Radion help

D

DownwardDawg

New member
I have a 60 gal tank with 2 Ecotech Radions on it. These lights have been terrible for me so far. I've had them on the tank for 7-8 months. Birdsnest died, Favite died, Acan looks terrible, Candy Cane died, etc... I have a couple of leathers that are doing ok but not great. Xenia lives but doesn't thrive. I have 2 hammer corals that have been in there for months and they look fine. I had a green anemone and it died. My RBTA split and now both of them look great but they "hide" in the rock late in the afternoon and come out again in the morning. My highest intinsity was at 70% and I've gradually backed it down to 50% at it's highest setting. They start out really blue in the morning and ramp up to 20k for the rest of the day.
I'm about to give up on the LED experiment. I have a 125 using the same salt mix, running the same GFO, and I keep the parameters as close as possible to each other. The 125 is lit by 250 watt Radiums and T5 actinics. There is NO comparison. All the coral in the 125 are thriving. My RBTA is huge and stays out all day. My SPS are all spreading and I've been fragging some of them for months.
I've seen all the successful pics from people with these LED's but they ain't workin for me and my wife.
 
I have radions and all corals are doing great so I know it can for you.
I assume you have G1s? TIR lens? How high off the water?
Sounds like you have mostly softies ?

I would make sure your high intensity is only for one or two hours. 20k is great but back some the white intensity out of the 20k profile. Maybe 40%.
For softies you may only need a high of 40% intensity.

Really sounds like you are giving your corals too much light
 
I agree with mikeatjac, you probably gave them too much light too quickly. After using many different types of LEDs, I found them to be so powerful that they will quickly decimate a reef tank. IME, my corals went into a period of no growth. This sounds ok for a while, but my automatic dosing of Alk and Calcium made my Alk spike due to the corals no longer it. This made matters worse. I would recommend raising your fixtures to above 12", keeping intensity at less than 50%, and keeping whites as low as you can stand them-around 25% to 35% for me. Keep track of all parameters during the LED acclimation period. I am a believer that SPS need spectrum less than Blue in the violet/UV range so my LEDs have low violet lights. These are missing from G1 and G2 radions. Hope that helps a bit.
 
mikeatjac said:
I have radions and all corals are doing great so I know it can for you.
I assume you have G1s? TIR lens? How high off the water?
Sounds like you have mostly softies ?

I would make sure your high intensity is only for one or two hours. 20k is great but back some the white intensity out of the 20k profile. Maybe 40%.
For softies you may only need a high of 40% intensity.

Really sounds like you are giving your corals too much light
Click to expand...

I have G1's, no TIR lenses. They are about 10" off the water. I'll look at backing off the white intensity some more. I do have mostly softies right now but that's because the LPS' and the Birdsnest died. I'm ok with this tank being mostly softies and LPS, but I'd like to be able to throw some frags in there from my 125 and have them live.
 
DownwardDawg said:
Well, so far I have had no luck at all with that but I'll try again once I lower the white intensity.
Click to expand...

My tank, 90% SPS, I have to put LPS on the bottom or even in the shade but I run my intensity hight than you. I would lower your over all intensity. There a lot of good programs you can import for your tank if you ask on the ecotech thread in the sponsor area.
 
Two XR30w's on a 60gal tank is a lot and its possible that some damage was done in the beginning when the intensity was 70% before you backed down. Also, what duration is your lighting cycle? Any more than 8-10 hours and you can experience a lot of problems.

Don't hesitate to call in to our customer support team for advice on how to get the most from your lights. That's what we're here for!

T
 
Maybe one of you can help me. I want to buy led. But don't know which one to get. I like the radium 2gen. But that does not have ultraviolet. Do I need ultraviolet ? That would be the $899 one versus$549:-(. Any idea? Sorry to high jack your post but I had a post and no one replied. Thank you for your help
Lu
 
EcoTech Marine said:
Two XR30w's on a 60gal tank is a lot and its possible that some damage was done in the beginning when the intensity was 70% before you backed down. Also, what duration is your lighting cycle? Any more than 8-10 hours and you can experience a lot of problems.

Don't hesitate to call in to our customer support team for advice on how to get the most from your lights. That's what we're here for!

T
Click to expand...

I just reduced the light cycle to 9 hours. It was +12 hours before. Of course, the morning and evening intensity was real low but it was still lit.
 
Thanks for all the info. I'm gonna look at the threads in the sponsor area and then I will give Ecotech a call. I want these lights to work for me.
 
LED... Can you please tell me what LED works so I can buy some. I need to change my lights and want to get ride of my MH. I have been reading a lot and the more I read the more confused ;-/ Please what is your LED ddropski?
Thank you guys and I hope you get your tank working soon.
Lu
 
luamada- all LEDs work...to some degree. Blue/white LEDs like the sols may give you a reduced spectrum. Your reds and yellows may not look right to your eyes. The more LED colors, the more options you have to play with the color rendition to make the tank look attractive to you. White LEDs are very powerful, and many reefers (myself included) have burned corals by cranking up the white LEDs too much. The need for UV (or really TV-True Violet) is a debated topic. Some people feel it is necessary, while others have success without it. All the higher end fixtures now carry UV-TV color, and I personally think it makes a big difference.
 
ghostman said:
luamada- all LEDs work...to some degree. Blue/white LEDs like the sols may give you a reduced spectrum. Your reds and yellows may not look right to your eyes. The more LED colors, the more options you have to play with the color rendition to make the tank look attractive to you. White LEDs are very powerful, and many reefers (myself included) have burned corals by cranking up the white LEDs too much. The need for UV (or really TV-True Violet) is a debated topic. Some people feel it is necessary, while others have success without it. All the higher end fixtures now carry UV-TV color, and I personally think it makes a big difference.
Click to expand...

Thank you Gostman for the reply. Do you have radion? I kind of like the generation 2 one. Which one do you recommend ? Thank u
 
I'm running two Radion G1s and added a pair of T5s in hopes that the added spectrum would help (UV particularly) as well as removing some shadows. The difference is night and day. I would do the same on your 60 gallon, and drop the intensity down even lower. I realize that this may offset the cost savings from running UV, but for me, I love how it looks and how the corals are responding.
 
luamada said:
Thank you Gostman for the reply. Do you have radion? I kind of like the generation 2 one. Which one do you recommend ? Thank u
Click to expand...
I have Pacific Sun Hyperions over my tank and love them. They have the true violet, are wireless via bluetooth, and have excellent customer service. They may seem pricey, but cover a larger area than 2x2' so less are needed for big tanks. I've seen the reef breeders LEDs on several tanks, and like them a lot. I also like the look of the RAZOR. I have a Kessil 350W over my 60 cube and it looks great too. I had 6 radions at one point. I liked the lights, but I got burned by the software glitches (so did the corals).
 
I have one Radion Pro over a 34 gal tank. Its about 8-9" above the water and is set to 100% on natural mode for 13 hoursw per day.

IMO natural mode is the best but having said that almost no one I know uses natural mode.....instead they customize the sprectrum to all sorts of combos.

The tank is almost two years old and I started with a gen1 and have had the pro on there since Januray.

I have 90% sps with some zoas, rics, acans and duncans. I started it a 50% for one week and went right to 100%

Needless to say I'm very happy with my Radion Pro. IMO it is the perfect light and two should be perfect for your tank! :)
 
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