ai vega or radion?

Both are nice lights, I went with radions. I always look at how things are built and the radion is built better then the Vega IMHO.

I would agree with Tyler.

From what I read on both of their forums both are close on the spread.  DO NOT hold me to this but it is my understanding that you need to plug a Radion into a computer to change the settings . Hopefully someone can answer this. The vega you can purchase a wireless controller , but the controller has to be plugged in at all times for the program you set to work . So say its at full power and its unplugged on accident it will stay at that setting until plugged back in to power. So there are draw backs to both . I went with the Vega because the radions had not dropped their price on first gen when I bought mine but would rethink it now.  I do love my vega !!!! Pros and cons to both IMO.

I know that I love my Gen1 Radion's! I do wish there was an Apex wireless controller for them though!

The also preform the lightning sequence.
We have installed both sets on different customers systems, there are some benefits to each and drawbacks to each.
Radion pros: great customer service, well build in the USA, ability to link to others ecotech products, proven to hold coral color and grow sps.
Radion cons: price, spread (took 4 to cover a 210 costing $3000), user interface, (we have had tons of problems with them dropping the connection when trying to do some simple light on setting)

Vega pros: individual channel dimming and programming, less expensive than radion in smaller applications, better overal color (IMO)
Vega cons: spread(took 6 to cover a 210 costing $3000), controller may freeze or disconnect and is very touchy,

Cons to both, too many red and green LEDs (radion we run them at 5% Max vega we run at 10%). I mentioned spread, while most people are running them at 60% max, why not put a wider optic on them so that you can run them at 100% and cover more area.


Now my rant: change the channel if you like, lol
Controlling, they are not apex ready: why not? You have to pay all this extra money for each fixture having its own controller built in, when you could apply this money to an apex and get the same effects. Also, who really does the "party tricks" (ie lighting storms, turn the tank red, ect) more than once? For years we have had actinics turn on, then a few hours later the daylight comes on, then daylight turns off and actinics stay on for a few more hours. That worked to grow corals for years, and corals have not changed.

Anyway, both have proven themselves to grow coral and drop your power and bulb replacement costs, but if lighting a Larger tank, you can buy a lot of bulbs and electricity, while getting wider spread out of mhs, for $3000, plus you can get mh for next to nothing used. (I say that, but I will have LEDS on the near 700 I am setting up, lol)

I've seen plenty of people use 4 Vega's to light a 210. Go to there facebook page there is a plethora of pictures showing this. I only use 2 on my 120 and have to turn them down by 50% or risk bleaching.

db7080 wrote: jwoo wrote: I've seen plenty of people use 4 Vega's to light a 210. Go to there facebook page there is a plethora of pictures showing this. I only use 2 on my 120 and have to turn them down by 50% or risk bleaching. How far off the water do you have them?

AI recommends the Vega be 6-8 inches. I run mine at 6.

One con to the vega that wasn't mentioned is that the vega does have a tendency to disco light if it's too high off the water and/or the red and green are turned up too high. I turned my red and green down and at 6 inches I don't get that effect but not everyone can run them at 6 inches.

db7080 wrote: What exactly is the disco effect?

Just what it sounds like - the red and green sorta make a disco ball effect. I found that turning those down past 75% removed the issue completely though. Not that you need red or green that high to begin with.

I only have experience with radions but I have heard that the Vegas can have the disco ball effect. The spread on the radions is actually very good for the size of the fixture. On my 57 gallon i started with 2 radions and ended up selling one because i found that if I hung one fixture about 12-13 inches over the water I could cover the whole tank(36" wide). I had lps growing on the edges on the sand bed no problem.


Edited by kellerexpress - February 22 2013 at 11:53pm

Not the throw a kink in it, but you may want to consider looking at Vertex as well. Too be honest though, on my next system I'll likely be dumping LED and moving back to MH/T5.