

 

[boostle]

Even if X brand gave stores free lights, if they dont peform then they will be removed. We all need their corals to grow and color up and if your using X brand and you get poor results you wont keep X brand around. As someone who deals with 400-800 Leds we are constantly offered a discount or even free but we dont like the risk. We stick what works and what has been around.