ATI Straton Pro Reviews

[tankreefer]

Oh ok, I just picked up 2 ATi Straton gen 1 for my IM ext 170. I need one more, but decided to go with those since it looks like you have had great coral success with them and they seem to be up there with photons and reef as far as par goes, plus they look better. Any chance you can share your ATi light schedule with me.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Unless you’ve got big SPS colonies I think 2 can handle the tank for a little while. They handled the front to back spread well so 2 across the long side is basically the same as 1 coving the front to back. Using 3 is basically the same spread at T5 as the LEDs are edge to edge

I’ll make it simple: put UV and Violet at 50%,
Blue and Royal blue to 100%, cyan and red at zero and white at around 30-40% based on how white/blue you like it. I’ll start blue in the morning and evening but keep it like 14K all day. I have the overall intensity at 75-80% for 6 hours with long ramps (12 hours total illumination)

 

[tankreefer]

Hey just saw your YouTube video, sad to see your tanks go :( did you sell all the stratons off by chance? Or you going to keep those for the next build.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Hey just saw your YouTube video, sad to see your tanks go :( did you sell all the stratons off by chance? Or you going to keep those for the next build.

I saw going to keep them, but then decided to sell... so my local friend bought them off me. Reason being, I don't know what my tank(s) will look like when it's time to set up a big tank again and I don't know what new lighting options there will be. Maybe there will be straton Gen 3s or some other option that will work better for me.

 

[Beruka]

ATI seems to be missing target market a bit. OK this is near luxury pricing in flat routed aluminum fixture and heat sink seem well built.

BUT! The magic with ATI by luck or design was the gold standard 8 bulb 48" T5 fixture with 4 ATI Blue Plus, 2 Coral Plus, and then 2 Actinic Bulbs on channel 2. This flat out grows corals well for decades and still does if not for disappearing lamps and bulbs. This should be no mystery and BRS recommends and boards used this set up for decades.

ATI should be emulating this in a preset program for a 4 foot tank. Instead, you get vague statements from them basically saying you on your own with all the sliders and LED clusters. To that effect then I assume it is not as good as the gold standard of T5 Blue Plus arrays.

When Ecotech started dominated market and still does, they gave clear presets ie AB+ programs etc and case use studies. These will likely not be forth coming from ATI for whatever reason.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I know right? Has all the same style presets that you can further customize. While I would argue their UI is dated and wonky, they work as intended and i never had programming issues in 4 years of use that were not fixed by unplug and plug back in.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Hey bud, did you ever take par readings with the 3 stratons on your tank? I’m thinking about getting 3 myself.

They have a feature that gives you estimated PAR based on your programming. Mine shows around 400 at 12 inches and 300 at 20 inches. Run whites and blues at about 80% for 6 hours and transition to more blue for the next 5. Very good results growing acro colonies at 30 inches below lights.

 

[buruskeee]

ATI seems to be missing target market a bit. OK this is near luxury pricing in flat routed aluminum fixture and heat sink seem well built.

BUT! The magic with ATI by luck or design was the gold standard 8 bulb 48" T5 fixture with 4 ATI Blue Plus, 2 Coral Plus, and then 2 Actinic Bulbs on channel 2. This flat out grows corals well for decades and still does if not for disappearing lamps and bulbs. This should be no mystery and BRS recommends and boards used this set up for decades.

ATI should be emulating this in a preset program for a 4 foot tank. Instead, you get vague statements from them basically saying you on your own with all the sliders and LED clusters. To that effect then I assume it is not as good as the gold standard of T5 Blue Plus arrays.

When Ecotech started dominated market and still does, they gave clear presets ie AB+ programs etc and case use studies. These will likely not be forth coming from ATI for whatever reason.

That’s because they’re not meant for the USA market - they only distributed a few (late too) to the USA. The EU market prefers a whiter look.

They have presets for “AB+” or “radium” and other spectrums to use out of the box. The Stratons will outgrow any of the old T5 equipment specifically because it puts out more PAR at similar spreads (two of the gen 1 or gen2 153 is equivalent in spread as 48” 8 bulb fixture but double the PAR).

 

[Beruka]

I have several and like light but it was a bit clunky to set up in US. It is interesting option and best as T5 are starting to become scarce at least for dimmable ballasts. They had a failed US launch that was a bit lazy for Gen 1s and market lost interest after all delays... be honest... They do indeed not sell many.,..

That is all a bit hyperbole to me though. The christmas tree lights have good spread and great heat sink but give up florescence and color depth. You forget this and accept it as normal after a few months. Presets are decent. If they dislike US market that is fine really. BRS is hell bent of consolidating market with investment capitol and pushing all the high margin products as essential.

Seasoned hobbyists know when they buy Eu they are SOL when they break for most part.

You can still grow out a 50 gallon breeder with shop lights and manual kalk dosing daily for a few 100 bucks. Not shown anywhere near that site.

 

[buruskeee]

I have several and like light but it was a bit clunky to set up in US. It is interesting option and best as T5 are starting to become scarce at least for dimmable ballasts. They had a failed US launch that was a bit lazy for Gen 1s and market lost interest after all delays... be honest... They do indeed not sell many.,..

That is all a bit hyperbole to me though. The christmas tree lights have good spread and great heat sink but give up florescence and color depth. You forget this and accept it as normal after a few months. Presets are decent. If they dislike US market that is fine really. BRS is hell bent of consolidating market with investment capitol and pushing all the high margin products as essential.

Seasoned hobbyists know when they buy Eu they are SOL when they break for most part.

You can still grow out a 50 gallon breeder with shop lights and manual kalk dosing daily for a few 100 bucks. Not shown anywhere near that site.

I’m not sure what you’re frustrated with. ATI? BRS? The EU color preference? You’re a little all over the place.

BRS has zero to do with ATI. ATI never launched the Gen 1 in the USA - also every single model version came late to the USA and is more about American distributors wanting to distribute them because there’s a small USA groups of hobbies that want the lights.

How do they give up fluorescents? They’re dominated with 400nm LEDs. Overly so IMO. I can put on UV only and it turns my whole room into some black light 90s style party.

What’s clunky to set up in the US compared to the EU? I don’t understand this complaint.

 

[Beruka]

I’m not sure what you’re frustrated with. ATI? BRS? The EU color preference? You’re a little all over the place.

BRS has zero to do with ATI. ATI never launched the Gen 1 in the USA - also every single model version came late to the USA and is more about American distributors wanting to distribute them because there’s a small USA groups of hobbies that want the lights.

How do they give up fluorescents? They’re dominated with 400nm LEDs. Overly so IMO. I can put on UV only and it turns my whole room into some black light 90s style party.

What’s clunky to set up in the US compared to the EU? I don’t understand this complaint.

Your a devoted fanboy that knows everything.

Ill drop off board

 

[buruskeee]

Your a devoted fanboy that knows everything.

Ill drop off board

Fanboy? Lol. I go through tons of different light fixtures of all brands and I hate BRS. I still don’t even know what your complaints are specifically (besides fluorescence which was the only concise complaint you made) - I was asking so you could clarify - all I did was simply correct your incorrect statements and somehow that makes me a fanboy?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I can put on UV only and it turns my whole room into some black light 90s style party.

When my daughters were young, we did have a black light room during Halloween parties. Using tank lights for that purpose would be an unexpected bonus! lol