Is new always better

[pugz508]

Hey everyone!

I am back and setting up yet another tank haha but am pretty excited. I took down my tanks figuring life and kids would cause me to neglect them. Now I find myself unable to go by petco without the kids wanting to stop to "see the fish" with numerous trips to the aquarium lol.
I am currently looking at lighting options. I always been new is better and blindly buy into hype, but starting to feel the hype is overplayed. It seems like prices keep going up and up regarding LED's but how much has th technology changed?
Specifically related to LPS/soft tanks with maybe some less light demanding sps. Are there really any major benefits when comparing new gen5 radions to say the originals gen 1st new in box? or equivalent AI products nib/slightly used? thanks hope everyone's doing well!

 

[dz6t]

Regarding LED, all premium brands of led are basically stay the same for years. The major reason is that they all use Cree/Semi/Osram led chips, there is really no major breakthrough on led chips for aquarium uses in the past several years.
I still use a pair of ancient Maxspect Razors gen 1 on one of my SPS display tank, the growth and color are no difference than newer fixtures. But I did renew their led pads due to age.
With that said, gen 1 to gen 3 Radions may lost sufficient amount of par due to age, as well as AI LED before the Hydra HD, as replacement led pads for these lights are not available.
For Reefbreeders led, the photon v2 and V2+ are still going strong due to their significant superior heat management.