What LED light would you go with?

F

fishbooy

New member
I am building a tank that is 48x26x18ish that will be mostly lps. I have a budget of 1500 for lighting.I have narrowed down my selection to.Three AI Vega Color or Two Ecotech radion xr30 g2 What would you put on your tank and why?
PS: I will be running 2 vortec mp40w es.
 
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i love my maxspects...but with your current budget + you will be running mp40s..no reason not to go with radions - congrats!
 
Sounds like a great setup. Get the Radions along with a couple of their backup batteries and your whole system will be close to bulletproof.
 
I'm interested in knowing the justification, as well. I'm in the market for lights and am torn between the Vegas and Radions. (I promise, not a hijack, you just asked for reasoning which no one bothered to give) :)
 
My 2 cents...

I went with Radions because you can control each bank of colors separately by plugging one of them into a laptop. I wasn't looking for the ability to control them via a smart phone. They are wireless between the lights and one tells the others what to do.

For some reason Radions seem to hold their value better than other lighting. So if you change things around a lot and decide to sell them you may get a higher percentage of what you pay for them back than with another brand.

Since you have the MP40es pumps they would be wirelessly linkable to the lights. I don't know the details on this but it's my understanding that depending on what the lights are doing you can have the pumps follow suit.

The software feels like it didn't get fully through beta testing though. However, once you figure it out it's pretty easy to adjust settings.
 
I'd go with 2 20" Maxspect Razors and use the extra $700 for the rest of the build. They're programmable, sleek and come with hanging kits. Two would light up a 48"x26" footprint really well.
 
I'm going with Kessil just because it's a better quality LED, made and tested on aquariums. The rest of the features on the other fixtures don't really make my decision. Some people rather have all the bells and whistles. I just want the big engine.
 
IMO:
I would also go with 2 20" Maxspect and use the $700 to upgrade your skimmer or put it towards live stock. The Maxspects have full spectrum, high quallity LEDS, and are programable. I keep hearing about these "Extra" features Radions have, and how they program to the MP40s, but to do what? What benefit do you have by your MP40s programed to your lighting? It's seems like a hole lot of extra money just for a name and sum shinny buttons that have no benefit.
 
usefulidiot213 said:
IMO:
I would also go with 2 20" Maxspect and use the $700 to upgrade your skimmer or put it towards live stock. The Maxspects have full spectrum, high quallity LEDS, and are programable. I keep hearing about these "Extra" features Radions have, and how they program to the MP40s, but to do what? What benefit do you have by your MP40s programed to your lighting? It's seems like a hole lot of extra money just for a name and sum shinny buttons that have no benefit.
Click to expand...

But you can make real life thunderstorms!! lol
 
As others have said I would easily go with Radion over the Vega. Yes the Vega has more colors and more control, but the controller is frustrating and the color banding is atrocious on the Vega color very noticeable.

The Radion is easier to program than the Vega and has the best color blending of any led light I have seen with the one exception of Kessil.

I would still take the Radion over a Kessil any day. IMO the ability to ramp up and down an led light is critical. It is also really nice to have the option to change color throughout the day with out twisting the knobs on each fixture and trying to set them back where they belong afterwards.

Undoubtedly the maxspect razor is the king of bang for the buck but I still think the Radion puts out better looking light than the razor, green leds go a long way for softening the look to the human eye.

IMO the eco smart participation (vortech pairing) is just gravy, I would not consider that feature at all when making a purchasing decision.

I use a Sol blue at home and am very happy with what it does for me. Color is acceptable even without any reds, greens, or UV. It has all the essential features that are really needed for a quality led light and has been proven to work for almost six years now (first gen launched in 2007 iirc). In fact I prefer the Sol blue over the Vega Color.
 
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I'd like to throw in something else to look at. I just purchased a DIY kit from Rapid led and am about half way through putting it all together. They have a pretty cool fixture that they are going to start shipping very soon. It's built with cree LEDs and is a great price. Check them out, it's called Onyx and they are $259. You could buy 4 of them for under your budget.

http://www.rapidled.com/onyx-by-rapid-led/
 
I'd like to throw in something else to look at. I just purchased a DIY kit from Rapid led and am about half way through putting it all together. They have a pretty cool fixture that they are going to start shipping very soon. It's built with cree LEDs and is a great price. Check them out, it's called Onyx and they are $259. You could buy 4 of them for under your budget.

http://www.rapidled.com/onyx-by-rapid-led/
 
captain639 said:
I'd like to throw in something else to look at. I just purchased a DIY kit from Rapid led and am about half way through putting it all together. They have a pretty cool fixture that they are going to start shipping very soon. It's built with cree LEDs and is a great price. Check them out, it's called Onyx and they are $259. You could buy 4 of them for under your budget.

http://www.rapidled.com/onyx-by-rapid-led/
Click to expand...

Without dimming this fixture is a recipe for disaster.
 
Just use a mean well power supply with dimmer function and your all set. It can also be controlled with the apex. Just pick the power supply with the B suffix and it can be controlled with the apex just like a Tunze pump.
 
Radion. A name you can trust. Holds value better. It is pretty cool to have them "link" with any vortech's, though not a deciding factor. You may also consider the Orphek lighting options as well. One last note, Radion Pro is out or out soon, you may want to look into that. Good luck!
 
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