Question about Radion G6 XR15/30 Blue Vs. Pro difference.

[EpisodeMnH]

I’m about to finally pull the trigger on some Radions and I was curious, do the Pros also have the actinic lighting like the Blues or are those exclusive to the Blues? I’m leaning more towards the Pros, but if the actinic lighting is exclusive to the Blues, I just might have to do those instead.

 

[brrdawg]

I have the pros. From what I understand the pros have less Blue lights and the pros have more white and other colors. You can absolutely get that actinic look from the pros though. Also if you were to go one or the other there is a kit switch them later down the road. I would say go pro unless you just only want more blues. Awesome light. I love it.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

Radion Pros are really made for SPS dominant tanks. If you have a lot of Softies or LPS, then I would go with the blues unless you just like the whiter look. Here is the LED layout with both fixtures.

Pro G6:

Blue G6

 

[mudjawd]

I was running AB+ on my AI prime 16 HD on my 20 gallon. I ordered a XR15 pro as I plan to go for SPS tank sometimes next year. I’ve heard that the AB+ is available for Pro as well but maybe not that blue.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

You can absolutely run AB+ on the Pro. It was developed on a Pro fixture.

 

[oreo54]

I was running AB+ on my AI prime 16 HD on my 20 gallon. I ordered a XR15 pro as I plan to go for SPS tank sometimes next year. I’ve heard that the AB+ is available for Pro as well but maybe not that blue.

Major difference is the blue is ab+ " out of the box" so to speak.
With the pro you will sacrifice some par adjusting the " whiter" spectrum to be more ab+ like.


Totals of " non-blue (other than blue or lower nm's) 34-14 (used to create the ab+) = 20 "extra" non- blue diodes in the pro.

There is a minor difference in the " blue" part

Pro ratio of rb to blue is 2:1 Blue is 1:1
Slightly more violet at 430 nm on the blue.

Considerations if you want to exactly match the blue tone between the 2.

 

[EpisodeMnH]

I ended up going with 2 Blues. I seesawed for a good 6 hours before clicking the order button, watching comparison videos and whatnot, and everything said that they’re equal in terms of performance, but that it ultimately comes down to simple aesthetic preferences. Me, I’m a sucker for that glowing fluorescent POP, so if I want to achieve that at it’s strongest effect, the Blues just seemed like a no brainer. The only lights the Pro has that the Blue doesn’t at all are the few green ones, but to my understanding, it’s a mostly unused spectrum anyways. The Blues have all the others in equal or lesser amounts. I currently run 2 Fluval Marine 3.0s, and I run 100% Blue, Purple, and Cyan, and then 5% Pink and White. Granted they’re way less powerful so I’ll have to adjust the Radions differently, but it still stands that I run very low white anyways, so doubling up the whites just didn’t make sense to me when I run them so low. With 2 Blues running, I still have 12 different whites between the 2 of them, so I’m sure I can dial in enough white to prevent that blue overwash look where it looks *too* blue.

Sidenote, I think “Pro” is a misleading name. It gives the illusion that the Pro is the optimal/superior model and the Blue is a step below it, although the prices are the same. It should be called the Radion Reef or Radion Organic or something. Just my 2 cents.