So I figured I would post first impressions of the EcoTech Radion XR30 I purchased last night, you can track the thread for long term updates on how it works out.
As you would expect from EcoTech, the packaging and build quality are phenomenal. I was surprised honestly at how little came with it though, it is just the light, power supply, power cords, USB cable, and a small instruction booklet. Not sure what else I expected, just seemed very minimalistic (not necessarily a bad thing). I guess a CD with the software on it would be nice for someone who may not have immediate access to the internet, but that wasn't a concern for me.
When I plugged it in, it came on by default while face up on the table, and scared me with how bright the room got!!!
The amount of color temperature adjustability is quite honestly amazing, I really look forward to tweaking those sunrise/sunset cycles and colors, and hope that moon cycles are an added feature later. The amount of functionality just from the 3 capacitive touch keys on the light itself is actually pretty awesome, you can do just about anything right there on the light without having to plug into USB. The fan is almost dead silent which will be a nice change from my fairly loud fans in the stock JBJ hood.
From a trial hang over the tank, I can tell it is significantly brighter (obviously) then the stock 105w PC. It was bright enough to scare the fish into hiding and make some of the corals close up polyp's when held about 6" off the water at 100% brightness (14,000k color is all LED's powered on to max power). The amount of shimmer is insane, something I am not used to in my tank but looks great.
One thing I did notice is that the shaded areas of the tank are DARKER then they were with the PC, there isn't as much light diffusion. One caveat of this is that if you step back and take a look, the tank doesn't actually appear to be brighter, but rather equal to or darker then the stock light. It's a little deceiving and I will have to see how to manage corals in low-light / shaded areas as I may have to rescape to account for this effect. I also wonder long term what impact this will have on SPS that grow and shade their own bases or start to shade over other corals. I think that can be remedied with careful aquascape and fragging, or with supplemental actinic T5HO's.
One drawback is the software, which is still at a very early stage and feels almost like a beta release. The "Natural" mode which is supposed to simulate real daylight cycles and colors from reefs around the world is not yet an available feature, you are limited to the "artificial" mode. I even found some bugs when trying to adjust the lighting schedule (default is 6am sunrise, 7pm sunset) because I prefer my tank to be lit while I am at home (currently run my lights 3p-12a). For example, the 7pm checkpoint will not let you adjust its time for sunset. I found it easiest to just program the light with a time which was -5hrs from the actual time to adjust the schedule according to my tastes. I assume these bugs will be remedied quickly and the increased functionality will hopefully be added soon.
I am currently trying to plan out both a temporary and permanent mounting solution. I am not sure what height I was to hang the fixture at just yet, so I am thinking of using some type of adjustable lamp arm as a temporary solution over the next few weeks to dial it in.
As a permanent solution, I am debating between a wire-suspended ceiling mount, some type of PVC arm mounted to the tank, or something else all together. I also don't like the idea of topless because it limits fish selection (rules out jumpers) and the increased evap, so I will be custom fabricating a lexan (clear acrylic) lid to fit flush into the beveled part of the stock tank rim.
And the last topic is acclimation. I am thinking of starting off the maximum power around the 40% range and bumping up by 10% per week until I find a good stopping point. I doubt I will ever be able to run at 100%, so this in conjunction with the height of the fixture are both going to take some slow tweaking over time.
We have a local reefer that has the new Ecotech Radion over his cube, and he loves it. Since then, I think he even bought their Coral Glue. LOL (I'm going to, too).
