Lighting Help Kessil or Radion

[Ashleysreef]

Tank Display DIMS: Length 34.79” Width: 10.13” Height: 12.99”

 

I decided I was going to go with a Kessil A360X and an older A360W for my lighting and have them about 8" above the water at a lower intensity.

But today a hobbyist is shutting down their tank and is selling 2 Radion Gen 4 XR30s, approximately 2 years old, non pro version, they'd sell me the lights for the same price I could sell the 2 Kessils for.

 

Is it worth selling the kessils for the Radions, I know the Radions are more powerful plus would probably be more future proof if I went with a larger tank in the future, but would they be too much of an overkill and not be able to work on such a small tank?

 

Thanks in advance. 

[ninjamyst]

I would do it just for symmetry instead of having one 360x and one 360w.  But you are trading an newer tech with the 360x for an older gen g4 non pro.

 

For that tank size, you can't use just one 360x?

[DaJMasta]

Honestly with those dimensions I don't either is really the right choice.  I think for such a long, narrow tank, you should be looking towards one of the long T5 like fixtures, or maybe, one of the wide format light strips.

 

The output for either the Kessils or Radions would have to be way low in that shallow of a tank, as either pair would be overkill for SPS in a tank twice as deep and twice as wide, and even though the two-element Radions are more spread out, they are still sort of designed for illuminating 18" to 24" on the narrower axis - their lens are pretty wide - so the vast majority of light would be outside the tank.

With the shallow depth, you really don't need super high power even for bright looking, so something like the reefbrites or similar form factors would be my choice.

[mcarroll]

On 8/17/2021 at 8:03 PM, Ashleysreef said:

they'd sell me the lights for the same price I could sell the 2 Kessils for.

Two used lights vs two new lights?  Or am I missing something?  Kessils seem like a no-brainer.

 

On 8/17/2021 at 11:37 PM, DaJMasta said:

The output for either the Kessils or Radions would have to be way low in that shallow of a tank,

Why not use right-sized lights for the tank?  One or two LED strips would easily cover the tank and grow all the corals you'd want...just for example.