EcoTech Marine Introduces the Radion XR30w LED Light

[nycreef]

I just ordered 8 TIR Lenses for my tank. I'm replacing all 8 of my 400 watt MH's with 8 Radions. I'm sure I made the right move, no more heat, no more electric bill, no more chiller and best of all, I control my spectrum, timing, programs and upgradabilty. Anyone in the market for 6 month old MH's...lol

[Sisterlimonpot]

Originally Posted by haddonisreef

what are these tri lens you talk about?

this:

Originally Posted by david00061

look new lens
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=...d&e=8f69ec1031

[david00061]

Originally Posted by nycreef

I just ordered 8 TIR Lenses for my tank. I'm replacing all 8 of my 400 watt MH's with 8 Radions. I'm sure I made the right move, no more heat, no more electric bill, no more chiller and best of all, I control my spectrum, timing, programs and upgradabilty. Anyone in the market for 6 month old MH's...lol

Your going to love em. Keep us posted with coral updates

[david00061]

Originally Posted by vargomat

David,

Do you have the TIR lenses? IF so, how do you like them? If not, are you planning on purchasing them?

I'm on the fence. I have a 90 with 2 lights and I plan on picking up a 3rd to go over my tank... Things are going well in my aquarium with the new lights and I'm not sure I want to make any changes. Some of my Acans and LPS died and bleeched with the lights as they are... not sure I need more power.

Thoughts?

I don't have these yet. I get my tank back next week.
I will get them for the front 6 lights. The back 6 I will probably get them and just turn down the intensity.

[nycreef]

Originally Posted by david00061

Your going to love em. Keep us posted with coral updates

My system is only 8 months old but I'm having trouble keeping sps. I'm not sure if I'm burning them with the lights or not enough nutrients needed or that the system is too new to maintain sps yet. What I do know is that all sps being bought are under led's and not metal halides which could be my issue as well. Once these lights are in place I will give it another go. All other corals are growing rapidly.

[ReeferInWI]

Originally Posted by TucanSam007

Yeah I was really hoping for the mac compatibility on this firmware update .

I believe you can run parallels, which allows you to essentially run a "windows" session like you run any program. (http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/

or

WineBottler is also an option http://mac.appstorm.net/how-to/virtu...-wine-bottler/

[BigKahuna]

I updated to the TIR lenses last night and they do seem to actually improve the penetration quite a bit while the spread looks like it might even be better too. The whole process is pretty easy but it took the better part of half an hour to do my two fixtures having to take them down and disassemble and reassemble both. You can see the new lenses on the right compared to the old style reflector on the left:



I decided to put a piece of white acrylic I had lying around on top of the tank and you can see the difference in the way the light outputs in photos with different exposures (not scientific or anything but I found it interesting nonetheless to see how the light is spread):


TIR on the right


Also another personal observation I made is the light seems a little more Halide-like wrt shimmer. The Radion always had good shimmer but the new one seems to produce more of those light-shafts, not sure of the proper terminology, that halides do. Halides produce those well defined light shafts that you can see from surface to sand and I think the new lenses play with the surface agitation much more so like a halide now IMHO.

[ScottB]

@BigKahuna. What is your plan for light acclimating your tank with the new lenses? Just keep on with what you are doing, or back it down by the advertised 23% and ramp back up slowly?

Your non-scientific acrylic test convinced me to order mine a minute ago, now I need to plan.

[BigKahuna]

I decided to lower my intensity about 25% and see what happens and then raise maybe 5% a week or so. So far it looks a little brighter than before the TIR even at 25% less intensity usage.

[ScottB]

Originally Posted by BigKahuna

I decided to lower my intensity about 25% and see what happens and then raise maybe 5% a week or so. So far it looks a little brighter than before the TIR even at 25% less intensity usage.

That sounds reasonable to me. Was considering the same.

[BigKahuna]

Just to be clear I lowered my intensity by 25% of my total intensity not just moving the slider 25% in the software; i.e. if my intensity was at 75% on the slider I lowered it about 25% which is around 19, not just a straight 25% on the slider.

[Antonbdp]

Wish they would introduce Mac support and new software that support moon phases and the integration with GHL. Might just be time to trade the radions in for a light that actually support the basics......

[BigKahuna]

A couple of software features I mentioned before that would be nice would be a mirror curve option where you could set the ramp up and it would mirror it on the ramp down. Also it would be nice to have an "acclimator" where you could tell it the intensity starting and end points and specify that it take x# of weeks to get there. One or two % a day is probably better than 5% a week and the coral probably wouldn't even notice that way. Also it would be nice to have a master intensity slider that raises and lowers all points on the curves instead of having to change them individually etc.

[rickyh24]

Can these things be too close to the water?? I'm thinking about switching out mt ATIs for 2 of these.

Attachment will show how I have my ATIs on my canopy. Could I just make some kind of bracket and sit the radions in the same way??? Fiance is not going to want wires hanging from the ceiling. Ceiling is very high in this room anyways. It seems they will be a lot closer to the water than some of the pics I am seeing.

[fishyguy7]

They recommend a minimum of 8 inches above the water surface.

Originally Posted by rickyh24

Can these things be too close to the water?? I'm thinking about switching out mt ATIs for 2 of these.

Attachment will show how I have my ATIs on my canopy. Could I just make some kind of bracket and sit the radions in the same way??? Fiance is not going to want wires hanging from the ceiling. Ceiling is very high in this room anyways. It seems they will be a lot closer to the water than some of the pics I am seeing.

[rickyh24]

Alright thanks. I'll have to figure out something.

[rickyh24]

Actually just measured and those ATIs are pretty much 8 inches from the waters surface. So a simple bracket might work.

[Lucifa68]

Originally Posted by BigKahuna

I updated to the TIR lenses last night and they do seem to actually improve the penetration quite a bit while the spread looks like it might even be better too. The whole process is pretty easy but it took the better part of half an hour to do my two fixtures having to take them down and disassemble and reassemble both. You can see the new lenses on the right compared to the old style reflector on the left:



I decided to put a piece of white acrylic I had lying around on top of the tank and you can see the difference in the way the light outputs in photos with different exposures (not scientific or anything but I found it interesting nonetheless to see how the light is spread):


TIR on the right


Also another personal observation I made is the light seems a little more Halide-like wrt shimmer. The Radion always had good shimmer but the new one seems to produce more of those light-shafts, not sure of the proper terminology, that halides do. Halides produce those well defined light shafts that you can see from surface to sand and I think the new lenses play with the surface agitation much more so like a halide now IMHO.

i notice that the spread is more uniformed now with the tir lenses. thanks for the pics and update.

lucifa

[AcroporAddict]

Yea, the light from the TIRs looks like a single point source more than it did with the stock lenses.

[E.intheC]

This is an excellent thread. Tons of great information here.

I have read about 20-25 pages (not consecutive, but random) so far, and have yet to see an answer to my (dumb) question.. To setup the Radions.. Do you need to have a computer connected, or can they be turned on and set to run on Ecotech created settings?

[BrklynArch]

Originally Posted by E.intheC

This is an excellent thread. Tons of great information here.

I have read about 20-25 pages (not consecutive, but random) so far, and have yet to see an answer to my (dumb) question.. To setup the Radions.. Do you need to have a computer connected, or can they be turned on and set to run on Ecotech created settings?

no you dont need a computer you can plug them right in and use the presets that come pre programmed however i dont think you can access any of the other features.

[ScottB]

Originally Posted by BrklynArch

no you dont need a computer you can plug them right in and use the presets that come pre programmed however i dont think you can access any of the other features.

If I remember correctly, it comes out of the box in Basic mode. The is 12kk color (all colors @ 100%) and at 100% overall intensity. You can turn it on and off manually or plug it in to a timer. You don't get intensity ramps or color choice.

[E.intheC]

Originally Posted by BrklynArch

no you dont need a computer you can plug them right in and use the presets that come pre programmed however i dont think you can access any of the other features.

Thanks for the reply!

Originally Posted by ScottB

If I remember correctly, it comes out of the box in Basic mode. The is 12kk color (all colors @ 100%) and at 100% overall intensity. You can turn it on and off manually or plug it in to a timer. You don't get intensity ramps or color choice.

Thanks! So it looks like you do need a computer to get the light going as I wont be able to run the light at full intensity.

ScottB... I see you have a 60 cube. How many Radions are you using?

[ScottB]

Originally Posted by E.intheC

ScottB... I see you have a 60 cube. How many Radions are you using?

Just one. It does a great job, and I can't see a real need in my case for two. However, I get the sense that the new TIR lenses will fill in all the low light areas around my overflow. I have a set on order.

[E.intheC]

That's awesome. I have a 60 cube as well, and really only have the budget for one. Glad to hear that it's working well for you. I'm sure the new lenses will be a nice improvement for you. They look great in the pics above.