Who has tried the natura icon vs Radion gen 6
- Thread starter acropora4u
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I have not tried the new Orphek. They are not a company I care to support for many reasons.
The Radion G6 is a fantastic light that I have used and tested. I prefer the Pro model myself.
The Radion G6 is a fantastic light that I have used and tested. I prefer the Pro model myself.
Big E
Valuable Member
I would agree from a par perspective but the Natura packs plenty of power for Sps par needs and is simply a much larger unit which is always going to be better for coverage.
Radion is $240 more per unit as it sits today and are way overpriced for what you get. If I was going to spend 1000 per unit Radions wouldn't even be on my list................way to many other options.
Natura is not housed in a cheap plastic housing
I would opt for the Natura as I have the Icons and really like the performance I have gotten from them.
Having said the above I would wait for some feedback from users of the Naturas.
I would also look into some other brands ..........there are a lot of quality lights today to choose from.
Considering the radions run on mobius and mobius changes date and time on its own causing lights to blast corals in the middle of the night I would never run radions. I have three gen 4 xr15s sitting on a shelf for this reason. I was already invested in vortechs and needed two more so I'm forced to use mobius to control them or replace 8 powerheads which I won't do because I do like the hardware. Flow patterns changing randomly because of the date/time issue isn't a big deal. Lights blasting at 3am is a big deal. I noticed my powerheads sounded odd the other day so I open mobius and sure enough it had changed date and time again. This has been an ongoing issue since mobius was release. This is mobius 9/12/24
Hats_
Active Member
Never had that issue, bern running radions for a while now...Considering the radions run on mobius and mobius changes date and time on its own causing lights to blast corals in the middle of the night I would never run radions. I have three gen 4 xr15s sitting on a shelf for this reason. I was already invested in vortechs and needed two more so I'm forced to use mobius to control them or replace 8 powerheads which I won't do because I do like the hardware. Flow patterns changing randomly because of the date/time issue isn't a big deal. Lights blasting at 3am is a big deal. I noticed my powerheads sounded odd the other day so I open mobius and sure enough it had changed date and time again. This has been an ongoing issue since mobius was release. This is mobius 9/12/24
It's random and not everyone experiences it. A Google search will prove it does exist as does my screen shot.
EDIT : this us just one thread. There are more https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/mobius-time-issue.978500/
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Hats_
Active Member
Things like this are rarely random. Its probably some mismatch in either the modem used, the device where mobius is installed or between different devices in the app. I had a similar thing a while back with my ai lights changing time due to a faulty nero wave-pump that was in the same 'tank' in the app.
To say quote what you said "Considering the radions run on mobius and mobius changes date and time on its own causing lights to blast corals in the middle of the night" is extreme. Id argue that most people that run these lights experience no issues. But due to there being no issue no one reports this. There are many farms that use radions and many succesful reefers too. If what you claim is correct no one would be using these lights
It actually is a well known problem that Ecotech is very aware of and can’t solve. The problem is so widespread they even added a section in the app where it counts your clock issues so you can share that with Ecotech.
I was told recently by someone very knowledgeable within Aperture that putting the Radions on a timer will solve them turning on in the middle of the night.
We'll have to agree to disagree. Lights blasting my coral in the middle of the night is not extreme. It has happened more than once and if you take the time to search you'll see this happens often enough it should have been addressed by ecotech. I don't really care about farms running radions as that's all part of marketing and has no relevance to what happens in my tanks. I'll go on to say they are over hyped and over priced as well. I've par tested my gen 4 xr15s against my photons and my sub $200 noopsyche k7s and they make the radions look pathetic. Sure they grow coral but so will my old Chinese black boxes.
I have the new orphek and a g5 radion...
Orphek seems a lot better built but it is new so time will tell. Mobius does suck and is buggy.
That's all I can say about it as I have not hung it up yet.
Reefi 2.1s would be better option than radion... I would have bought them, no contest over radion but... they were not even announced yet when I purchased my radions.
I now have orphek because I won one... otherwise I would have gone reefi just because it is hard to beat that price for that power and build quality (and 3 year warranty) but free is free.
I wouldn't pay MSRP for radions... buying them used is about what they are worth.
Orphek seems a lot better built but it is new so time will tell. Mobius does suck and is buggy.
That's all I can say about it as I have not hung it up yet.
Reefi 2.1s would be better option than radion... I would have bought them, no contest over radion but... they were not even announced yet when I purchased my radions.
I now have orphek because I won one... otherwise I would have gone reefi just because it is hard to beat that price for that power and build quality (and 3 year warranty) but free is free.
I wouldn't pay MSRP for radions... buying them used is about what they are worth.
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OP
OP
acropora4u
2500 Club Member
Thanks for the feedback, what other brands would you recommend for Acropora and LED?
Torontotraders
Community Member
Big E
Valuable Member
These recommendations are based on people I know that have very good success---
Reefbreeders-----old style. I don't know anything about their new unit.
GHL Mitras
Orphek Icons------ I love the lights and many local friends have switched over since seeing my system. Two of them were running Radions and one was coming from T5.
There are also other people I know that had been running them for quite some time.
Check Renton777 and Mantis tank threads. Both have had excellent results.
One of my local friends has opted for the Naturas. He's starting up a new 400g system. He has exclusively run Radions since I've known him.
Straton Pros or Phillips Coral Care units I recommend based on footprint and coverage and have also never heard of anyone not having good results. A big advantage with these is no fans. Never heard of board burn outs either.
The only complaints I hear are mounting(Straton) and weight on the Phillips.
If you are going to compare footprint. Reefi Unos should be compared the Radion xr15's not xr 30. It's reefi for the win............no contest.
In my experience I would take Reefi Duo Extreme over Raion Xr30 Gen4 which a lot of people consider Radions best light.
I would also take a Nicrew 150 over a Radion if you're going budget. Three place over a 24x48 footprint horizontal works very well.
I would also consider the Quanta product line. I would have gone for their bars but at the time they had no 60" versions.
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C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
I find it to be completely ridiculous, I love that in fine print along the bottom on the time and date page it says "time clock errors are normal"
So many issues with this, I have had Ecotech say they working on a solution for this nearly 2 years ago.
At the beginning of this year I noticed a light on full blast at 7am and when I checked it's current time/ date it thought it was 2pm July 16 2014
These malfunctions can cause massive issues with the health of the animals we keep under them, this has caused tank crashes /mortality with some users, unacceptable
Solution so far ? Well, with the latest firmware update- now it just pops up a notification when you open the app telling you that your light is not set to current time ? So you have to go into settings to change to current time manually? You know instead of an initiative solution like coding it to automatically set itself to current time X amount of times per day or when it senses it's not set to current time?
That's what happens when corporate holding companies aquire smaller manufacturers, customer service, product support/ fixes and quality goes down the drain because they favor profitability and happy shareholders over long term customer product satisfaction.
ocicilioni
New Member
Natura Icon
I have 3 Natura icons and find them to be a better light than the radions. They may have a lower wattage output but this does not mean lower PAR. Par maps are well published on their website and having tested them myself I find them to be accurate. The wattage is lower because they are more efficient and new LED technology. Think back when we began replacing incandescent bulbs with CPF and later LED. It’s not all about the wattage. The better the light efficiency the lower the energy consumption and heat production. Also, they are solidly built lights. Not cheap plastic. And the Wifi app is fantastic. Unlike the Kessil lights where you are forced to use an Adhoc network and change networks to access your lights, or purchase MXM hardware to access the Radions through fusion, the Orphek Wifi app works through your home network flawlessly and you can access everything from outside the home. Can’t do that with Mobius. And you can control how much of each Color intensity. I can’t rave enough about them
If you are going to purchase them I would go directly to the manufacturer. Their sales dept is very helpful. The prices are not cheaper at BRS or any of the retailers. Plus the sales dept has the ability to change the reflectors in the lights to suit your depth penetration or spread appropriately.
I was about to purchase an Atlantic Icon and the sales dept encouraged me to get the Naturas. They were upfront and said you want our new tech. Not what’s 8. Yrs old on sale on someone else’s website. Later when I went to purchase LED bars, again the manufacturer said I can offer you the OR4s. Cheaper than the old OR3’s. what not get the latest directly from them. They weren’t available anywhere else at the time.
I don’t think it pays to buy used LEDs. It’s not unlike used UVC. There are definite lifespans when it comes to lights. Just because something is lit doesn’t mean it’s creating enough PAR. You have no idea how many hours a used light has been in service or at what intensity. Or if it’s corroded inside with salt. IMO. Lights are not something to skimp on
I noticed the local coral shop owner had one tank that was his baby. A RED sea unit and he was running Orpheks on it. And he was so excited by the coral glow that he stopped everything he was doing to show me how he can change all the color from his phone. The rest of the shop had a mixture of radions and cheap lights from Amazon and china. But not in his tank with Acros. There he had Orphek. That spoke volumes to me.
I don’t know why some on the website don’t like the company. I’d be interested to understand why. They have been exceedingly helpful to me in planning my light groupings and guiding me on my purchases.
One more suggestion. I wish I had come upon this sooner. You can purchase extruded aluminum v track and T track bars and use M4 screws from Amazon to make just about any shape light bracket array you like. The OR4s. Are well suited for suspension in this way as are the Naturas.
I'll just start by saying I have not read everything above, nor have I used the Radion G6 nor Orphek icon Natura.
That said, I have been running Radion Gen 2, Gen 3, and Gen 4 LEDs.
Something they all have is that they will start turning on in the middle of the night, or not in the day, etc. Most of this can be fixed on the older units by disabling the button controls and replacing fans as needed.
That said, I use the Orphek OR3 Bars, with no fans and nothing fancy. I find they have better PAR and color than the Radions. When they die, it's almost always just an LED burned out that you can get on Amazon for nearly nothing. And if they did totally burn out, they're not $1000...
So between the 2, I would choose the Orpheks.
But depending on what you're lighting, I would suggest looking into Kessil AP9X and possibly the Reef Breeders as well. All of these are great lights. There are some other new brands that may work, but I avoid "new" until they're well verified.
That said, I have been running Radion Gen 2, Gen 3, and Gen 4 LEDs.
Something they all have is that they will start turning on in the middle of the night, or not in the day, etc. Most of this can be fixed on the older units by disabling the button controls and replacing fans as needed.
That said, I use the Orphek OR3 Bars, with no fans and nothing fancy. I find they have better PAR and color than the Radions. When they die, it's almost always just an LED burned out that you can get on Amazon for nearly nothing. And if they did totally burn out, they're not $1000...
So between the 2, I would choose the Orpheks.
But depending on what you're lighting, I would suggest looking into Kessil AP9X and possibly the Reef Breeders as well. All of these are great lights. There are some other new brands that may work, but I avoid "new" until they're well verified.
rhaetuluscrenatus
Community Member
Radion: quite reliable, expensive thought, performance to health of corals: i'll rate 5/10 points (natural sun: 10, MH: 7.5 , T5: 7)
Orphek: cheaper a bit, also cheap components, many of my friends died so less reliable, to health of corals: 4.5/10 points
Orphek: cheaper a bit, also cheap components, many of my friends died so less reliable, to health of corals: 4.5/10 points
SpyC
Valuable Member
I have the time issue as well. I can't even have multiple devices in the same group or else it is even worse and occurs more frequently. Support has been unable to resolve the issue.
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