Why do I see so many Radion Gen4 for sale?

[reefslugs]

Why do I see so many Radion Gen4 for sale?

I thought I would ask everyone's opinion. I have never owned a Radion light. I thought these lights were are the best of the best. I thought about buying one, but the $700 dollar price tag slows me down.

 

[Nanook]

I know many that run them and like them. You get what you pay for most of the time.

 

[Pife]

People get out of the hobby. If you have a light that you can change the settings of and you're new you're more likely to not be successful.

 

[Crooked Reef]

I have two gen 4 xr15 pros on my 90 gallon and honestly it is too much control for a novice. With the ability to go in and change each setting you can seriously screw things up in your tank when you fry your corals or they start to starve. I love the lights but would only recommend them to three types of people. Those who understand to pick a preset and start low and increase the intensity slowly and understand they don’t know what they are doing and leave everything else about the setting alone. Those with the ability to research exactly the settings they should be using and are willing to get them dialed in properly for their tank understanding that they could damage corals beyond bringing them back to good health. Finally those that won’t touch the lights but have someone else service their tank.


Like Pife said above, people get out of the hobby. They think it is easy and buy the “best” and have a little success. Add a bunch of corals, bleach them, kill them with an alk swing, overdose supplements because they don’t test and fail completely. The difference between now and 10 years ago is that there are more places to sell them online now when you get out. Also more people buy the more expensive lights because they want to emulate the tanks they see in the stores that run radions, not realizing that those corals in the display tanks can be switched out daily with better looking ones if they want to. Lastly I would say that when someone spent $200 on a t-5 10 years ago and use it for a year it’s easier to take a loss on it than a $1400 loss on a pair of year old radions.

 

[reefslugs]

lighting

lighting

This is some very good information.

 

[clevername]

I have two gen 4 xr15 pros on my 90 gallon and honestly it is too much control for a novice.

Everytime i look at my kessils i always think about how cool it would be to "upgrade" my lighting so i can control it. I do more research and come to this conclusion... Kessils just have nailed it as far as optimal spectrum. Ironically, this is why i think people go straight for Radions. Everyone loves the control at first.
Us seasoned reefers know this isnt the best option most of the time.

 

[Nanook]

I love my Kessil Tuna Blues as well. Set and forget.

 

[reefslugs]

light

light

I can say I do love how the Radiums make the tank look so cool looking. Corals and More have them on their display tank and the tank just pops with color. Listing to all you guys. I can say for my self that I should not buy them. I can not stop myself from changing things. I have T5 's and I keep changing bulb colors because my SPS colors are washed out.

 

[clevername]

Dangit!!! now i want radions
:hmm5:

 

[EDJFA]

There are other lights out there that give you control, but without the price tag of the Radions.

The Reefbreeder lights are a good example. You get the majority of the features and performance of the Radions for half of the price. A third of the price if you go with the Radion Pros.

 

[Pife]

I can say I do love how the Radiums make the tank look so cool looking. Corals and More have them on their display tank and the tank just pops with color. Listing to all you guys. I can say for my self that I should not buy them. I can not stop myself from changing things. I have T5 's and I keep changing bulb colors because my SPS colors are washed out.

I would quit changing your bulb combos. Maybe lower your length of light time and raise your fixture by an inch or two. I am still fairly sure that your corals are starving. Please shoot me a text.

 

[Pife]

There are other lights out there that give you control, but without the price tag of the Radions.

The Reefbreeder lights are a good example. You get the majority of the features and performance of the Radions for half of the price. A third of the price if you go with the Radion Pros.

I have not seen a tank that is stunning with these lights over them. I will say that they are a great light for 90% of the population though.

 

[OzarksReef]

I owned some G2 Radions and cooked some coral with them. Definitely my fault for not measuring PAR before putting them over my tank. At the time, I thought controllability was a weakness for Radions. They required use of their ReefLink so I bought one of those. Still, making a quick change if you wanted to show off your tank with a 20K look was a hassle. Have they improved?


I'm using AI Primes as part of the Aquatic Life hybrid fixture and they seem to have really figured control out on their fixtures (AI that is). Quick and easy to connect. No separate controller required. Easy to switch between manual and schedule. Easy to adjust the lighting program to dial in the perfect settings.


I'm only six months in to using this setup, but so far everything is colored up and growing well.

 

[ryanmell]

I have not seen a tank that is stunning with these lights over them. I will say that they are a great light for 90% of the population though.

I have seen some nice tanks with Reefbreeders over them, they are what Adam uses at Battlecorals and his acros seem to be fine with them:hmm5:

 

[Imaexpat2]

Everytime i look at my kessils i always think about how cool it would be to "upgrade" my lighting so i can control it. I do more research and come to this conclusion... Kessils just have nailed it as far as optimal spectrum. Ironically, this is why i think people go straight for Radions. Everyone loves the control at first.
Us seasoned reefers know this isnt the best option most of the time.

Great minds think alike and I think you kinda hit the nail on the head like Kessil did. Having all that control is great but you can easily misuse all of that control to your detriment if your not careful and very knowledgable about what your doing with it. With the performance of the Kessils and the controller that is now available for them although it doesnt really interface with other existing systems of control, I think Kessil gives everything you need and prevents you to an extent from doing what you dont need.

When I made the move to LED's I almost went with the Radions. Initially they seemed like the bomb. But I am a firm believer in the KISS principal...Keep It Simple Stupid! Kessil gave me that and the control I "really needed", hence I went with Kessil instead of some other trick of the week.

 

[reefslugs]

lights

lights

Great minds think alike and I think you kinda hit the nail on the head like Kessil did. Having all that control is great but you can easily misuse all of that control to your detriment if your not careful and very knowledgable about what your doing with it. With the performance of the Kessils and the controller that is now available for them although it doesnt really interface with other existing systems of control, I think Kessil gives everything you need and prevents you to an extent from doing what you dont need.

When I made the move to LED's I almost went with the Radions. Initially they seemed like the bomb. But I am a firm believer in the KISS principal...Keep It Simple Stupid! Kessil gave me that and the control I "really needed", hence I went with Kessil instead of some other trick of the week.

So which Kessil's are you guys talking about?