ATI Straton LED Light - Comments, Review, PAR, Coverage, Discuss...

[nornicle]

Photos under blues but I marked them up with @ 85% on LPS/ SPS and 100% on SPS Plakativ.

I don’t know what other people’s experiences were but I was getting 700 PAR about 10” down in the water, with the panels 6” off the surface (3 next to each other over a 5’ tank). Hope this helps. measured with a Apogee 510 that I rented from the LFS.

 

[Chad3407]

Photos under blues but I marked them up with @ 85% on LPS/ SPS and 100% on SPS Plakativ.

I don’t know what other people’s experiences were but I was getting 700 PAR about 10” down in the water, with the panels 6” off the surface (3 next to each other over a 5’ tank). Hope this helps. measured with a Apogee 510 that I rented from the LFS.

I saw the tank was 5 foot. What about depth and height?

 

[nornicle]

I saw the tank was 5 foot. What about depth and height?

30” wide 24” tall

 

[ScottB]

I have mine running over the Red Sea 525L which is 58" long. DIY T-slot aluminum rack to hang them. These replaced a Sunpower T5 8 X 80 watt.

Running at 70% peak LPS setting and 9" off water level they match my previous PAR.

I've had a small (10%) bump in ALK consumption but seems to have leveled off now. I am a fan.

 

[HolySmoke]

I have mine running over the Red Sea 525L which is 58" long. DIY T-slot aluminum rack to hang them. These replaced a Sunpower T5 8 X 80 watt.

Running at 70% peak LPS setting and 9" off water level they match my previous PAR.

I've had a small (10%) bump in ALK consumption but seems to have leveled off now. I am a fan.

I am dying to do more in depth par testing but have been swamped. @nornicle thank you that is helpful.

@ScottB really nice! Your mounting solution turned out awesome.

 

[Kyl]

Being told they're now back-ordered until June. Yikes..

 

[ScottB]

Being told they're now back-ordered until June. Yikes..

Bummer. Gonna slow this thread down a bit. Sorry.

Still very happy with mine. Ready to dial in some more PAR but have another build sucking my time & focus for a bit longer.

Hang in there folks.

 

[Kyl]

Considering I was told it would be early January when I put my request in, yeah, this kinda sucks butt.

 

[Jimbo327]

Do you guys think 2 Stratons over a 60"x30"x24" eurobraced tank would work? I want to go SPS on top. Do you think that would have gaps or shading? And how high and spaced apart would it need to be to make their max 30"x30" coverage work? Thanks.

 

[nornicle]

Do you guys think 2 Stratons over a 60"x30"x24" eurobraced tank would work? I want to go SPS on top. Do you think that would have gaps or shading? And how high and spaced apart would it need to be to make their max 30"x30" coverage work? Thanks.

That’s my tanks exact size and eurobrace. You could do two, but three will give you peace of mind of no shading and you only have to install once. I went three and couldn’t be happier.

 

[Quiverfull]

While waiting, can I ask what you do not like about them. So far it is hard to find any negatives except the price and availability. Seems like there were some comments about dialing them in/settings interface. I can’t imagine any system better with the research I have been doing. Planning to replace a. T5x2+250w MHx2 fixture over my 120g with 2 Stratton’s. I am hoping they are close in performance.
Greg

 

[ScottB]

Do you guys think 2 Stratons over a 60"x30"x24" eurobraced tank would work? I want to go SPS on top. Do you think that would have gaps or shading? And how high and spaced apart would it need to be to make their max 30"x30" coverage work? Thanks.

Agree with @nornicle that two will certainly work. You would need to play with a PAR meter and raise lower the fixture to optimize for your reef structure and coral placement. There are some posts earlier in the thread where folks were giving values at various heights. You will be pleased with how little light spill there is. I have a couch maybe 8-9 feet away and no trouble.

I put 3 over my 58X24X24 so they are a little tight together.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Great write up and review. Now I want 2 of these amazing lights.

 

[ScottB]

While waiting, can I ask what you do not like about them. So far it is hard to find any negatives except the price and availability. Seems like there were some comments about dialing them in/settings interface. I can’t imagine any system better with the research I have been doing. Planning to replace a. T5x2+250w MHx2 fixture over my 120g with 2 Stratton’s. I am hoping they are close in performance.
Greg

My major complaint was the lack of mounting options. Their new rail mounting product should (when available here) resolve that. I did a DIY with 20/20 which is acceptable.

A few folks struggled to get connected and get the firmware properly upgraded. It took me a couple tries because I was not following the proper sequence. I documented that sequence up above somewhere and that seemed to help a few strugglers.

As to the UI, if you just choose one of the presets it is pretty straightforward. If you are going to customize, you need to use a computer or iPad. Tuning each node on your phone is pretty tedious. It is a very different UI than AI or Ecotech, so it does take some time to adjust and make sense of it. I found that just tinkering/watching was more productive than using the instructions.

 

[HolySmoke]

@Jimbo327 I would def start with two and you could add a third down the line if need be.

@Quiverfull So far I have absolutely no complaints with these lights. As @Scott b said the light spill isn't overpowering like many other LEDs on the market because of the large footprint. G5 radion needed to throw light everywhere to reflect as much light as possible because of the small footprint. It does it really really well but at a cost IMHO.

If I had to say one thing to add/consider. Top down photography isn't as easy as with my Radions. The color preview times out and it will revert back to your schedule pretty quickly. Also par fall off around the edges of the light is a TOUCH higher than I would have liked but I actually prefer it over the radions because I do enjoy a good mixed reef. It makes it easier to blast acros and keep some lower light stop around the edge of the tank. Even deep water acros. I have noticed that corals are growing and coloring a lot better under this light at lower par than previous fixtures I have had for what it's worth. I attribute this to high PUR and t5 throws a lot of par in the unusable green yellow spectrum. Just my observations so far but 400 par t5 and 300 par straton coloration is almost indistinguishable. One of Dana Riddles videos touches on this subject pretty well.

@Kyl
Amazon 2 available marked up $100
Exotic reefs in jersey says they have some but I would call and double check.

 

[Kyl]

I am not playing border games during covid (Canada), just wish DE would get it together as this is going beyond container delays at this point.

 

[Quiverfull]

Great! thanks for both of your input. @HolySmoke, I did see the fixtures available on Amazon but could not see who the actual seller was and that made me a bit nervous. At that price point, $100 per may be worth it given the difficulty getting them if the seller was reputable.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Agree with starting with 2. Realizing that everyone tends to want to tell everyone how great their lights are; after owning Radions and Orpheks, these lights are definitely a step above. It took me 3 months just to dial in the increased demand for Alk and Ca which I can only conclude is from the increased growth from corals. I also found these very simple to install and program.

 

[ATI North America]

Great! thanks for both of your input. @HolySmoke, I did see the fixtures available on Amazon but could not see who the actual seller was and that made me a bit nervous. At that price point, $100 per may be worth it given the difficulty getting them if the seller was reputable.

FWIW this dealer has not received any fixtures from our distributor, however they could have purchased them from a secondary distributor like BRS, MD, Champion, Premium etc. They would have paid a premium to do so since they could have used our distributor for the same price the "big boys" pay.

 

[HolySmoke]

Agree with starting with 2. Realizing that everyone tends to want to tell everyone how great their lights are; after owning Radions and Orpheks, these lights are definitely a step above. It took me 3 months just to dial in the increased demand for Alk and Ca which I can only conclude is from the increased growth from corals. I also found these very simple to install and program.

@OLDREEFER44 I couldn't agree more. I have had to increase dosing daily and I removed so much corraline algae to boot. I have never tried orphek V4s but have tried a bunch of LED fixtures and I don't think there is a single LED that could compete with the straton on a Display tank. MAYBE Phillips but the sleekness of the Straton must be seen in person to truly appreciate.