Just yesterday, EcoTech Marine officially announced the release of the TIR Lens Kits for their Radion LED fixtures. Alongside that news, they’ve also uploaded an extremely in-depth “How To” video demonstrating the entire upgrade process, which is a brilliant move in our opinion. The upgrade process, like breaking into the guts of a computer for the first time, is not overly easy by any means. Hobbyists will have to tear down the fixture screw by screw to get to be able to remove the old lenses and pop in the new ones. And while most techno-savvy hobbyists might be quite comfortable behind the wheel of a screwdriver and a $750 LED fixture, not everyone is. So, the video will be of great help and will keep leftover screws to a minimum.
The video itself is pretty straightforward. In the clip, a pair of gloved and disembodied hands delicately and deliberately remove the outer housing and even some of the light fixtures internals. From there, the old lens is removed and the new TIR lens is ever so gently put into place. After fixing some wayward cables and properly seating the new lens over the LEDs, the Radion is buttoned back up piece by piece. At that point, the light fixture could be put right back to work of your aquarium and tested to see just how improved the light output really is. If the change in PAR is too significant, the intensity should be dialed back for a few days to allow the corals to adjust, as even a modest increase in light energy could damage the sensitive corals.
