Best light option for SPS

[llutin]

Hello refers, I’m asking for for advice and opinions about Lights options for SPS Corals Tank:
I need to decide for the best Option for my SPS system:
my tank is 300 cms large, 70 wide and 60 depth. Total 450 Gal
only SPS corals

I can’t decide over this options:
Ecotech Radion Gen 6 Pro
Kessil AP9 x
Ati Straton pro 204


I appreciate and value your opinions very much because the investment in lighting systems is important and I want to make the best decision.

Happy Reefing

 

[Cichlid Dad]

If you look at what the Pros are using inc World Wide Coral Radions are the leader.

I ran them for awhile, as well as viparspectra 165s, but I am a T5 guy and went back to them

 

[doodledreads]

Highly recommend Reefi Uno 2

 

[DanyL]

If you look at what the Pros are using inc World Wide Coral Radions are the leader.

That’s the wrong take one can make from looking at coral farms. They’re essentially billboards for the highest bidders, which happens to be Ecotech.

They don’t even hide it, it’s been mentioned by quite a few farms in the past - companies subsidize both their equipment and supplements, especially for the more popular coral farms (i.e WWC, Tidal Gardens, etc).

This doesn’t mean they’ll use any equipment/products, obviously they’ll pick those that will work for them - but it also means that it isn’t necessary will be their “best choice” - it’s merely a cost effective business decision.

As for OP - yes, the Radions are nice lights, but they don’t worth their price tags like the other 2 on the list.

Personally I would consider either the ReeFi Uno 2 (in place of the Radions), the ATI Straton Pro, as well as the GHL Mitras.

These 3 options I mentioned above can all produce a wide, beefy spectrum in addition to high PAR and great spread - which an SPS dominated tank can highly benefit from.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

That’s the wrong take one can make from looking at coral farms. They’re essentially billboards for the highest bidders, which happens to be Ecotech.

They don’t even hide it, it’s been mentioned by quite a few farms in the past - companies subsidize both their equipment and supplements, especially for the more popular coral farms (i.e WWC, Tidal Gardens, etc).

This doesn’t mean they’ll use any equipment/products, obviously they’ll pick those that will work for them - but it also means that it isn’t necessary will be their “best choice” - it’s merely a cost effective business decision.

As for OP - yes, the Radions are nice lights, but they don’t worth their price tags like the other 2 on the list.

Personally I would consider either the ReeFi Uno 2 (in place of the Radions), the ATI Straton Pro, as well as the GHL Mitras.

These 3 options I mentioned above can all produce a wide, beefy spectrum in addition to high PAR and great spread - which an SPS dominated tank can highly benefit from.

Glad you have the need to promote your " opinion", but leave me out of it. Just voice what you believe.

 

[DanyL]

I honestly don’t see anything wrong with my comment above.

It isn’t my opinion when coral farms publicly admit it, and there’s nothing wrong with doing so either, in fact it makes perfect sense for companies to capitalize on this - but we should also take that into account when making decisions based on it.

Not sure why you would react like this, but I apologize if I articulated myself poorly.
English isn’t my main language, so I may have come across differently than what I intended to, and hopefully with the extra context it makes more sense now.

 

[slingfox]

That’s the wrong take one can make from looking at coral farms. They’re essentially billboards for the highest bidders, which happens to be Ecotech.

They don’t even hide it, it’s been mentioned by quite a few farms in the past - companies subsidize both their equipment and supplements, especially for the more popular coral farms (i.e WWC, Tidal Gardens, etc).

This doesn’t mean they’ll use any equipment/products, obviously they’ll pick those that will work for them - but it also means that it isn’t necessary will be their “best choice” - it’s merely a cost effective business decision.

As for OP - yes, the Radions are nice lights, but they don’t worth their price tags like the other 2 on the list.

Personally I would consider either the ReeFi Uno 2 (in place of the Radions), the ATI Straton Pro, as well as the GHL Mitras.

These 3 options I mentioned above can all produce a wide, beefy spectrum in addition to high PAR and great spread - which an SPS dominated tank can highly benefit from.

I was talking to the owner of a new LFS nearby. When he setup his shop he got super attractive pricing for Radion lighting. Not surprisingly, he went full Radions. Great light at a very attractive price so it was an easy business decision.

 

[Solo McReefer]

If you look at what the Pros are using inc World Wide Coral Radions are the leader.

Using the lights that the coral farmers use WWC etc

Is a good thing for at least 2 reasons

The corals will look like them when you get them in your tank

The coral is already acclimated to that light

Most name brand coral farmers use Radions in their production tanks

 

[Solo McReefer]

I have no problems with Ecotech giving farmers Radions

If they had to pay for them, that would just be added to the cost of the corals

Instead of to the the purchase price of the Radions

In the end, no matter what, the coral or light buyer is going to pay for those LEDs

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I honestly don’t see anything wrong with my comment above.

It isn’t my opinion when coral farms publicly admit it, and there’s nothing wrong with doing so either, in fact it makes perfect sense for companies to capitalize on this - but we should also take that into account when making decisions based on it.

Not sure why you would react like this, but I apologize if I articulated myself poorly.
English isn’t my main language, so I may have come across differently than what I intended to, and hopefully with the extra context it makes more sense now.

I apologize also, maybe don't quote someone and tell them there view or take on something is wrong when it is just that persons opinion on a question that has no right answer.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I use radions but added reef brites to them.

 

[Spare time]

What about combining the ATI with kessils?

 

[DanyL]

I apologize also, maybe don't quote someone and tell them there view or take on something is wrong when it is just that persons opinion on a question that has no right answer.

I can see how quoting you may have come off as personal. The “Wrong take” part of my comment wasn’t intended to be directed at you specifically, but more against the general notion of “the most popular product must also be the best”, which often don’t take into account the heavy marketing that comes along with it.

 

[Lavey29]

With a big SPS tank. I would use an LED and T5 combo such as XR30s with T5.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello refers, I’m asking for for advice and opinions about Lights options for SPS Corals Tank:
I need to decide for the best Option for my SPS system:
my tank is 300 cms large, 70 wide and 60 depth. Total 450 Gal
only SPS corals

I can’t decide over this options:
Ecotech Radion Gen 6 Pro
Kessil AP9 x
Ati Straton pro 204


I appreciate and value your opinions very much because the investment in lighting systems is important and I want to make the best decision.

Happy Reefing

Some of the best tanks ive seen utilize Radions but other viable options are Orpheks, and Mitra lighting as well as Reef Breeder Photons

 

[Lavey29]

And remember lighting is only one of the necessary components for a successful SPS tank

 

[cilyjr]

I have a large SPS aquarium,320 us gallons. Using a mixture of 4x 54 watt t5 and LED.

When I bought I had originally had 8 hydra 32hds. And although they got the job done, when I did some par testing, they were performing far below what I had assumed.

I switched them for 6 of the reefi uno 2.1 and find them a superior product. Having used them and compared them to the Radion. I find the actual light is a superior performing product. I will say the interface is not as polished as the ecotech environment. It's much easier to talk to them with a laptop or a computer instead of a mobile device.

The lights themselves are very nicely built. They use a piece of glass instead of plastic as the the lens shield, so it won't discolor over time. The box comes with both the 90° and 120° lens so you don't have to purchase them separately.

pricing on lighting and the reefi was significantly cheaper for a more powerful output than the Radion.

 

[DanyL]

I have no problems with Ecotech giving farmers Radions

If they had to pay for them, that would just be added to the cost of the corals

Instead of to the the purchase price of the Radions

In the end, no matter what, the coral or light buyer is going to pay for those LEDs

I can agree with the first two points you mentioned, and this one is an interesting one - but I don’t think it’ll be correct to assume that you’ll pay the same either way.

With this one we need to take into account economy of scale, and when we do we see that the end customers (you and me) who purchase the lights are likely to spend more than they would if the marketing portion of the price was spread across the total amount of frags sold by the farm in the time frame the subsidized lights are in service.

Real calculations of this would likely be impractical because we don’t have access to the numbers, but even by solely comparing the markup over the years (and yes - im aware that it always had a marketing portion in it) as well as the scale in size of the farms, the longevity of the lights (WWC still uses a good portion of their old G4s, as well as G5s) as well as the amounts, I would guess that to recoup the “marketing” portion of the cost (which also depends on how many units you buy), you’ll likely need to purchase a ridiculous amount of frags, probably more than you can fit in your tank (and yes - it scales along with your tank size, most likely exponentially).

This is also moot if you purchase a different light of course, and you may of course pay for marketing there too, or maybe it’ll get invested in more premium materials/design or simply pay less for the end product.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Any one of them will work. I would recommend using whichever fits the tank dimensions the best. If you are concerned with the "look" of them then the Stratons are the least obtrusive.

 

[Solo McReefer]

that you’ll pay the same either way.

I didn't write that

I wrote something different