Whos using EchoTech's Radion LED fixture?

[mwminer]

Have 4 over 450 any advice

 

[Chichas01]

advice on? height placement? Lights should be 8" above the water surface per Ecotech recommendation.

 

[Maxx]

guy over on RC did readings with the standard lens and the new TIR lenses. pretty cool pic:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2200597

Whats interesting to me is that the MH PAR number, (unknown what bulb/ballast combination was used) was higher than the Radion with either lens at the water's surface, but at 17 inches from the light and 29 inches from the light, BOTH Radion lenses show more PAR than the MH.

Its also important to note that LED's generally read lower on PAR meters due to the meter's not reading the blues correctly.

That is interesting to me......

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Reading that thread the picture was linked from:

The MH used to compare was a Hamilton 20K DE using a Current USA fixture and ballast.

I dont know how long they've been out on the market or if Sanjay Joshi or anyone else has tested the Hamilton 20K's (DE or SE) for PAR numbers...

But the Hamilton 14K (which should have better PAR than the 20K) had moderate PAR readings compared to other bulbs in the class (Phoenix 14K for example).

That picture and those numbers are misleading now that we know what is being compared IMO.

Dont get me wrong, I'm still very happy with my Radion's, but that picture and those numbers imply more than is really happening.

Now, if it were being compared against a 250 Watt Iwasaki 6500K bulb on an HQI ballast and got those numbers, that's a whole different matter all together.

Mojo,

Since we know that PAR meters register LED lights lower than they really are due to the blue skew....is it possible that 20K bulbs get lower PAR readings due to the blue skew as well? I know that there is alot of red & green in MH bulbs that may not be visible to the human eye which what will boost the PAR numbers somewhat...

But just trying to get a feel for it here....

Hope that makes sense.

Nick

 

[mojoreef]

Yes the meters read blue poorly under the electric setting so you have to add about 22% more then the reading. Or simply use the sun setting and it works out the same.

I can tell you that in the 3 radions just tested and the two prior i could not get close to the numbers in the picture. Willing to try again though

Mojo

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[capdippe]

I agree when we tested the tank Mikes numbers wern't like the ones in the picture, however i'm about 4 months in with these lights and am now begining to see better coloration than the 250W's I was using. It's taken a long time to but seems to be working well. Slower coral growth though. I've been running mine at 14K 100%, for 9 hours/day. Also 3 fixtures just doesn't light the tank the same way as the halides did, a lot of dark cornners/sides.