Radion vs AI

Patrick Cox

Patrick Cox

Active member
I am about ready to order my tank and now I want to think more about lighting. I have been researching MH/T5 fixtures for awhile and now I want to look more closely at LED. I will have a 36x24x20 rimless mixed reef. If I go LED, I am looking at the Ecotech Radion or the AI and I am thinking I will need two fixtures. I seem to have more confidence in the Radions because I have had a good experience with their powerheads and they seem to show up on some high profile tanks. I also like the compatability with the battery backup module. I don't know much about AI but they seem to receive positive comments as well. I know this is a highly discussed/debated topic but any personal experience with either of these fixtures would be appreciated. Or if you have another brand you would recommend I will take that as well. I would like to keep the cost under about $1600.

Thanks!
 
If money is no object I would deff go with the Radions. AI SOL are great for the price and the new Vegas have a few more colors now too. But if you want the best - get the Radions. Coming from someone with AIs lol
 
I would look into the GHL Mitras. You would only need one of these fixtures to cover your tank. The light packs more of a punch than a radion, latest cree led, higher par numbers, the list goes on. It will also cost less than buying two radions.
 
ReefRockerLive said:
I would look into the GHL Mitras. You would only need one of these fixtures to cover your tank. The light packs more of a punch than a radion, latest cree led, higher par numbers, the list goes on. It will also cost less than buying two radions.
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Thanks. I've never heard of these but I will take a look.
 
Ive had a couple friends come and check out my tank with the Mitras on it, they have just listed their Radions and ordered Mitras to replace them. Seems the color output is much nicer than they have with their lights probably due to the coverage of LED colors. Take a look at some tanks with the lights your considering and see what you like.

Ive had the Mitras now just over a week, was one of the lucky ones to get in first, and coming from an ATI PM I havent had any color loss yet. So far so good...hoping they keep on doing well
 
If one Mitras fixture will adequately cover my 36" length tank, I will certainly take a closer look at this one. I believe they advertise that one fixture will cover 32" so it is probably a bit of a risk. Especially since the fixture is only about 13" so that worries me a bit. I won't be able to swing 2 fixtures.
 
if your SPS are at the edges one unit wont do it, if I was to use one Mitras on a tank 36" id make the aquascape to match the light. To be successful my view is you could place SPS 24" region for the light, larger than that LPS would be OK. These lights do pack some punch and have great spread for such a small unit but they dont perform magic and you would not have a successful reef packed with SPS from edge to edge on a 36" tank with 1 light.

I would get one of these over 2 radions anyday though. much brighter than the radion tanks ive seen
 
rodneyri said:
if your SPS are at the edges one unit wont do it, if I was to use one Mitras on a tank 36" id make the aquascape to match the light. To be successful my view is you could place SPS 24" region for the light, larger than that LPS would be OK. These lights do pack some punch and have great spread for such a small unit but they dont perform magic and you would not have a successful reef packed with SPS from edge to edge on a 36" tank with 1 light.

I would get one of these over 2 radions anyday though. much brighter than the radion tanks ive seen
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My current tank is primarily LPS with a few SPS mixed in so I guess it might work. I expect something like what I have currently only with more space and more corals...

20120816-0011-L.jpg
 
IME, I would choose any fixture except the radion. Making great pumps is one thing, making functioning LEDs is another. Take a look at the Ecotech forum and all the problems people are having hooking up to ecosmart live. Not one positive comment in the thread. I've previously owned sols (too ice blue but good growth), radions (software is awful piece of garbage and will never look back), and am currently back to the old standby of T5s. BTW, the battery backup does not run all the LEDs as you would imagine, I think it only runs the red and maybe the greens. If I were buying LEDs for you tank, I might look at the Pacific Sun Hyperion for less than the cost of 2 radions. Maybe the AI Vega, but I haven't seen them in person. Just my .02.
 
I doubt you will be able to get a pacific sun metis hyperion for less than the cost of 2 radions unless you caught the sale or they still have the sale going on for the 34" version for 1300.00 like i did :) I bought these & the ai vegas & will decide on them once my pacific sun fixture arrives....should be soon. I had the radions and they were nice but I don't think they are worth the extra 250 apiece extra over the new ai vegas. Also if you use a mac there is no software to program the radions so its a real pain, at least with the ai vegas you can buy a little controller to program things. I know the pacific sun uses bluetooth so I'm excited about that feature. Good luck with your decision.
 
ghostman said:
IME, I would choose any fixture except the radion. Making great pumps is one thing, making functioning LEDs is another. Take a look at the Ecotech forum and all the problems people are having hooking up to ecosmart live. Not one positive comment in the thread. I've previously owned sols (too ice blue but good growth), radions (software is awful piece of garbage and will never look back), and am currently back to the old standby of T5s. BTW, the battery backup does not run all the LEDs as you would imagine, I think it only runs the red and maybe the greens. If I were buying LEDs for you tank, I might look at the Pacific Sun Hyperion for less than the cost of 2 radions. Maybe the AI Vega, but I haven't seen them in person. Just my .02.
Click to expand...

I have ecosmart live running with no problems now!!! It is still in beta so problems are to be expected. saying a light is worthless because of a beta software is not a fair reaction IMO.
 
luvreefs23 said:
I doubt you will be able to get a pacific sun metis hyperion for less than the cost of 2 radions unless you caught the sale or they still have the sale going on for the 34" version for 1300.00 like i did :) I bought these & the ai vegas & will decide on them once my pacific sun fixture arrives....should be soon. I had the radions and they were nice but I don't think they are worth the extra 250 apiece extra over the new ai vegas. Also if you use a mac there is no software to program the radions so its a real pain, at least with the ai vegas you can buy a little controller to program things. I know the pacific sun uses bluetooth so I'm excited about that feature. Good luck with your decision.
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AFAIK, the Pac Sun is still on sale for $1300, and is cheaper than the cost of 2 radions while providing better coverage, spectrum below 450nm, and true wireless control. The hyperion is more comparable to 2 Radion Pros in that respect at much less price. I hope you enjoy them!!! They look awesome!!
 
fishyguy7 said:
I have ecosmart live running with no problems now!!! It is still in beta so problems are to be expected. saying a light is worthless because of a beta software is not a fair reaction IMO.
Click to expand...

I had 6 radions that never worked properly, even on the old software. For me, running parallels on a Mac, I had many issues with the radions not functioning properly or running the same schedule. You are correct that ESL was a beta at first, full of bugs, and many users (including yourself) reported bugs. It is fixed for many users, but I have yet to read a stellar review of it. Even if it was bug free, it is still not wireless, has no spectrum below 450nm, lacks in PAR unless you buy the TIR lenses, and cost more than any alternative. Now with the introduction of the Radion Pro, some of those issues are addressed, but at a considerable cost. There really is no comparison between the radion and the mitras or the hyperion in my opinion. This was my experience, and was posted as such. Most posters in this thread have posted similar experiences and opinions regarding the Radions. I'm glad you have had a better experience with yours :)
 
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I've worked with 10 Radions and getting them to work properly was such a pain. They wouldn't keep their lighting schedule as programmed, had to go back and restore every single one to get them to work, it was a very frustrating and time consuming process. After all that, I can't say I'm impressed with the coral color response under those lights.


Hopefully, I will have my Mitras on hand in a week and I could take a picture to show you how it covers my 36" x 24" x 18" tank. After having read the positive reviews and how well the coverage is, I'm confident it will do well under a tank of those dimensions.
 
ReefRockerLive said:
I've worked with 10 Radions and getting them to work properly was such a pain. They wouldn't keep their lighting schedule as programmed, had to go back and restore every single one to get them to work, it was a very frustrating and time consuming process. After all that, I can't say I'm impressed with the coral color response under those lights.


Hopefully, I will have my Mitras on hand in a week and I could take a picture to show you how it covers my 36" x 24" x 18" tank. After having read the positive reviews and how well the coverage is, I'm confident it will do well under a tank of those dimensions.
Click to expand...

Great, thanks! I would love to see a picture of that fixture over your tank. On the Radions, I have a Mac at home so I guess that would be a problem. Sounds like I need to expand my search.
 
I am trying to light a similar sized tank and I am considering the mitras or possibly two kessil a350. The only downside to the kessil is the non controllability for me right now. And there is alot of shimmer, I'm on the fence about the amount of shimmer.
 
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