How many G4 Radion Pro's

[fishyguy7]

hey guys, Im trying to decide on how many G4 Radion Pro's to put on my tank. It is a marineland 150G cube so 36x36x30. The tank is going to be nothing but SPS. I was thinking one unit should suffice with the new optics but I am just not sure.

 

[ReefCowboy]

I think you are way off. I have two on a 57 gal sps only now, which is a 36x18x21".
The new optics are great but wouldn't trust them covering more than 15"x15" of tank area per unit sps only tank.

Call me crazy but am going 5 units over a 60"x24"x24"

 

[Potatohead]

I would probably start with three. Two parallel to each other shifted to one side of the tank and the third one perpendicular to the other two on the other side, like this: =|

 

[fishyguy7]

wow! I wasn't thinking 3 but glad to hear more opinions

 

[Potatohead]

You could start with two especially if you just have some rock islands, but for demanding sps you will want more of them than you think.

 

[JWClark]

Call me crazy but am going 5 units over a 60"x24"x24"

Wow. I have 2 over my reefer 450 (59x18.5x21) and think it is perfect. Running at 41% and getting 100-150 par on the 1" deep sand bed (300 par at the top of the rocks) as measured by my apogee. Lights are 10 inches above waterline I believe. Plan to ramp up some once all frags are in place.

If the tank were 24" wide I'd consider 3, rotating the orientation 90 degrees. 5 seems to be way overkill unless you want to run at 10-20%. Curious to see how your build goes with this. I can see the advantage of having the ability to really increase intensity for high light SPS if needed. My tank is young so we'll see if 2 is still good once the water column is full of branches.

I think a good rule of thumb would be one for every 2x2ft area to a depth of 24 inches. I like the idea of 3 in the =| shape given the tank is 30" deep. I'd try that first.

 

[FullBoreReefer]

Start with two and mount them a little higher than normal, it'll help spread the light, then just bump them up a few extra %

 

[jda]

Four for hardcore SPS. - about one every foot for less shadows in a top-tier SPS tank. I would not be shocked to hear that somebody needed six to do what a single MH and a few T5 would do on that same tank.

The issue is not the penetration - they seem to do OK directly under the light at getting deep. The issue is that the output falls off drastically to the side and you can really shade and shadow coral and SPS do not like this whatsoever, especially as the get larger.

Plan the costs for four so that you can decide if you want to eventually go there. If not, then pick different lights now. That is a hard tank to light - reflectors will be your friend here if you are open to different kind of lights.

 

[jda]

BTW - I would get input from hard core SPS folks that use Radions. Many folks mean well and think that their experiences with a monti or birdsnest will scale to a tank with "nothing but SPS" when you are probably wanting more light demanding stuff. I think that Ca1ore uses Radions. Wazzel uses different kind, but he uses four panels in a 48 inch tank. There are more that I cannot remember, but the theme will be the same - way more panels that you think.

 

[Wazzel]

If it were me doing that tank with radions I would use 4 of the G15 units, equally spaced in a square configuration. In reality you probably get about 18"x18" of useful light out of them. The G30s will not give you complete from to back overage since, if they are like hydras you get roughly 24" of useful light in the long axis. Keep in mind the further out from the puck you get the more issues you will have with shading.

Coverage is the killer for LED, especially with the dense puck arrangement (radions, hydras, etc). I do have 4 non-HD hydra52 units on my tank running at about 60% power.

 

[grigsy]

You are going to need at least 3 for that size tank IMO. Maybe 4 if you don't want shadowing.

 

[ReefRockerLive]

36x36 is one of those hard to light dimensions. If you plan to grow ago colonies, you'll definitely want at least 3 fixtures, regardless if you go Radion or not. Personally, I would put 4 over that tank because you'll get plenty of light at the corners of the tank. The lighting overlap will help minimize shadowing caused by larger corals.

Especially with SPS, you'll want to have enough coverage to prevent the color difference you get at the bottom of acros from not enough light getting to those spots.

1 fixture will likely cause massive shadowing and lack of light at the bottom of the tank. As Wazzel said, LED coverage is especially important for fixtures with dense LED puck configurations. There are other LED fixtures that don't suffer from this side-effect and may give you better coverage with less than 4 fixtures.

 

[jackson6745]

What did you end up using? I have a 32x32 cube and went with 2x XR30 G4 pro's. Coverage is very good for my full SPS tank, better coverage than the single 400w radium that I ran previously.

 

[reefer roman]

If it were me doing that tank with radions I would use 4 of the G15 units, equally spaced in a square configuration. In reality you probably get about 18"x18" of useful light out of them. The G30s will not give you complete from to back overage since, if they are like hydras you get roughly 24" of useful light in the long axis. Keep in mind the further out from the puck you get the more issues you will have with shading.

Coverage is the killer for LED, especially with the dense puck arrangement (radions, hydras, etc). I do have 4 non-HD hydra52 units on tank running at about 60% power.

I agree with wazzle. It is hard to light a 36x36 cube. I had the 93 gallon cube and used a single xr30 on it and had shading. I couldn't quite get what I was looking for with two of them. If it were me I would probably use a 8x39W Hybrid Powermodule .

 

[fishyguy7]

I went with 2 G4's. Im very surprised by the spread honestly. I did not want to go T5's again nor did I want to go back to halides.

I agree with wazzle. It is hard to light a 36x36 cube. I had the 93 gallon cube and used a single xr30 on it and had shading. I couldn't quite get what I was looking for with two of them. If it were me I would probably use a 8x39W Hybrid Powermodule .