Radions at 100% intensity -- Will this kill light longevity?

[Rakie]

Just curious here. I'm seeing more and more people running these lights at higher intensities. After visiting vivid I thought i'd give it a try, and am running the AB+ program at 100% intensity.

My question is, will running the lights like this impact longevity of the Radions?



EDIT: This thread is about the radions longevity. This isn't about the corals at all, I'm wondering if the Radion is gonna burn out in 6 months running it at 100%, or if it'll be good for 5, 6, 7 years.

 

[Robink]

How are your corals doing and what corals do you have?

 

[Rakie]

Great, all SPS. Some corals which need to be absolutely baked to achieve color and looking brilliant, or shifting to the right colors (Vivid Tequila Sunrise for example, green in low light, vibrant purple with orange polyps while being baked)

 

[Robink]

I run mine at 50% on the ab + schedule, but afraid to turn them up. Have some lps zoas down low doing great.

 

[pecan2phat]

I run mine on the sps phx14 on 50%.
The phx is based just on preference but the 50% is based on PAR readings.
Even at only 50%, I am getting 440 for the higher corals and 280 for the mid level corals.

 

[Robink]

That's what I heard. There was a thread on here that someone measured perfect par with the radions at 50%.

 

[madweazl]

That's what I heard. There was a thread on here that someone measured perfect par with the radions at 50%.

What is perfect PAR?

 

[Rakie]

With radions at 50% my corals were using an insignificant amount of 2 part, bumping it up to 100% my corals went from about 40mL to 140mL 2 part per day.


EDIT: This thread is about the radions longevity. This isn't about the corals at all, I'm wondering if the Radion is gonna burn out in 6 months running it at 100%, or if it'll be good for 5, 6, 7 years.

 

[pecan2phat]

Based on BRS's testing, they gave a number between 250 - 350 PAR for SPS.
I've seen charts from 220 - 400 PAR.

 

[pecan2phat]

From what I noticed in my own tank is that I can bump PAR/intensity up with no adverse effect (tried 70% for a short time period, PAR on highest piece was in the mid 500s) on any of my established sticks in the tank but any new comers bleach out very quickly even in the lower half of the tank. I have to decrease the PAR for about 10 - 14 days before I can bring it back up to the 50% that my guys are use to.

 

[pecan2phat]

When I had my Gen1, I ran them at 100% for about 3 years. Had to replace the fans at about the 2 year mark and 1 puck burnt out a single cool white LED so don't know if that is the type of info you were looking for.
The fixture will run a lot warmer and the fans will be at full speed most of the time.

 

[ADAM]

The added heat in and around the fixture would have to add faster degradation to the parts inside. However if Ecotech has them tested and rated for say 20k hours life then I would assume that this would be based on full capacity of the entire LED system inside. As with anything there would have to be greater potential for breakdown/ failure at 100% versus lower percentage settings. Although some could argue that if the diodes, circuit board, etc were designed for 100% operation that running them below optimal design power would be more harmful to longevity. In this particular case I would believe that the higher the percentage the faster the wear and tear, but the hour rating of the diode should be rated at full power, so set them were you get the results needed.

 

[gatorbait01]

With radions at 50% my corals were using an insignificant amount of 2 part, bumping it up to 100% my corals went from about 40mL to 140mL 2 part per day.


EDIT: This thread is about the radions longevity. This isn't about the corals at all, I'm wondering if the Radion is gonna burn out in 6 months running it at 100%, or if it'll be good for 5, 6, 7 years.

How quickly did your 2 part consumption rate increase? How quickly did u ramp the light intensity? Have any idea on the par levels? I watched a macna presentation a while back that said w/ increased light the growth rate of coral would slow down which I assumed would decrease the alk/ca consumption. Maybe that was a bad assumption.

 

[trido]

Sanjay has been running his Gen 4 XR-30 Pro's all channels at 100% for about two years that I know of.

 

[Waters]

I wish I could turn mine up...I can't get past 45% without a few of the Acros suffering. For the OP though, I would assume running at full blast would decrease the life of the unit...by how much I have no idea. Like anything else, if it is pushed to the maximum all the time, things will wear out quicker.

 

[MTBake]

I would assume Ecotech lifespan rating is with the lights turned all the way up. It would be very misleading if they based it on 40% intensity or something less than 100%. My opinion only. Might need to call or email Ecotech to find out their take on it.

Fwiw, I was running my Kessils at 100% when I switched them out for MH. Totally different light though.

 

[wowkingjames]

Following.....

 

[Waters]

I would assume Ecotech lifespan rating is with the lights turned all the way up. It would be very misleading if they based it on 40% intensity or something less than 100%. My opinion only. Might need to call or email Ecotech to find out their take on it.

Fwiw, I was running my Kessils at 100% when I switched them out for MH. Totally different light though.

You are probably right.....but then you have to assume if they ARE ran at 40% for the life of the units, that they will last longer than Echtech's lifespan rating, which is based off of 100%, all the time.

 

[MTBake]

You are probably right.....but then you have to assume if they ARE ran at 40% for the life of the units, that they will last longer than Echtech's lifespan rating, which is based off of 100%, all the time.

I totally agree. I would assume running them at 50% would increase the lifespan. And I totally understand why one would want to extend the life as much as possible. These lights aren't cheap. Really curious to hear Ecotech take on this. Anyone try contacting them about it yet? Maybe I'll send am email and see if I get a response.

 

[Rakie]

How quickly did your 2 part consumption rate increase? How quickly did u ramp the light intensity? Have any idea on the par levels? I watched a macna presentation a while back that said w/ increased light the growth rate of coral would slow down which I assumed would decrease the alk/ca consumption. Maybe that was a bad assumption.

Your macna presentation was from Dana Riddle, and to create photoinhibition you need astounding amounts of light. Additionally, for well over 25 years now people ran significantly higher amounts of light than he has suggested to great success. He talks photoinhibition around 500par, the old MH guys regularly ran over 800+ according to their par meters from way back when, and it only increased growth and color.

A 24" 8 bulb ATI fixiture is 192 watts. An XR30 G4 Pro using AB+ program at 100% intensity is 115-ish watts. And most people run their G4's at half power, which is equivalent to a 2-3 bulb fixture, which everyone would tell you was stupid if you were to try and run that few T5's. Par wise, the g4 should win, but realistically we don't have corals in flat frag tanks with zero shading -- We have them around rocks, and though spread has increased dramatically, it's just not possible to get that level of diffusion from a paltry single or double puck.

I gave it 12 weeks of ramping, and my alk consumption increased 5 fold. I was redoing rockscape and all my SPS were sitting on frag racks while rocks were going through their stages of the uglies. My consumption went from 80mL/day down to 35mL/day, after increasing light slowly over 3 months, my consumption is 150mL/day.

This conversation has an unlimited amount of facets. We can talk par, we can talk watts, we can talk about how a watt isn't a watt, we can talk about Joe Yaullo's 25 year old 20,000g reef at the jersey aquarium where his 1000w MH'd can barely keep corals healthy but his 300w LED's burn corals 6 feet down. THere's literally endless things to say, points, counterpoints, arguments all based on first hand experience, and theoretical arguments to compare them against, wild light vs MH, vs, T5, vs LED... This is the never ending conversation, with all three groups screaming bloody murder and wishing death upon anybody who disagrees with them (check out the threads, the level of offended people get on this subject should warrant psychiatric stay).