Radion Xr30 Pro G5

[Salty Cracker]

Forgot to take a pic of the new build, but meh, it's just bulbs.

The difference in the tank is incredible. The Radion is quite a bit more green/white than my lights, which are mostly blue (there is a white/green set that comes on for a couple of hours in the morning, makes the tank look kind of yellow, but maybe good for some corals who knows). Now I did take a good pic on my slr of the tank just before the radion went in, I'll take an updated pic tomorrow when all the "new" fixtures are running.

Corals have responded well to the mix of new radion and much more flow (added an MP60 a little while ago). I really hadn't noticed the dark colour of the rocks lately, I'm thinking it was the aging lights, so I'm going to have to remember to just replace all these bulbs again in 5 years (cost about $550 for 100 bulbs and a few extras).

I had forgotten just how nice some of this sps is... I have some pieces that were sort of exploding, but I wasn't thinking they looked good. With the new lights I see they are actually looking really good. I had planned on just hacking the colonies down and discarding, but now I might actually be able to frag them up and offer some nice pieces again.

That said, anyone have a frag of sunset millie??

 

[Salty Cracker]

So after about ~7 months with the radion, I have decided I really don't care for it. I've been fighting a weird algae on the substrate that I've never had before, and showed up shortly after I started running the radions. Coincidence maybe, but phosphates in the tank are in parts per billion, and I feed only about twice a week, so it's very likely feeding off the light. As well, the colour is just too light for my liking. I'd want to hack it and put in a lot more blue and some better UV, but of course you get what you get.

When this fixture konks out I'll go back to DIY without question. Much more control on colour, they can be fixed easily, I have a choice of components, etc etc. For what they charge, and considering I'd need 3 to completely cover a 6' tank, they just don't make any sense (to me), because I can just make my own (and had better coral results).

IF I get to moving, and IF I set up another tank when I get to wherever I'm going, I'll go with:
~150 LEDs, mostly royal blue, some UV, and a spattering of whites. I just don't see the purpose for greens and reds. I'd do them in banks, with them coming on incramentally, with the UVs and whites on from 11am-1pm only, "high noon". I would also add 2-4 T5s, and who knows since they're so cheap I might add in a couple of the small MH bulbs for maybe 1 hour a day.

Without question metal halides can grow incredible sps. It's more dark and rich, less florescent than I kind of prefer, but a lot of people really like that look (I prefer the neon eyeball fest that is glowing sps under royal blues). BUT they cost a ton in electricity and bulb replacement costs, so that's why we are trying to get by with LED. You can definitely grow coral with LED too, I've been doing it for ~10 years, and only recently added in 2x T5s "just because" (I didn't notice any difference at all really).

If you can do it, I highly suggest you try DIY on your tank, even if you just start making some actinic strips or something simple. I will say without question that without LEDs it's almost impossible to get that glow-in-the-dark look to sps. You can sort of do it with T5s and ultra ultra purple bulbs, but nothing at all like royal blues.

Just my take on the fixture. I feel I paid about 2x more than I should have for what I got. It was neat to have a plug n play unit at first, but over time I've taken to cutting back the radion to just a few hours for the "high noon" lights, and for that, I could have gotten a MH, 10 years of electricity costs, and a couple of replacement bulbs for the price of this thing.

Buy DIY and spend the real money on a good skimmer or a tank controller. In my eyes those are much more deserving of the $$$.




I'm not looking to sell the radion, and I don't hate it, I just think the hype is way overrated once the initial wow factor fades.

 

[Jason Bell]

Good write up, I have never owned one of those units. I always ran MH, then MH/T5 combo then just straight T5 (loved that). For the past few years been using AI units and plan to start off the new tank with 5 Hydra 52 units, after that I am conflicted. My friend who supplies me with coral uses T5 and Orphek LED bars, makes things really pop. I have thought about adding the T5 hybrid (Aquatic Life) with the Hydras, but also thinking of 3 Orphek V4 to cover the tank. The ATI Straton looks really nice, but availability is limited...

Where do you typically order your LED's from? I did once get from Rapid LED, not sure if that is still an option.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I still get all my LEDs from rapid. 10 years on and I'm still a fan of their LEDs. Thing is, I get that it's not an option for everyone (DIY), although it really should be. I was changing my oil in the garage yesterday and 2 different people stopped to chat and said "why don't you just pay someone to do that?", and I said "because this way I know I'm getting what I paid for". The DIY urge seems to be leeching out of our society, which really is a shame. Personally I think it's because they don't teach shop and home ec to kids anymore (at least here in the city they don't), kids don't get that whole "oh, I can MAKE something? thing. How many people under 30 even know how to weld 2 pieces of steel together? I'll bet in the 1950s everyone knew how to weld (even a lot of the women!). Wow, this turned into a ramble real quick lol.

but yes, rapid still supplies lights and drivers, and their heatsinks are now way slicker than they were when I started (I think I had to drill and tap the holes in my first sinks from them).


This is not to say there aren't other choices out there that work, I'm just saying is that I have seen no reason to change, and they're all I'm familiar with. As well, I am a fan of "ULN SPS", where coral is very pale, the algae feeding them is starved, so they have to create colour to enhance photosynthesis. I read about it years ago when I was following german reefers (those germans know their stuff), but it was really difficult to do until GFO and high output sub 400nM bulbs were available.

As a weird aside, even though the phenomenon had been known for years (and honestly I think it's more of a healthy natural state for coral than dark algae-rich), opinion publications like cnn like to blame "global warming" when it happens. I believe this is because governments can tax "carbon" emissions, but can't tax sea-garbage (yet). https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/21/world/colorful-coral-bleaching-climate-scn/index.html they call it bleaching, which couldn't be farther from the truth, except that it is a layman descriptor of what is happening. Par for the course when it comes to cnn accuracy unfortunately. I'm half surprised they didn't just blame Trump for it (but that's a whole 'nother conversation)

 

[Jason Bell]

I wouldn't mind trying a smaller DIY for the 16g bio-cube. See how it goes and expand perhaps from there. I had a Red Sea max with DIY leds and that tank was great.

I have a couple co-op kids at the shop now that are eager to learn, which is refreshing. I have a young lady starting end of April that is also wanting to learn and get in to a trade. Far and few between I will say.

I am not one to get in to politics much, most of my views are far from right or left, life experience I guess shapes that.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I wouldn't mind trying a smaller DIY for the 16g bio-cube. See how it goes and expand perhaps from there. I had a Red Sea max with DIY leds and that tank was great.

I have a couple co-op kids at the shop now that are eager to learn, which is refreshing. I have a young lady starting end of April that is also wanting to learn and get in to a trade. Far and few between I will say.

I am not one to get in to politics much, most of my views are far from right or left, life experience I guess shapes that.

that's the thing, at our core I think almost all of us are centrists, but opinion outlets like cnn/cbc/fox work really hard to drive wedges between us, get us all upset. Don't get me wrong, once I move out to the woods I won't be reading another political commentary piece again if I can avoid it. The internet will be only for what it was designed for: pirating movies and looking at porn. Ahhh the simpler times I just want to rebuild old musclecars, this partisan stuff drives me nuts

I'm quite sure you could handle the diy, I mean, some of it is plug n play, but the tricky part is soldering, and I have to assume you can solder I mean, it's a driver plugged into the wall, then it's just a matter of watching polarity (or just plugging in for the non soldered bulbs), and then figuring out a timer (a simple AC timer would work). When I ran MH and T5's you could tell when the bulbs were getting long in the tooth, the corals would start to let you know, but knock on wood, I had my last led's running for 8 years, and I only swapped them out because it was a new build/fresh start. The sps were still doing fine.

I've found the secret to really stunning coral is to a) uv soak them b) remove phosphates c) dose trace elements and/or mega water changes. Shooter is a great example of someone without a sump, with WAY too many corals (yes I'm talking to you shooter), but generally a really good water change regimen. His corals look fantastic (and crowded). I had been neglecting the trace elements until recently, and grabbed up on some reef roids to really coax out the polyps. I'm thinking that in a month or so I should have my mega colour corals back (I used to do that to sell frags, I could get the new growth tips to look insane), but now I'm just doing it to see what I can get out of them.

....still rather be in a heated garage with the tunes cranked dropping the transmission out of a '68 camaro!!!!

 

[Jason Bell]

My basic belief is everyone is on their own, do your thing without harming others, do more for your siblings that what you had, help those that truly need it and not want help cause it is free. Would be great if everything was just on trade, good barter system.

I have not soldered anything for a while, but have everything in that area covered. Those LEDs in the RedSea are still running, gave that tank to my buddy and he has it up and going today. Little did he know I just wanted him addicted to salt as much as myself.

For water changes I currently do 25g weekly on my 120, with the new one I am planning on 5g per day running through Apex with the DOS. I figure I will chart the CALC ALK MAG with my Trident and see how the swings are. I would like to get to bi-weekly 25g which in my eyes would really be cleaning the sump and filling it back up, better if I could get away with that monthly, but that is just too much time away from the guts for me.

How about installing a transmission....

 

[Salty Cracker]

LOL! You sir are alright in my book. THAT is a transmission. I think we probably look at the world the same way more or less, and life is just simpler when you're trying to figure out rocker ratios and chasing down water pump leaks. Is that engine new or a rebuild?? Damn, I'm more interested in that than coral right now lol.

With water changes that large, you shouldn't have to dose alk/calc/mag, it should be replenished by the salt, the trouble comes if you neglect it for a bit and the levels drop (we're all guilty of it). Calcium wil precipitate out, so 'too much' isn't always bad, but alk you have to monitor for sure. Mag, I just add 10ml once a week and hope for the best.

 

[Jason Bell]

That is an LS crate motor with a few tweeks, Miami GT kit car.

The DOS will cover the changes automatically and I certainly will make the time to refill the bins. When I did the floors upstairs and renovations on the basement I neglected the weekly water changes for that period. I am still paying for it now, true what they say, nothing good happens fast, but wow does it turn bad quickly.

I am painfully ensuring this time around that no matter how busy I get there will always be a decent volume of saltwater ready and the easier I make it the more likely I am to do it. I guess that is the same with everything.

Since Neptune released a fuge light I can only imagine it won't be long before they have an LED available. I was up to Adaptive Reef the other week and the new products from various vendors was stunning. EcoTech Marine will drop the Marine from their logo, so that change had to be made on my tank skin, which should be ready 2 weeks from today!