Good to hear about the popping sounds.Okay recieved the final update from ecotech about this and they asked for proof of purchase for exchange.
I purchased one xr15 blue from MD to see if the problem was going to happen again. The xr15 was packaged way better then the xr30s and it does not have the popping issue my 30s do. I believe the poor packaging was the cause of the popping. I'm assuming the lens got smacked up in transit but it could totally be just the torqued bolts.
I also want to note that the xr15 fan is much quieter and turns on less. With the three lights over my tank I was able to turn the intensity down substantially and the fans almost never kick on.
As for the fans, I have 1 XR30 and 2 XR15's on my tank and the XR30's fan kicks in a bit before the XR15's, but eventually the XR15's kick in also (all running at 45% or so). And my XR15 is also quieter than the XR30 as well, I'd like to swap my xr30 for another xr15 if this continues to be the case.
It seems like there is very little difference in the fan speed between the lights being at 45% and 100%, so maybe there is something going wrong on the fan controller?