I am currently running an ecotech radion xr30w gen 2 over a 29 tall. I have a few sps pieces in there and am experiencing shadowing on the underneath side of the coral which i do not like at all. Anyone else have this issue with the radion? I have the light 9" above the water line which is recommended by ecotech. I am also in the middle of an sps dominated 180 gallon reef build and am planning on running the ecotech radion xr30w pros. Since I am experiencing shadowing in my 29 gallon, I can only expect the same outcome with the pros on the 180. To eliminate,or atleast help, I'm going to supplement with a diy t5 kit. Anyone else do this to help with the shadowing effect of LEDs?
Radion shadowing sps
- Thread starter M_norrick
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twilliard
Tank pests..
Do you know what lenses the light uses? Looks a little narrow
Have you tried raising the light fixture?
If you have a PAR meter and are able to raise it that would help out a lot.
Have you tried raising the light fixture?
If you have a PAR meter and are able to raise it that would help out a lot.
Mark426
Community Member
Shadowing the nature of LEDs. Supplementing with T5 helps and is the way to go your larger tank. The shadowing will be greatly reduced.
EcoTech has both narrow and wide angle lenses. The wide angle lenses will increase the coverage and eliminate the hot spots but with a pretty good hit on the par numbers (about 40% less). Still will have some shadowing on the underside without the T5 you are considering.
EcoTech has both narrow and wide angle lenses. The wide angle lenses will increase the coverage and eliminate the hot spots but with a pretty good hit on the par numbers (about 40% less). Still will have some shadowing on the underside without the T5 you are considering.
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I switched to t5s after 3 years of radion pro. The shadowing and lack of spread did me in. In only 5 days corals that were not directly under the radion have begun to color up. I'm not bashing the radion---the corals directly underneath looked incredible, but I don't buy the 24 by 24 inch spread that ecotech states...for me it was about 15 by 15.
eg8r210
Well-Known Member
You will have shadowing with any and all lights. If the light is blocked shadowing will happen, it even happens to our sun. To fix this you can use wide angle lens, raise the light up and turn up the intensity so that your PAR numbers don't take as big of a hit. You can also add more LED lights. Every LFS I go to that sells radions perpetuates the myth that one fixture is the equivalent of a MH but this simply is not true when the MH reflector is taken into account. The MH reflectors bounce the light in all directions which drastically reduces the amount of shadowing in the tank.
Adam at Battle Corals runs LEDs all day long on his SPS tanks and I haven't heard him complain about shadowing issues. He mounts his fixtures high above the water and runs them at or near 100%. He has phenomenal success and his corals are the most colorful and healthy SPS you will find. If that isn't enough proof the LEDs work then go ahead and supplement with T5. You can't go wrong either way.
Adam at Battle Corals runs LEDs all day long on his SPS tanks and I haven't heard him complain about shadowing issues. He mounts his fixtures high above the water and runs them at or near 100%. He has phenomenal success and his corals are the most colorful and healthy SPS you will find. If that isn't enough proof the LEDs work then go ahead and supplement with T5. You can't go wrong either way.
Yea, shadowing stinks. Using one fixture with a single cluster of LEDs over a system or having the fixtures spaced out far so there is no overlap is going to have trouble eventually with large SPS colonies - It's really too bad the manufactures don't point this out more. With corals that can sway around it's not as bad, and with frags it doesn't matter, but IMO ideally you need a lot of fixture overlap from the sides and front/back. Of course it's not as bad with LED units that have the LEDs spread out like Build My Led, but that is the entire reason I am running 5 hydra 26s over a standard footprint 120...
Shadowing does happen with every lighting type, but small cluster LED fixtures are really bad with it if trying to stick with what the manufacture suggests for coverage.
Shadowing does happen with every lighting type, but small cluster LED fixtures are really bad with it if trying to stick with what the manufacture suggests for coverage.
I will try a wide angle lens and see if that helps a bit. Unfortunately I am limited to 9" of clearance between the light and water line. If all else fails with the 29 tall reef I will just make that my lps tank and move all sps over to the 180 where I have unlimited (to the ceiling anyways) clearance for lighting. Thanks for all the information everyone! This site is awesome!
