With all the great marine aquarium LED lighting options available, you might have a hard time deciding which lighting system is best for you. The following is a side-by-side comparison of two leading aquarium LED systems.
AquaIllumination Hydra LED Basics
The AquaIllumination (AI) Hydra LED aquarium lighting system takes advantage of 80 degree lenses to provide a uniform presentation of mixed colors and lights. You can go for a 50 degree lens if your tank requires more penetration. Included with Hydra are two 400nm Edison Opto UV LEDs, two OSRAM OSLON Deep Red bulbs, four Cree XT-E Cool White, two Cree XP-E Green bulbs, four Cree XP-E Royal Blue bulbs, two SemiLED 415nm bulbs Violet and four OSRAM OSLON Very Deep Blue LED bulbs. The total combination pushes the spectrum to the blue side, which works very well for cold-light spectrum corals, such as Lobophyllia and Chalice corals.
Additionally, the AI Hydra lighting system has a proven optical efficiency of 90 percent. When turned on at full power, the AI Hydra requires 95 watts to run. The AI Hydra is air cooled by a fan. This lighting system is configured for wireless control, using any of the family of AI wireless controllers, sold separately. In fact, you need a wireless AI controller on hand to operate the Hydra LED system.
What makes Ecotech marine radions work?
You can purchase an Ecotech Marine Radion LED setup in a standard model (the XR30w) or the professional model, known as the XR30w Pro. Both use 80-degree lenses to distribute the light. The XR30w includes four SemiLEDs for UV coverage, eight Cree XT-E for cool white, four SemiLEDs for indigo spectrum, six OSRAM OSLON Square bulbs for deep blue, four OSRAM OSLON SSL for hyper red spectrum, eight Cree XP-E for color blue and four Cree XP-E Green to provide the green color. The Pro model differs from the XR30w by having four more LED bulbs, including two yellow OSRAM OSLON SSL bulbs and two additional OSRAM OSLON Square bulbs, for an even deeper blue color.
The XR30w uses 150 watts of power with variable use, while the larger size of the XR30w Pro brings the wattage to 170 watts with variable use. Both models come with a waterproof fan to help dissipate the heat generated by the LEDs. To control the lights, both types of Radions take advantage of Ecotech’s cloud-based application, known as ReefLink, which is available on EcoSmart Live. This application gives you full control of your lighting and any other Ecotech equipment you may have, through the use of your laptop, smartphone or tablet.
What to consider if choosing between the two systems
As with all purchases, you should consider your own aquarium and its situation before purchasing the LED configuration that best suits your needs. If price is your main concern, the AI Hydra LED system is at least $ 100 cheaper than any Ecotech Marine Radion. Also, as stated above, the Ecotech Radion LED series uses more electricity, so the total total cost to run these LEDs will be higher than using an AI Hydra LED system.
Sometimes your biggest concern is how much you can control your lights. With AI Hydra, you get seven channels of control, allowing you to create a wide variety of color combinations. You can also program AI Hydra to simulate rainy days and thunderstorms, a full moon, or a movement of clouds over your reef, which is controlled with a sweeping effect on various lamps. The Ecotech Radion has six control channels, allowing you to present your aquarium with sunrise, sunset, clouds, rainy skies, thunderstorm effects, and moon phases.
The size and depth of your aquarium can also help you determine what type of LED system you want. The AI Hydra works great for shallower aquariums, but the bulbs are not bright enough if you have to illuminate your aquarium at a great depth. Ecotech Radions are more intense, so they work very well for deep aquariums.
