Thoughts on Radion Coverage

[ca1ore]

Recently bough three Gen4 pro dual puck lights to replace my older budget LEDs. I bought budget initially as I was unsure how well LEDs would perform. The Radions don't 'behave' exactly as I'd though they would however. Running three placed end to end I thought they'd act essentially as a line source, but they actually perform like 6 point sources with some, admittedly minor, shading issues.

I'm now thinking that I may have been better off buying 6 of the single puck versions (cost is essentially the same as 3 dual units). Seems to me they'd be more flexible in positioning; although perhaps not as aesthetically pleasing. Curious if anyone's taken this route and whether it's worked better? Also happy to hear any other thoughts folks might have in running these lights.

Please comment only if you actually have hands on experience with these lights. Debate over LED versus MH or T5 is best had elsewhere.

 

[Masedaddy]

Are you using the wide angle lenses?


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[ca1ore]

I don't believe there are lens options with these new ones. The new HEI lenses are supposed to make wide angle lenses unecessary.

 

[zsuman101]

i use the xr15s for the exact reasons, i have them staggered and they are excellent, but i still like my mh radiums better lol

 

[Reefable]

I have 3 xrpro 3rd generation on my 6 feet long 150G. I was happy with them but most recently at Christmas i added a double strip T5 HO as a spread light and I am very happy with it.


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[LQT]

How about adding a fourth xr30 and reposition each fixture perpendicularly such that the pucks of each individual fixture run from front to back. My guess is your shadowing is happening in the fore to aft orientation. Unfortunately shadowing is a fact of life inherent with puck style fixtures and in a gorgeous mature reef like yours, it gets magnified. The most effective remedy for shadowing is more pucks... which means more fixtures, which is not cheap.

 

[d2mini]

Personally, I don't think they pucks should be spread out much further than they are on the 30. So might as well just get the 30's rather than a bunch of 15's.
Unless you have a softie/lps tank, then you can afford to spread them out more.

 

[anthonys51]

How deep is your tank. The xr15 might give you more coverage. But they aren't rated got deep tanks
I have 3 xr30 pros on my 7 foot tank. I have them long ways with 2 lights facing the side of tank. I tested with par meter. This way gave me higher par in the middles between the lights then facing the front of the tank


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[RegalAngel]

How high above the tank are the mounted?

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[Bronx19]

Its incredible really, no matter how many fancy options, lens shapes and generations they go through, they still cant perform the most basic requirement of covering an area with light. I just ditched LED last week for an ATI unit, look forward to the undersides of my acro growing again.

 

[d2mini]

Wow it took a whole 10 posts before someone went there even though the OP asked not too. :lol:

 

[Scorpius]

What size tank are these over? I run Kessils which are a more extreme point source light and I run one A360we per foot of tank to avoiding shadowing and I still have shadows.

 

[ca1ore]

Right, so what I didn't say in my OP is that I do also run Kessils as 'target' lighting. When replacing the older RB with the Radions, I had thought to remove some of the Kessils; but the Radion's behavior as more point than line source leaves me in a quandary. Though I agree with Dennis that the spacing of the pucks in the 30 are about right, I miss the ability to angle them slightly differently which I could do with the 15s. I think the one thing that is clearly true is that once a tank matures, the number of fixtures also 'matures' :lol:

 

[ReefCowboy]

Ca1ore,

So whats your opinion on the lights? Do they deliver to the overall expectations besides the coverage not being exactly as you immagined?

 

[ca1ore]

About all I can say at this point is that they didn't immediately kill all my corals. I very much like the aesthetic, but whether they perform better or worse than my prior lights in terms of coral growth and coloration remains to be seen. I imagine it'll take 6 months to know those things.

 

[d2mini]

Right, so what I didn't say in my OP is that I do also run Kessils as 'target' lighting. When replacing the older RB with the Radions, I had thought to remove some of the Kessils; but the Radion's behavior as more point than line source leaves me in a quandary. Though I agree with Dennis that the spacing of the pucks in the 30 are about right, I miss the ability to angle them slightly differently which I could do with the 15s. I think the one thing that is clearly true is that once a tank matures, the number of fixtures also 'matures' :lol:

The mounts that slide along the rail allow you to rotate the radions, but I do wish you could angle them. I'd like to have my outer ones angled in.