Review/Personal Experience of Current USA's R24 Reef LED 52 Watt

[nicholas2010e]

I have had the new Current USA r24 Reef LED for about 6 months now and I wanted to write a quick review on them.

In my tank I have every type of coral: Tod's Torch, Hammers, Frogspawn, Octospawn, Beachbum, Misc SPS, Acro, Rainbow BTA, Duncan, Candycane, rockflower anemone, and many more. Every coral I have is doing great! (except for a birdsnest that fell and my Pistol shrimp decided to drag it into his cave).

Picture of my tank currently:

Here is a Par Mapping I did when I first got the Light and have not changed the settings since the mapping:

Here are my light settings:

Here is Information from Current USA website:

Current Thoughts:

1. These Lights are fantastic, all my corals have exploded in growth. SPS are branching and encrusting and euphillia are growing new heads.
2. These lights are by far better than the AI Prime that I tried. (AI Prime is their main competitor for $200)
---These lights are silent I can never hear the fan
---Par output is higher
---I personally like the app UI and responsiveness more than the AI app
---AI prime struggles with the disco effect, I have not had any issue with that on the R24
3. Better than Ecotech? YES
--- These lights are $200 a piece. and ECOTECH XR30 is $890. You can buy 4 of these lights and still be saving month over the ECOTECH XR30
---I have tried an ECOTECH 30 gen2 and IMO the par and colors was not better than the R24 reef LED
---The ECOTECH Mobius app is HORRIBLE. constant connection issues poor UI and just seems like it was put on the back burner
---The fact that you can buy 4 of these over one XR30 and get much better

Overall, I would highly recommend these lights.





Now...............

I have recently bought a 40G frag tank on marketplace. The place you would usually attach the lights is much higher than what I would deem usual.

Pictures:

The Par from this high even with the whites cranked up more is just not optimal. I do only have one currently, and adding more would make it better but I feel like the light would need to be stronger per puck in this situation.

Good news, Current USA is coming out with stronger one. Apparently there is a 90w version coming out where this one is 52w. I think 2 or 3 90w would be much better in this situation. The 90w I would assume the are going to be anywhere from $300-$350. Which again you can get 3 of them over 1 XR30.


Again, I would 100% recommend these lights and brand. Customer service and response time is top notch and the APP puts it over the top for me. Poorly designed apps (UI and Functionality) ruins the experience for me. Current USA app allows for complete control of lights, Wavemakers, and Return pump for a complete automated system with a good responsiveness and UI.

 

[Spare time]

I have been curious to see par numbers on this light since their previous LED's have been notorious for par drop off on anything but shallow tanks. I like the direction they are moving

 

[nicholas2010e]

I have been curious to see par numbers on this light since their previous LED's have been notorious for par drop off on anything but shallow tanks. I like the direction they are moving

I agree. The current technology in Light Bar lights just aren't capable of high par yet. That is why the high par lights are all puck style

 

[legionofdoon]

Glad you posted par numbers someone posted a link on Mr Saltwater tanks YouTube craping all over them, saying they have an average par of 45.

 

[nicholas2010e]

Glad you posted par numbers someone posted a link on Mr Saltwater tanks YouTube craping all over them, saying they have an average par of 45.

He reviewed the r24 and got 45 par? that crazy, I need to find that video. With my lights turned down I am getting over 500 in some spots.

 

[cwerner]

He reviewed the r24 and got 45 par? that crazy, I need to find that video. With my lights turned down I am getting over 500 in some spots.

I think he means someone in the comments section. Mr saltwater tank seemed pretty positive about them overall.

 

[legionofdoon]

I think he means someone in the comments section. Mr saltwater tank seemed pretty positive about them overall.

Yes someone in the comments section.

 

[nicholas2010e]

Yes someone in the comments section.

Ahhh okay makes more sense

 

[Gungo]

Great lights. I have one over a biocube 32 and im impressed on the job current usa did on them. There’s few reviews out there saying bad things but i feel that the competition is scared with this move of current usa. I just would like to mention that the spectrum on the r24 is identically to the g4 radion XR15 pro leaning towards the bluish-purple spectrum to the eye. Its like the 2022 version of the g4 xr15 for $200. I would recommend to anyone!

 

[cwerner]

I have a pair of these lights on a 30" 50 AIO cube. I've got a par meter on order from BRS and I'm planning on posting my results with them. I think there's a thread in the lighting forum with a bunch of par results with different lights. I'm not sure I'm prepared to call these the equivalent of XR15's, but they certainly seem pretty good so far.

 

[Gungo]

Im talking about color and spectrum. r24 is 50w and xr15 is about 90w

 

[nicholas2010e]

Im talking about color and spectrum. r24 is 50w and xr15 is about 90

90 vs 50 watt doesn't mean they wont have the same spectrum. That would mean they wouldn't be able to get as much par. But I say the r24 is better because you can buy 3 of them for the price of 1 xr15. 150W vs 90W

 

[cwerner]

Here are some PAR numbers 6.5" over a IM 50 gallon AIO:

 

[nicholas2010e]

Here are some PAR numbers 6.5" over a IM 50 gallon AIO:

good par map. what are your settings?