Radions - worst light fixtures in its class

[iseethruyou2]

My radions would randomly turn on in the middle of the night at 100%. After they fried my corals I sold them and bought reefi’s. I’ve been super happy ever since. So that’s my radion experience.

 

[X-37B]

Tbh I would sell them and buy more photons or reefi uno pro

I thought about it but I like the color of ab+ @100% as its not realy blue in my eyes.
Plus I got good color and growth with them in my 80.x
Could sell 2 and get a photon 32.
I want to try the Meridian when they are out so may do that on the 50.

 

[JGT]

The Quanta Atlas looks promising.

 

[VintageReefer]

The Quanta Atlas looks promising.

Isn’t that huge though

 

[Stevorino]

 

[VintageReefer]

Radion fans got a secret thread where they are fuming and waiting for the right moment to come defend their expensive lights

Right now they be like

 

[Lavey29]

I cringe when I see new reefers thinking they need to spend thousands on radions for their tank.

Reefbreeders Photon 48v2 owner

Off topic but can I ask what you use for your pictures? Stunning color contrast.

 

[I never finish anythi]

My g6 xr15s do a great job . Each to there own .

 

[Lavey29]

I recently posted on bulkreefsupply my feedback on radion fixtures and thought of putting it up here as well.

I have been a long term user of Radion lights since Generation 3, all the way up to Generation 6. I have come to conclusion that they compromise health of corals for looks(extreme blue look).

Radion lights have several issues, but the three major ones are as follows:

1. The spectrum they use is too blue, which is not healthy for corals. I discovered this because I used other fixtures in my frag tanks, which are connected to the same system. The health and colors, particularly on my Goniopora, were much more vivid when using ATI T5 lights on one frag tank and Reef Breeders lights on the other.

2. Radion lights, especially Generation 5, have a very high failure rate. EcoTech often claims water damage as the cause, but my fixtures were hanging a foot over an open tank. All three of my Generation 5 lights died within three years.

3. Radion lights are too noisy and require regular cleaning of the fan intake. I used to have 8 of them and the noise was baaad.

In contrast, I have been very pleased with Reef Breeders and Illumagic lights. I will warn that One set of LEDs from reef breeders is too yellow, but perhaps this is helping my corals develop more resilience and develop more pigments.

In conclusion, please do not blindly invest money in Radion lights, hoping that they are the gold standard and you are doing good by your corals. I will encourage you to consider other lighting options. You will likely be happier with the results.

PS: to be fair Gen 4 fixtures were solid and have outlived all other Gens in my tank and did not have any of the above mentioned issues.

Sam

I am going to forward this to all the top coral shops like WWC, JF. Tidal gardens, etc... so they know to stop wasting money and using radion lights for their beautiful coral farms.

I will say my own personal experience is the my G5 lights are very weak par lights and are certainly not the best option for my SPS corals in my tank but my stuff is growing well with good color.

 

[flashsmith]

Best thing I ever did was replace My G4s with photons. Way easier to use and setup and never have a programming problem with mine. Mobius was constant difficultly for me. However this was a couple of years ago and I recently looked at RB prices and was floored by how much they've gone up in price over that time. I get inflation but almost double for the same light seems a bit extreme to me. They were a great value for what they are but now they're not so much of a bargain anymore.

 

[DanyL]

I am going to forward this to all the top coral shops like WWC, JF. Tidal gardens, etc... so they know to stop wasting money and using radion lights for their beautiful coral farms.

Are they really spending that much on lights though?
Because many vendors have noted they are getting generous offers to use certain brands in their facilities.

It's a fair game and nothing wrong with it, but it's a good reminder that not everything we see on the surface always reflects real life.

 

[thedon986]

Best thing I ever did was replace My G4s with photons. Way easier to use and setup and never have a programming problem with mine. Mobius was constant difficultly for me. However this was a couple of years ago and I recently looked at RB prices and was floored by how much they've gone up in price over that time. I get inflation but almost double for the same light seems a bit extreme to me. They were a great value for what they are but now they're not so much of a bargain anymore.

Yeah I’ve been very surprised by their price increases over the years. I wonder if it will pay off. I always lol when I see their rebranded Jebao return pumps for $300

 

[areefer01]

Radion fans got a secret thread where they are fuming and waiting for the right moment to come defend their expensive lights

What makes you say that? Most are probably ignoring the thread or keeping their experiences to themselves. OP shared their experience and opinion. Sally or Biff coming in and sharing the opposite isn't going to change anything.

Not my phrase but this hobby has a lot of budget and difference of opinion shaming.

 

[Lavey29]

These clowns obviously have not read this thread and do not know what they are doing.

LED Lighting Presets

Download our LED Lighting Schedules EcoTech Mobius 1200g Lagoon Mobius Schedule - LPS Reef Download Now 1500g Reef Mobius Schedule - SPS Dominant Download Now 100g Reef * Mobius Schedule - Mixed Reef Download Now Download our LED Lighting Schedules EcoTech Radion 1200g Lagoon Radion Schedule...

worldwidecorals.com

 

[VintageReefer]

What makes you say that? Most are probably ignoring the thread or keeping their experiences to themselves. OP shared their experience and opinion. Sally or Biff coming in and sharing the opposite isn't going to change anything.

Not my phrase but this hobby has a lot of budget and difference of opinion shaming.

Because normally whenever a light is either a) bashed or b) praised everyone comes out of the woodwork to agree or disagree

 

[VintageReefer]

These clowns obviously have not read this thread and do not know what they are doing.

LED Lighting Presets

Download our LED Lighting Schedules EcoTech Mobius 1200g Lagoon Mobius Schedule - LPS Reef Download Now 1500g Reef Mobius Schedule - SPS Dominant Download Now 100g Reef * Mobius Schedule - Mixed Reef Download Now Download our LED Lighting Schedules EcoTech Radion 1200g Lagoon Radion Schedule...

worldwidecorals.com

sure. They probably got them for free

 

[Lavey29]

sure. They probably got them for free

Most likely true but their money source is coral and if the lights did not support their money source adequately then it wouldnt matter if they were free or not.

I'm not a big fan of my XR15 lights either. I give them a B grade overall but it is obvious that big time coral vendors have success with radion lights.

 

[ryshark]

I am going to forward this to all the top coral shops like WWC, JF. Tidal gardens, etc... so they know to stop wasting money and using radion lights for their beautiful coral farms.

I will say my own personal experience is the my G5 lights are very weak par lights and are certainly not the best option for my SPS corals in my tank but my stuff is growing well with good color.

I watched a video last night with JF. He’s using off brand black box LED’s.

 

[Lavey29]

I watched a video last night with JF. He’s using off brand black box LED’s.

Maybe inflation is hurting his profit margin.

 

[ryshark]

He said he’s had them for like 4 years.