# ADA RGB Solar vs Chihiros RGB



## Nigel95 (24 Aug 2018)

A short video with some thoughts about the ada rgb solar and the chihiros rgb.


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## Tim Harrison (24 Aug 2018)

Nice video Nigel...I'd really be interested in the comparison between ADA RGB Solar and the Twinstar LED S. From what I can gather the spectrum and colour rendition may not be too dissimilar.


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## Nigel95 (24 Aug 2018)

Tim Harrison said:


> Nice video Nigel...I'd really be interested in the comparison between ADA RGB Solar and the Twinstar LED S. From what I can gather the spectrum and colour rendition may not be too dissimilar.



Thanks Tim

GreenAqua made a video about that, where they also talked about ada rgb solar vs twinstar s series. On the picture IMO ADA RGB Solar wins. But If you have a twinstar s series at home I am pretty sure you will be very happy with it! If I had a 60 or 90cm tank probably went for twinstar s series. I think it is a great choice between the chihiros and ada rgb solar. Better than Chihiros but much better price than ADA RGB Solar. On my 80cm tank I was scared the twinstar 600sp wouldn't cover the sides very well with enough light. 

On the left ADA RGB Solar and on the right Twinstar s series. (from GreenAqua video) 



ada rgb solar vs twinstar s series by Nigel Aquascaping, on Flickr


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## Zeus. (27 Aug 2018)

Just been to Green Aqua and seen the ADA RGB and compared it to the Twinstar LED ( not sure which model they had on tank). The ADA RGB Solar was amazing IMO Colour wise, thinking about getting some myself with reflectors


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## Siege (27 Aug 2018)

Zeus. said:


> Just been to Green Aqua and seen the ADA RGB and compared it to the Twinstar LED ( not sure which model they had on tank). The ADA RGB Solar was amazing IMO Colour wise, thinking about getting some myself with reflectors



How did you find Green Aqua? Mind blowing?

Check out the new Max Lite. Doesn’t come on the market for a few months yet though. 
Aquarium Gardens has one on Filipe’s 900 triangular scape. You can see it in George farmers video last week.

8 dimming settings, no sunrise or sunset setting at the moment though.

I’m going to get one for my 900 tank. To my eyes, it’s much greener and crisper than the Twinstar SP. Not sure if it’s better than the Twinstar, just different. More green and plants look crisper.

Price wise, expect more than a Twinstar SP but half the price of the ADA RGB.


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## Zeus. (27 Aug 2018)

Siege said:


> How did you find Green Aqua? Mind blowing?



Wife had ''City Break' booked in Budapest so was only 15mins in taxi away. Their tanks was fantastic very little algea esp considering the high light output of the ADA RGB Solar, very impressed and very helpful with information how they achieved their results with powerful lights. No hard trying to get you to buy either ( just like aquarium Gardens and LFS) which I do like also.
ADA RGB solar out of stock ATM. But they did hang well from the ceiling on single wire each side unlike the Twinstar hanging wires, even gave them a nudge and they reset themselves nicely, better fixed lower centre of gravity OFC, very very tempted. They was running on a 7hr photoperiod and CO2 was green on the DC and tank turnover was less than I expected (less than mine!) They said the high light output wasn't an issue algea wise and their tanks was testimate to that. Some on ADA ferts on others on their own mix of ferts. Great selection of plants too OFC.
Well worth a visit to see what's possible with the naked eye unfiltered etc. Just moved the 'Bar Up' on what I would like to achieve


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## Nigel95 (27 Aug 2018)

Zeus. said:


> Just been to Green Aqua and seen the ADA RGB and compared it to the Twinstar LED ( not sure which model they had on tank). The ADA RGB Solar was amazing IMO Colour wise, thinking about getting some myself with reflectors



Yeah the ada shades are a must if you don't want to lit your whole room as well haha. Makes it even more expensive. But if you have budget and can balance high light. You will be very happy I think.



Zeus. said:


> They was running on a 7hr photoperiod and CO2 was green on the DC and tank turnover was less than I expected (less than mine!) They said the high light output wasn't an issue algea wise and their tanks was testimate to that. Some on ADA ferts on others on their own mix of ferts.



Multiple pros seem to run their tanks very well with high light and low flow like 5x turnover or so (or even less)... Sometimes makes me think how do they do it!! But I think to much flow with atomizer (co2 mist flow) can also trigger BBA. On slow growers and hardscape. At least this is what I seem to experience in a few tanks.


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## Zeus. (27 Aug 2018)

They was using the Sera CO2 reactors and some custom ones too, had I good look in the cabinets  injection rates wasn't massive either.
They did say the ADA RGB Solar doesn't seem to suffer much algea issues due to its spectrum or that's how it seems


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## alto (27 Aug 2018)

Nigel95 said:


> low flow like 5x turnover or so (or even less


Yes this is what I’m always going on about (and recent post triggered a rant    )

My tanks are lucky if they get a 5X turnover 

Jurijs mit JS also runs much lower CO2 injection rates - I was starting to feel guilty of Plant Abuse until I saw videos from Jurijs and Filipe Oliveira and GreenAqua 

I suspect that substrate based nutrients (slow steady release) & lean water column dosing are significant factors 

Re ADA Solar RGB
There’s certainly scientific evidence supporting light spectrum effects on types of plant growth, algae growth ... adaptability does not mean there are no optimum spectra
Historically, ADA runs a barrage of tests before releasing products to market


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## alto (27 Aug 2018)

Zeus. said:


> Wife had ''City Break' booked in Budapes


What an awesome partner


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## Zeus. (28 Aug 2018)

alto said:


> Yes this is what I’m always going on about (and recent post triggered a rant    )
> 
> My tanks are lucky if they get a 5X turnover
> 
> ...



Well the proof is in the seeing the tanks and I was BLOW AWAY by how very little aglea was in any tanks, so does throw a spanner in the x10 rule and high lights, there was almost like a mill pond to mine being a river! no tank was over 12 months old all the same

Oh and they clean the filters once every three months


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## Nigel95 (28 Aug 2018)

Zeus. said:


> They was using the Sera CO2 reactors and some custom ones too, had I good look in the cabinets  injection rates wasn't massive either.
> They did say the ADA RGB Solar doesn't seem to suffer much algea issues due to its spectrum or that's how it seems



Never heard of that, that it has a spectrum that triggers algae less... Sounds to good to be true haha! But in fact. Running a scape atm with the ada rgb solar and my ferts was a big mess. Not really a tester and was just dosing with values given by rotala butterfly. Plants out of soil like monte carlo where suffering hard! I was about to pull it out. Headache! Then Filipe told me to try some commercial micros and see if it does something. Turns out my plants are growing much better and faster now. So happy I was really to pull the monte carlo out and give up on it in high light out of soil. So in short... I made a big mess with my ferts and the algae didn't had very much algae. Only algae I saw was bba when I dosed almost EI levels of no3 (and still plants where suffering). Just never thought it could be the micros (standard csm diy mix). Beside that I never skipped water changes and did weekly turkey baster so good maintenance. But still very little algae with this high light and I have low plantmass.



alto said:


> I suspect that substrate based nutrients (slow steady release) & lean water column dosing are significant factors



This seems key to succes indeed.. much pros rely on substrate and lean dosing.

I think if you know what you are doing can go with less flow. If new to hobby or struggling or so, may be better to get 10x turnover just to be safe.



Zeus. said:


> Oh and they clean the filters once every three months



Same for me but I have 10x turnover.


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## J@mes (28 Aug 2018)

Zeus. said:


> Well the proof is in the seeing the tanks and I was BLOW AWAY by how very little aglea was in any tanks, so does throw a spanner in the x10 rule and high lights, there was almost like a mill pond to mine being a river! no tank was over 12 months old all the same
> 
> Oh and they clean the filters once every three months



Hi , excuse me jumping in, i saw a you tube clip by green aqua recently & they said they use UV filters which I was surprised to hear as I’ve read on here they aren’t effective on planted tanks. 

Did you discuss use of UV filters with them when you were there? 

Cheers


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## Zeus. (28 Aug 2018)

Didn't mention UV filters at all to me and I was asking about how they keep there tanks so relatively algea free and what they would recommend for my tank. So have them the run down and mentioned some ADA multi bottom as tank was 18 month old and surgusted to run the tank at 22 degrees Celsius as that was the temp they used.

They did have quite a few UV units in stock for sale all the same, but also had other stuff for sale which folk don't advise on here too


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## Gonçalo Silva (29 Aug 2018)

They use twinstar nano + uv filters + daily dose excell in every tanks!


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## J@mes (29 Aug 2018)

Gonçalo Silva said:


> They use twinstar nano + uv filters + daily dose excell in every tanks!



Belt and braces approach eh. Suppose it sells a few units too.


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## Zeus. (30 Aug 2018)

Nigel95 said:


> Filipe told me to try some commercial micros and see if it does something. Turns out my plants are growing much better and faster now.



Brand?


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## Nigel95 (30 Aug 2018)

Zeus. said:


> Brand?



Seachem flourish and advance. 


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk


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## alto (31 Aug 2018)

Gonçalo Silva said:


> They use twinstar nano + uv filters + daily dose excell in every tanks!


Are you certain this applies to the new showroom?

In one of the new showroom videos Victor discusses changes to display tanks as they can now control temperature (building control system) & ambient light (window shades), and that in previous showroom they had much more of a battle against algae

Tomas’ 90cm cube tank runs with no Twinstar, no UV
Eheim 2080 XL filter glass inlets/outlet were custom made for the drilled tank  - which eliminates the tank from competition such as IAPLC 
Eheim skim 350 runs at night
Aquamedic external CO2 reactor
2 X ATI luminaires with 4 x 39watt T5 (all tank lights run from at least 10am - 6pm shop hours)

this just happens to be one of my favourite tanks


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## alto (31 Aug 2018)

J@mes said:


> Belt and braces approach eh. Suppose it sells a few units too.


maybe but they don’t try to “sell” anything in their video presentations 

A show room tank should always look it’s best, in a high light system this usually means daily maintenance (of some sort) - I rather appreciate Green Aqua’s stance as local shops are happy to sell on algae ridden plants (at full price   ) & display tanks are often nicely representing various algae types


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## Gonçalo Silva (4 Sep 2018)

alto said:


> Are you certain this applies to the new showroom?
> 
> In one of the new showroom videos Victor discusses changes to display tanks as they can now control temperature (building control system) & ambient light (window shades), and that in previous showroom they had much more of a battle against algae
> 
> ...



They say in one of the last videos (I think its the one of the tributo to Amano).


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## rebel (5 Sep 2018)

alto said:


> A show room tank should always look it’s best,


And should display a variety of excellent products. Without industry, this hobby will be inaccessible to all but the most persistent DIY wizards.


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