# Chihiros Aquasky led



## Glen Jowdie

Hi all. Iv'e been looking at the Chihiros Aquasky led, Has anyone had any experience with this light, I just wondered what people's thoughts are on them, are they as good as the ADA Aquasky led.


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## AndreiD

Hi , all i can say about Aquasky LED that is not for beginners , it is very bright and can cause serious problems if you don't know how to handle very bright lights. I never used Chihiros .


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## CooKieS

I got two (chihiros 451 & 301) on my iwagumi, works flawless! The dimmer was included, I'm using it on position 6 (approx. 80% power), because it is even more powerful than the Ada!

So as AndreiD said, very powerful light! (But dimmable), I even use the 301 on my low tech nano (at approx. 50% power), and No big algae trouble...


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## Glen Jowdie

Thanks AndreiD for the comments, much appreciated.


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## Glen Jowdie

Hi CookieS, that's a great help, I think the Chihiros would be the better option as you can use a dimmer, where as there's no dimmer for the ADA version as far as I know. Many thanks.


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## Manisha

Hi I got one of these but as an A series, for my fluval spec v as it looked like it would suit the tank. It is crazy bright - even on the lowest settings - I'm not co2-ing my system & it's a bit much!


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## Glen Jowdie

Thanks Manisha, your comment's much appreciated.


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## PMC

What would you say the colour rendition is like on the Chihiros lights? I've heard others say they can be a bit white and can make the plants look bit washed out. Would you agree at all?


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## Lindy

This post would be better in the lighting forum as this is the journals forum. I believe there are also other posts about this light in the lighting section.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


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## Glen Jowdie

Thanks Idcgroomer, will check out the lighting forum and carry on this discussion there.


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## Iain Sutherland

Is a little white, it tends to make reds look pants. Fine for greens mind.


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## Manisha

Apologies for the poor camera skills and my tank doesn't look very good either! This is the A-series!


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## dr_dunno

I have been using the Chihiros A601 from day 1 since I started my tank in January 2016 (this is my first ever fish/planted tank). It has intensity control with 8 brightness levels. When I started my tank, I used to run my lights for 8 hours a day at brightness level 3 as I was not sure what would be deemed too bright (and I was petrified of causing an algae bloom due to high light after hearing/reading the horror stories). A month plus down the line, I found that growth was relatively slow, so I decided to increase it to brightness level 5 (which is what I have been using since). I have been extremely pleased with with the results and growth is great.

The light is white. Do take note that the light is not waterproof - mine got slightly wet accidentally (luckily when it was off). But I put it out under the sun and it worked fine.

Here are two shots of my tank.

This shot was taken a few days of planting (21-Jan-2016).


 


The next shot was taken 4 months later (21-May-2016).


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## PMC

Thanks for the feedback.

Quick couple of questions. Are you able to run these on timers, or do they need to manually switched on/off? and if you are able to run them on timers, do they remember the power setting you had them on prior to them switching off?

Cheers
Paul


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## Glen Jowdie

Hi dr dunno, your plants look like there doing well with that light, is the plant in the back Hygrophila Polysperma.


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## Glen Jowdie

Hi Iain Sutherland, thanks for the info. Your tank looks great and the light looks really nice. When you say that red plants don't look so good, in what way do you mean.


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## dr_dunno

PMC said:


> Thanks for the feedback.
> 
> Quick couple of questions. Are you able to run these on timers, or do they need to manually switched on/off? and if you are able to run them on timers, do they remember the power setting you had them on prior to them switching off?
> 
> Cheers
> Paul


Paul, I run the lights on a timer, and the light remembers the pre-switch off settings.



Glen Jowdie said:


> Hi dr dunno, your plants look like there doing well with that light, is the plant in the back Hygrophila Polysperma.


Glen, if you are referring to the one that is in the background and growing taller than the light level, it is Eusteralis Stellata. If you are referring to the plants in front of the Eusteralis Stellata, it is a mix of Bacopa Monnieri and Bacopa Caroliniana.


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## Glen Jowdie

Hi dr dunno, I was meaning the Bacopa's so thanks for that.


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## PMC

Thanks dr


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## ShawnMac

IME, the Chihiros is very bright. I've measured PAR and it is stronger than the ADA aquasky. Depending on your scape plans it may be overpowered. If doing an Iwagumi type layout with a few low growing carpeting plants I'd throw in some floating water sprite in the beginning to compensate for the lower plant mass. CO2 has to be on point and a nutrient rich soil will probably help greatly. The red rotala is Rotala H'ra. It does not get this red in any other setups I'm running. Par is over 200 micromoles near the top center. Aquasky is around 160 as measured by an Apogee PAR sensor. 

I did not like the dimming function. Seemed to make the light flicker a little. The light did not appear to be steady or stable. It wasn't obvious, but looked strange to me. I ran at full power and skipped the dimmer.

Here is my most recent scape with the 45 cm version of the Chihiros


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## micheljq

ShawnMac said:


> . Par is over 200 micromoles near the top center. Aquasky is around 160 as measured by an Apogee PAR sensor.
> 
> I did not like the dimming function. Seemed to make the light flicker a little. The light did not appear to be steady or stable. It wasn't obvious, but looked strange to me. I ran at full power and skipped the dimmer


Hello, a little question,

PAR at what distance from the lights?

Thanks for the comment on the dimming function, i guess we cannot ask for too much at that cheap price.

Michel.


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## alto

ShawnMac said:


> Here is my most recent scape with the 45 cm version of the Chihiros


love this one - it truly needs some ukaps time  

 - Journals or Planted Tank Gallery


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## ShawnMac

Highest PAR was top middle probably 10-15 cm from the light (forgive my Imperial mind imagining metric). It was high all around the tank however. I can get some quick measurements later if you really would like to know. I would say easily over 100 par even in the front corners furthest from the light. Equal distance and location in the aquasky was around 160 PAR. This was comparing a 30 cm aquasky to a 45 cm Chihiros. Let me know if you want more detailed measurements and I can do it sometime this evening and post.


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## ShawnMac

alto said:


> love this one - it truly needs some ukaps time
> 
> - Journals or Planted Tank Gallery



Thanks...I can put something together


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## bgoh82

ShawnMac said:


> Thanks...I can put something together


Curious to know the Par values at different settings too. I'm running 2 strips on a 90cmx45cmx45cm. 


ShawnMac said:


> Highest PAR was top middle probably 10-15 cm from the light (forgive my Imperial mind imagining metric). It was high all around the tank however. I can get some quick measurements later if you really would like to know. I would say easily over 100 par even in the front corners furthest from the light. Equal distance and location in the aquasky was around 160 PAR. This was comparing a 30 cm aquasky to a 45 cm Chihiros. Let me know if you want more detailed measurements and I can do it sometime this evening and post.




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## ShawnMac

bgoh82 said:


> Curious to know the Par values at different settings too. I'm running 2 strips on a 90cmx45cmx45cm.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk


I'll see what I can get together. I'll use the dimmer and throw some measurements together.  Might have time this weekend

sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## Glen Jowdie

Thanks ShawnMac for the info, that's a great help. Your scape looks great.


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## ShawnMac

I measured PAR quickly yesterday. Still haven't had time to put together a comprehensive chart. Here are values in my 45 cm below the Chihiros light for 3 locations. Top mid about 12 cm below light source was 220; bottom left front corner was 138, bottom front right corner was 143. As I mentioned, this light is super strong. I tried the dimmer again and could at full dim get the top mid value to 160, however it isn't a stable consistent light. When you dim too far it flicks on and off at a regular rate. I suspect this is what happens with the dimming settings where it is less obvious. The dimming switch add-on gets quite hot. Most likely its some type of resistor which reduces power to the light and its not very good, nor does it dissipate the heat well. I don't like it at all. 

It is difficult to grow plants at this high light in my opinion. You are basically fenced into high light high growth plants or adding a good deal of floating plants. Its seems like the really high light almost stunts some plants. The aquasoil is new and truthfully I haven't been dosing as well as I should, but plant mass in this recent scape is low with basically only HC. I also have downoi. It seems to be trying to flower or putting up flowering stalks. Maybe the high light is triggering it? When I had it in the tank before it was shaded by the stems, and still grew small and dense...no flower stalks though.


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## micheljq

ShawnMac said:


> It is difficult to grow plants at this high light in my opinion. You are basically fenced into high light high growth plants or adding a good deal of floating plants. Its seems like the really high light almost stunts some plants.



Maybe some plants need time to change their system to the new settings, many are slow to adapt.  Also you may have high light but if it lacks co2 and/or nutriments, the growth will not be necessary faster (and it can lead to algae issues).

Michel.


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## ShawnMac

micheljq said:


> Maybe some plants need time to change their system to the new settings, many are slow to adapt.  Also you may have high light but if it lacks co2 and/or nutriments, the growth will not be necessary faster (and it can lead to algae issues).
> 
> Michel.



yes, I'm well aware of those issues. It is not an adaptation issue. Growth is healthy for the most part, but slow or at least slower than in other lower light systems... and as I mentioned the downoi continues to try and flower by sending up long stalks. I have grown a healthy scape with this setup before, even in that setup I noticed the rotala green grew slower than in other systems. I cannot say for sure if it is the excessive light...however that was the primary difference between that and other systems. 

What I mean by difficult is basically that this level of light is not needed...and makes more trouble than it is worth. Particularly in the beginning phases. Once a setup is matured it works better. I can do it...and I am doing it, but less light might work better with similar results.


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## bgoh82

Thanks ShawnMac for the effort. So if at a 36cm depth at substrate, can I just divide the reading by 3 for an estimate?  (ie. 220/3=73 par). Also just to share that my dimmer switch is cool to touch too and visibly I didn't notice any flickering even at the lowest mode. 


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## ShawnMac

bgoh82 said:


> Thanks ShawnMac for the effort. So if at a 36cm depth at substrate, can I just divide the reading by 3 for an estimate?  (ie. 220/3=73 par). Also just to share that my dimmer switch is cool to touch too and visibly I didn't notice any flickering even at the lowest mode.
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk


What dimmer switch are you using? I'd be interested in getting one if that is the case.

What size model are you looking at? That seems reasonable, but I'm not sure drop off is that much...or linear. I'm curious so I'll look into it in better detail soon. Life has been very busy...can barely get my water changes in  

sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## bgoh82

I'm using the default one that comes with set. Mine is black instead of white. I'm using the A901 90cm lighting (rated 55w with 8200 lumens). 




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## ShawnMac

I'm using the same....hmmm. I have two, the one with the remote and the one like you have...both got pretty hot. Maybe mine suck! lol


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## rebel

Has anyone tried these lights with the TC420 for sunrise set?
http://www.dx.com/p/tc420-1-4-led-p...-black-12-24v-140cm-cable-269307#.V3-j-6K-UlM

@Shadowmac, those PAR readings are much appreciated!


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## bgoh82

Interesting, curious to know if this work with the chihiros =)

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## ShawnMac

I'm also very curious. How would one go about hooking up the two?

sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## Dantrasy

Give it a 12v power source. Hook the lights to the channels.The channels are for different colour leds. If there's room in the chihros you could add a strip of rbg leds. So rbg is 3 colours and the original white leds would be the 4th. If all you were connecting to the TC40 were white leds you;de be missing out on a lot of its functionality. 

I have a program on my laptop that allows you to mix the colour intensity and ramp up/down for sunrise/sunset. You create the desired effect/mode, test it in x200 speed then d/load it to the TC420. I've just mentioned the main features, it can do a lot more. You can fade it into moonlight for the last hour if you wanted to.


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## Mohaa4445

have anyone tried a plus series?


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## Daveslaney

Would you need one TC420 for each light unit? Or can one run multiple light units?.


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## Million

For balance, I have the Chihiros a series 60cm unit, and don't notice any flicker with the dimmer on


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## Progen

I'm thinking of getting that for a little 5G which is lit by a cheapo now. Growing a HC carpet on it and it'll eventually be a shrimp tank with perhaps some floaters on top. From outer edge to outer edge, mine measures 35cm. Do I go for the 351 or 361?


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## Ericson Sy

ShawnMac said:


> IME, the Chihiros is very bright. I've measured PAR and it is stronger than the ADA aquasky. Depending on your scape plans it may be overpowered. If doing an Iwagumi type layout with a few low growing carpeting plants I'd throw in some floating water sprite in the beginning to compensate for the lower plant mass. CO2 has to be on point and a nutrient rich soil will probably help greatly. The red rotala is Rotala H'ra. It does not get this red in any other setups I'm running. Par is over 200 micromoles near the top center. Aquasky is around 160 as measured by an Apogee PAR sensor.
> 
> I did not like the dimming function. Seemed to make the light flicker a little. The light did not appear to be steady or stable. It wasn't obvious, but looked strange to me. I ran at full power and skipped the dimmer.
> 
> Here is my most recent scape with the 45 cm version of the Chihiros
> 
> View attachment 88311


Have you an co2 here?


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