Wes

So I finally decided to take the plunge into LEDs and after much debate I have chosen Ecotech Radion Pros. I picked up a couple Gen 1 standard models back in October but they didnt seem like enough for my tank so I went ahead and upgraded them to Pros in November. So what I have now is three Radion Pro Gen 2s over my 210 gallon mixed reef which replaced my three 14k Phoenix 250 watt Metal Halides.

The used lights actually came with the hanging kits but since I was using my existing canopy I did not want to drill holes to hang them and instead decided to build a rack. To do this I drew up the specs for an EZ Tube set up and sent it over to them to be cut, filed, and shipped out. It took less than a week and has worked out very well. Here is my drawing, and as you can see they sent out all the pieces nicely bundled and cut to length so you just had to assemble them.

Assembly was really easy. All you need is some space to lay everything out and a good ole rubber mallet. You want to be sure not to hammer them too hard though as it is just aluminum. My particular set up was already configured to accept the 6' rack so I planned this one to be the same width so it would slide in. I made three pockets with flanged edges to hold the LEDs so I could just set them in and not worry about them moving. There is a slight bowing in the middle since its a 6 foot span but not much.

The first thing I wanted to do when I got everything set up is to test out the PAR. Marc graciously let me borrow his quantum meter so I could get some numbers and I put together the following chart with each preset spectrum the Radions have. I also tested my metal halides so I could see the difference. Keep in mind, PAR for LEDs is slightly skewed because of difficulty measuring blue and these numbers are not adjusted for that (all readings are at 100%). The goal here was just to get an idea of what the lights put out. The rack places the lights 13" off the water, so I could get more out of them by lowering them but its too much light as it is. You can see how high it is in this pic and this chart shows the par numbers I collected.

To make sure I did not burn anything like too many seem to do, I started the lights out at just 10% intensity and set them to a 4 week acclimation to 50%. The whole process was easy and worked out well with no sign of any bleaching. I left the lights at 50% for a couple weeks and then ran a one week acclimation to 60% where I currently am. I may eventually get them up to around 80% or so depending on how the corals respond in the coming months. Here is a full tank shot today, its a bit cloudy because I just finished a water change. This shot was as my lights were ramping down for the day at around 40% power and at about an 18k.

So far, I am very happy with the lights. I have been able to tighten my temp range down to only a 1 degree swing and my PH swing has come down from .25 to only .1 but the heater is definitely working a lot more now. Every three hours to be exact. It will take a while to truly see how things respond, but the pop in colors would be hard to give up. Even the fish look better as I have never seen this orange in my Banana wrasse before. So far my corals are growing well and look great. The last pic here is just a birdsnest I happened to have pics of on my phone that shows the growth over time.

(Jan 12, Jan 27, Feb 16)

If you are considering LEDs, I would really suggest giving these guys a look. I have actually tried out AIs on the tank but didnt like the color. Marc lent me his Radion before I made my purchase and it really helped seal the deal. I am very happy I went with the Radions.