Ever since visiting Diesel and seeing his incredible setup i haven't been able to think about anything else. Especially being there over the course of a good few hours, watching the controller gently ramp up intensity over a period is captivating to watch to say the least. I also caught mrsaltwatertank's latest video doing PAR readings for gen1, gen2 and pro i was actually shocked with how small the increase in PAR between gen 1 and pro versions. now thats not to say the pro's arent a great improvement over the gen 1 and 2's, but it got me thinking maybe i could pick up a gen1 at a reasonable price and do the 30 dollar lens upgrade as cheap(ER) route into LED's and Radions in particular.
Here's the rub, i would like to put one on my 40b, however, ecotech obviously recommends buying two (no surprise there) and also recommends hanging 7" above the water line.
so, here's my theory, please feel free to correct me if i've over thought this to the point where i have convinced myself it'll work regardless of sense and facts ;-)
if gen1 puts out 1400 PAR at the surface, and 140ish on the sandbed, even on a 235 gallon tank (i'm guessing 25" deep?), surely i could get away with a single Radion on a 40b if i raised the light to say 12" to improve the spread. Even running the lights at 25% produces some impressive PAR numbers so surely there must be a sweet spot at which i could raise the light to improve spread, and maybe bump intensity to compensate for the increased depth, i would never consider running a Radion at 100% 7" above an 18" deep tank anyway.
so...those with experience, what do you think? im not too interested in the diy route for the time being as someday soon ill upgrade to mp10 and want the ability for the two to do their thing together.
any/all advice is appreciated.
Here's the rub, i would like to put one on my 40b, however, ecotech obviously recommends buying two (no surprise there) and also recommends hanging 7" above the water line.
so, here's my theory, please feel free to correct me if i've over thought this to the point where i have convinced myself it'll work regardless of sense and facts ;-)
if gen1 puts out 1400 PAR at the surface, and 140ish on the sandbed, even on a 235 gallon tank (i'm guessing 25" deep?), surely i could get away with a single Radion on a 40b if i raised the light to say 12" to improve the spread. Even running the lights at 25% produces some impressive PAR numbers so surely there must be a sweet spot at which i could raise the light to improve spread, and maybe bump intensity to compensate for the increased depth, i would never consider running a Radion at 100% 7" above an 18" deep tank anyway.
so...those with experience, what do you think? im not too interested in the diy route for the time being as someday soon ill upgrade to mp10 and want the ability for the two to do their thing together.
any/all advice is appreciated.