radion choices

rayn · Sep 1, 2014

I am going back and forth on which brand led light system to buy. I have looked into radion, AI, reef radiance, razor, or kessil. There are others I know.

Looking again today at the radion, I generally go straight to the two puck design...now the xr30w. Is this so much better then the xr15w? I get the two puck versus one puck, but they say up to 80 gallons. So if you ran two, that should be good for 160 gallons...right? Or am I not thinking correctly about spread here.

PapaDragon · Sep 1, 2014

Rayn I went through the same issue for the last three months and it's way more complicated than puck/gallon. I eventually went with Kessil.

Jc_ellis · Sep 1, 2014

I love my radion and am in the process of getting two more for the next tank. Generally, the 2 puck radions will provide good par across a 24 inch square over a tank that is 24 inches deep or less. So, a 4 ft tank would need two, a 6 ft tank, 3, etc...

rayn · Sep 1, 2014

Thank you both. Papa, why did you go kessil? JC, that makes sense on the spread issue.

PapaDragon · Sep 1, 2014

rayn said:
Thank you both. Papa, why did you go kessil? JC, that makes sense on the spread issue.

When I started looking I was only considering Radions or Hydra 52's. Kessils were not on my list at all and I think that is because somehow Ecotech and AI became the LED lights that true Reefers use. I do believe not all LEDs are created equal, but I was surprised to learn that the major brands all use the same type of LEDs (Cree) and optics. Kessils were the only manufacturer that designed there own LEDs. Now that in itself is not a reason to trust them with your aquarium, but it is something you should look at.

I went with KESSILS for two things. First, I have no doubt radions are great lights and if you go with them you will be happy. For me the Kessil provided the best value. I watched hours of reviews online, went to a LFS that used them to see how they looked in person, and I was able to get advice on reef2reef. I just didn't see how the Ecotech or AI's could justify the price. LEDs are still evolving and I just didn't want to invest a small fortune into something that might be obsolete in a few years. I was able to get three lights and all the accessories for $1300. For Ecotech or AI's I was looking at about $2000 just for lights. Hanging kits and cable's were going to be another $300 easy. I wasn't interested in paying for a name. The other reason was these lights look awesome and grow corals like crazy.

rs1831 · Sep 2, 2014

PapaDragon said:
When I started looking I was only considering Radions or Hydra 52's. Kessils were not on my list at all and I think that is because somehow Ecotech and AI became the LED lights that true Reefers use. I do believe not all LEDs are created equal, but I was surprised to learn that the major brands all use the same type of LEDs (Cree) and optics. Kessils were the only manufacturer that designed there own LEDs. Now that in itself is not a reason to trust them with your aquarium, but it is something you should look at.

I went with KESSILS for two things. First, I have no doubt radions are great lights and if you go with them you will be happy. For me the Kessil provided the best value. I watched hours of reviews online, went to a LFS that used them to see how they looked in person, and I was able to get advice on reef2reef. I just didn't see how the Ecotech or AI's could justify the price. LEDs are still evolving and I just didn't want to invest a small fortune into something that might be obsolete in a few years. I was able to get three lights and all the accessories for $1300. For Ecotech or AI's I was looking at about $2000 just for lights. Hanging kits and cable's were going to be another $300 easy. I wasn't interested in paying for a name. The other reason was these lights look awesome and grow corals like crazy.

What size tank do you have? Do you have any photos of your set up with the kessils? Thanks!