Radion/t5 Combo or Reefbrite/t5 combo?

[Bulldawg Reef]

Upgrading to a bigger tank soon and trying to figure out what lighting I want to use. I had been wanting to do t5/reefbrite combo, but I just saw a setup with radions/t5 and the color and growth on the corals was amazing.

If radion, what gen? I was told gen 3 would be fine, but honestly don’t know much about radions.

Currently using kessil/t5 combo. Growth is pretty good and colors most stuff up. Have trouble with some reds and oranges in my sps, so think I want to change it up when I upgrade.

 

[Adam]

I don't have any recommendations for the brand of LED's you choose. There are different opinions that will always be never ending on that front. Start with what your budget will allow then look at the makeup of the LED's and control you're after. The lights I'm using have two 395 true UV and five 420's per fixture, there are 3 fixtures over the tank. Lights with violet and UV will give the corals a lot of Pop. I also use two Kessil A160w's to help with shadowing from the center braces.

With the T5's, how many bulbs are you currently using and will that be the same number after the upgrade? I have four 80w's over my 220. 2 front and 2 back. There are two Blue+ in the back and one in the very front. The 2nd bulb in the front is a Purple+ and it give the reds a lot more depth and vibrancy. I'm only running the T5's as a supplement from 12-4:30pm, so unless I'm home during those times I don't get to see them on much.

 

[Bulldawg Reef]

alt="03F8B82D-0B1C-4360-A281-D43D018D1D98" />Currently I have a 4 bulb geismann t5 on my 65. It’s on for 6 hours during the middle of the day, so I only get to see it on the weekend or half days! Bulbs are, purple+, coral+, purple+, blue+ (all Ati bulbs). Was thinking if I did reefbrites I would do a 6 bulb ati or something similar. If I do radions I would do 4 bulbs probably with the radions in the middle of them.

Budget isn’t much of an issue, really want to set it up right from the beginning this time and not change lights 4 times!

I know there are tons of light combos and especially LEDs out there, I have just heard the t5/reefbrite combo the most when I’m asking vendors what light they use to get such great colors. After seeing the radions this weekend... I’m stumped again.

most likely upgrading to a Red Sea reefer 525xl.

 

[Adam]

If you're going to upgrade tanks plan the lights around that footprint. With a RSR 525 being a nice looking setup I'd go with the LED that would be the easiest to build around with the T5's added. You want it to be clean looking if there's no hood. In which case if money was no object I'd lean toward the Radion's and 4 T5's. 6 T5's would be a hellofa lot of light with the LED's on too.

 

[snowmansnow]

i had 2 radion gen 3 with 2x t5 lamps over my 48" 80 shallow and it was PLENTY of light. To be honest To get great coverage I needed another radio, but not for the cost... not me.  The t5s did help with coverage a bit

Now, the best coverage I had with single LED units was those cheapish Ocean Revive units. I had 3 of them and ... well.. the corals responded fine with them. I'm not saying they have all the bells and whistles of the radios, and they do have some disco ball issues, but for the price HARD to beat.

To your OP, my suggestion would be T5 and LED instead of just adding more LED

 

[FutureInterest]

Ben, I found that going more blue in my lighting has helped color up some corals.  I've tuned all the other colors than the blues way down on my radions and I've seen some acros color up quite a bit... including that maleficent I got from u.  I also swapped out my  t5s with mostly blue plus to give me more blue.  I'm still trying to get that alter ego to look like the ones on the web but alas... I'm starting to think it's just a photoshop thing.

As for the difference between g3 and g4 radions... honestly I have both on my tanks and the g4 has more spread and that's bout it.  The amount of spread increase is noticeable but not as significant as I thought it would be from their advertising.

 

[dough]

WWC use to run T5 with Reefbrites and they had some incredible looking tanks.  They have convert over the Radions and the tanks still look great.

I tried a stand alone Radion last year and didn't like the shadows it casts.  So I went back to my T5 and Reefbrites which I like.

 

[Bulldawg Reef]

Do you have any pics with the t5 reef brite combo dough?

If I went radions I would still do 2-4 t5 bulbs to fill in shadows. Radions in the middle and then 2 bulbs up front and maybe 2 more behind them. Leaning t5 reefbrite.