Im done with LED, need help from experienced T5 users.

[Vaughn17]

if lights are more than adequate you gotta chuck nutrients at it and keep alk around 11. otherwise... youll get decent growth and itll trudge along. but nothing to brag about right?

im so demotivated with the other players im not even trying. i even fragged my frag. lol

that all to the side.

keep nutrients available if you have powerful light. and keep alk elevated. it is a bit of a gamble if you arent on top of it. but those lights are solid.

Thanks, Russ!

 

[rovster]

If corals are slowly dying you're doing it wrong. Lots of successful Radion tanks. A swap in lighting will not cure problems unless your Radions are just not set right. I'm not an LED fanboy and admit MH and T5 does have its advantages, but those advantages can only be appreciated by someone that is successful with SPS and can appreciate certain nuances.

 

[Russ265]

If corals are slowly dying you're doing it wrong. Lots of successful Radion tanks. A swap in lighting will not cure problems unless your Radions are just not set right. I'm not an LED fanboy and admit MH and T5 does have its advantages, but those advantages can only be appreciated by someone that is successful with SPS and can appreciate certain nuances.

think rovster nailed it. lots of great tanks with radion. they arent junk lights by any means.

pictures would be worth thousand words though. hard to discern what "looking like crap" means.

pale? brown? washed out?
just too many variables

 

[rovster]

Of course I nailed it, I run radions after all (disclaimer with T5 but that came later). Couple of growth shots....
















Granted colors can always be better....

 

[JMLewis]

If corals are slowly dying you're doing it wrong. Lots of successful Radion tanks. A swap in lighting will not cure problems unless your Radions are just not set right. I'm not an LED fanboy and admit MH and T5 does have its advantages, but those advantages can only be appreciated by someone that is successful with SPS and can appreciate certain nuances.

Yea I really don't think I'm "doing it wrong". I think without a PAR meter these lights are very difficult to dial in. I've successfully kept sps for over a decade and never had these types of issues.

I have ordered my first Triton test to see if somethings off that I can't test for, my only other theory is the Marine Pure blocks that have been in the tank possibly leaching aluminum. As I've read they've done in other tanks. I took the blocks out 2 weeks ago and have done 2 50% water changes since then and things are looking a little bit better.

I'm happy they work for you, and it might be fine if I could add some t5 but without a canopy that's simply not feasible for my situation.

 

[rovster]

I wasn't trying to offend anyone. In my experience there are 2 keys with radions.

1. If you don't know then start with a proven program.

2. Start at 35-40% and increase 5% every 2-3 weeks until you find the sweet spot.

If everything else is in place it WILL WORK. If it doesn't like I said something is wrong.

 

[JMLewis]

I wasn't trying to offend anyone. In my experience there are 2 keys with radions.

1. If you don't know then start with a proven program.

2. Start at 35-40% and increase 5% every 2-3 weeks until you find the sweet spot.

If everything else is in place it WILL WORK. If it doesn't like I said something is wrong.

No your good man, no offense taken at all. Appreciate the help!

My frustrations are 100% with the Radions.

 

[bhuyett]

Curious how high up are your SPS located?

 

[JMLewis]

Curious how high up are your SPS located?

The highest up is about 6 inches from the surface of the water, my lowest sps is around 12" from the surface.

 

[feh]

moving the fixture forward and angling it back can help with shadowing. i set mine up with a PAR meter in similar size tank and a single radion g3 pro. i cut my hiurs back to 9 from 12 and bumped intensity up. not getting 300 on sandbed yet. but i do keep my sticks in 300+ PAR ranges.

 

[JMLewis]

So I'm definitely starting to attribute my issues to something other than the Radion. Whatever it is, its something I can't personally test for. So I have a Triton test on the way so I'll know more in a couple weeks. But I have my suspicions.

For the past 4 months I've been running one of the 8 x 8 x 4 Marine Pure blocks and I think it's leaching unwanteds into the tank.

3 weeks ago I removed the block and have done 2 x 50% water changes a week apart as well as a 20% water change last night. As of last night i was observing everything and am seeing signs of new growth and a bit more coloration. The first positive sign I've seen in months! Ironically of course after I ripped on the LEDs...

Regardless I'm still going to make a move away from the Radion. Mostly due to the shadowing which has always bothered me. The tank is rimless so no canopy to presentably add T5s into.

So this weekend I ordered a 6 x 24w ATI SunPower dimmable fixture and 2 Reefbrite LEDS to attach to it as well as the controller that I can control via my Apex.

Gonna take pictures tonight to document the differences.

 

[JMLewis]

moving the fixture forward and angling it back can help with shadowing. i set mine up with a PAR meter in similar size tank and a single radion g3 pro. i cut my hiurs back to 9 from 12 and bumped intensity up. not getting 300 on sandbed yet. but i do keep my sticks in 300+ PAR ranges.

I've actually done that but then the backsides of the sticks get no lighting. I'm still gonna hang onto my Radion for a future frag tank.

 

[rovster]

How is your light mounted? For the best finished look with adding T5 gutting an old t5 fixture is best. I used black anodized tubing to make a custom rack. It's no giesemann but looks decent.

 

[JerryO]

Does anyone also have experience with mounting AI Hydras just 2-3 inches above the water surface? One of my favorite tanks is my little 29gal JBJ Nano LED. I found a guy in colorado who sells individual 3 watt LED Diodes that I soldered on myself so I now have a much better spectrum now that it's not all white diodes. I also have an older JBJ with Power Compacts that I would love to take out of the attic and slap the AI Hydra 26 and mount into the existing hood. Anyone ever try to mount these low to the water line instead of the 8-10 inches that are recommended? At least I think that's what is recommended?

 

[hart24601]

One thing I want to add, I agree with the post that many people are too scared about nuking their corals. I think this happend a lot with diy fixtures when LEDs where getting started and now people are scared of the stores. Not that it doesn't happen, but I like my acro to be in 300 par min of led light up to 700-1000. I jab a frogspawn in nearly 800. It does like a bit lower though.

Big key with that is flow. You need a ton. I rarely hear people say flow with PAR, but corals dissipate light energy with heat, you need a lot of low with big par. I have over 120x turnover with the above numbers. Also some studies with coral and bleaching indicated that low pH below 8 can have significant bleaching impact, these all can tie together with our systems.

 

[ajcanale]

Just gonna throw in my 2 cents.

Setup (same system, both tanks plummed together), relatively low nutrients, and on the low end of elemental balance. 7.8-8.2 dkh, 400-410 Ca, 1300-1350mg are my target numbers.
Tank 1: 5' x 2' x 2' - ATI dimmable sunpower 8-bulb 48" (4 B+, 2 Actinic, 1 P+, 1 C+) and 2 reefbrite royal blue strips.
Tank 2: 3' x 2' x 1.5' - 3 x Radion Gen2 Pro. Ramp up in Coral Radiance, Max at 46% 18k for 4.5 hours, Ramp down in Coral Radiance into dusk mode (100% RB, 70%UV @ 50% intensity for a couple hours)

Colors stay relatively uniform between the different tanks within most acros. Radion's absolutely pull out more yellow in quite a few acros (RR: US Pink Floyd, US Wolverine, CA Wolverine...etc) T5's seem to bring out richer blues and purple, and bring out more uniform coloration in Rainbow acros (Walt, Vivid Rainbow, PC Rainbow, PC Superman, RR Fruitopia) whereas Radions tend to pull out a color or two that dominate.

In my experience and opinion, both are awesome and completely viable forms of light for growing and coloring SPS corals. Both have strengths and weaknesses. Radions are $$$$ up front, overpowered while being underspread, but feature incredible control and variability which can make them difficult to properly dial in. To me, they provide an undeniably better actinic viewing experience. T5's on the other hand are cheaper up front but obviously have maintenance costs with replacing bulbs, but are plug and play in terms of setting up, in comparison to Radions. They have absolutely more uniform coverage and PAR distribution and seem to pull out uniform colors.

I could be wrong but I would guess that you have either poor spread, or too high of intensity, or both. Either way if you decide to switch I don't think you will be disappointed. Both are great IMO.

 

[Roberts reef]

I'm sold on radion LEDs solved my heating up problems and lowered the hydro costs

 

[DurocShark]

That's the problem, I don't have a PAR meter. Need to look around and see if I can borrow one somewhere.

If I missed the solution to this, I apologize. But you can borrow my Seneye if you want. I'm in Anaheim.

 

[DurocShark]

I'm sold on radion LEDs solved my heating up problems and lowered the hydro costs

Heat and lack of control is why I moved away from a T5/Halide rig. Especially since I don't have a chiller (it's on the list, but well...)

 

[Robthorn]

So sorry so many people try radion. My leds of a different brand are doing well. Radions are tough but can be made to work. I am adding 4 t5 just to see what a hybrid will do.