EcoTech Marine Radion XR30w Gen3 Pro LED Light Fixture

[Evolley1]

So I just made the first real step to get me to motivated to re-establish a display tank again. I never left the hobby entirely since I just transitioned my display to a look down tub during a move 2yrs ago. I cannot tell you how excited I am to get this light fixture. I've heard nothing but great reviews and I really hope this is the start of many good things to come.

Now to start planning the plumbing challenges from having a display tank in one room and all the other tanks in another room. All in the basement might I add which makes things a hell of a lot easier than previous set-ups.

 

[Evolley1]

Is there anyone out there that has this light that can offer any insights on programability?

 

[Vapour1ze]

I have the light. You want my insight? Good luck!

There isn't any. The light looks great, but man oh man it's been a struggle since the beginning. Half of me still wants to throw it in the garbage and go back to a T5 / or MH setup....

I started low, like 20% intensity, on radiant color. Horrible results. I am now at 100% intensity, for 12 hours, only at 14k (peak power) for about 4 hours. Then ramp back down. I am getting excellent color, excellent growth, and no bleaching. It's been a battle but I'm happy where I am at now.

They are frustrating to tune in though. Very. Everyone's tank has different needs.

If you're interested check out my build thread. I document a lot of progress.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2438840

And a current FTS:

20150322_165048 by Vapour1ze, on Flickr

 

[chgoblknazn]

I've had the same experience. Programmability and setup is a cinch but fine-tuning it for your tank's specs can be frustrating. I've had them for a year and I have just finally settled on a program/intensity scheme that works for my tank. I've had them at 100% all the way down to 20% and found my tanks sweet spot to be at 35%. My corals are finally coloring up as they should and newer frags are maintaining their color. I also installed the TIR Wide Angle Lens a while back which helped immensely for my 18" high tank.

As the above poster said, GOOD LUCK. I was ready to get rid of them myself but hopefully this works out the way I hope it will. Fingers crossed!!

 

[jeemann99]

Welcome back Eric

 

[xtlosx]

I have 3x Radion Gen 2s over my 150G, 9" above the water, and it's 90% acro, colors are awesome, growth is insane, and I'm at 90% intensity. One of the things I found out quick while others blamed my lights as the problem for all of my acro color issues, it wasn't the fixtures it was the lack of nutrients in my system.

Once I started feeding heavier, dosing acro power, and now going to do reef chili\coral frenzy, the colors have really shot up. I can send my program if you'd like.

 

[ghostman]

Of all the LEDs that I have owned, the radions were my least favorite. You won't find many bad reviews on them, as negative threads are deleted or closed quickly. I had 6 radions at one time, and the control was unstable for me. I lost more corals under radions than any other lighting system. It was not due to light intensity, nutrients, or moving too fast, it was that the lights did not follow the programmed schedule and came on full blast at 2:00am. That is my experience early on with ESL. I suspect that they have fixed the bugs and that the products are much better now. For me, you can't beat a MH and T5 combo.

 

[Superman92088]

go on Radions facebook page and look up lighting schedules. that's what i did

 

[Evolley1]

Thanks everybody. I just realized that I didn't subscribe to my own post properly. As a result, this is the first time reading the comments. I'm using one XR30w Gen3 Pro on a 150Gal look down stock tank. So far I'm loving it! I started at 40% intensity to be ramped up to 85% over the course of a month. Both soft corals and SPS's are doing well so far. I used the traditional reef tank program for now because it gives me the actinic supplementation that I haven't had for awhile.

Eventually I will own a second one when I set up my display which is currently in progress. The idea is to get things thriving in the stock tank and transition over slowly. One thing I've learned over the years is that reef tanks do not like to be disturbed or moved. I've done that a couple different times over the past 6 years or so.