# Has anyone encountered this color rendition oddity?



## Kyle3 (19 Nov 2021)

Hi everyone,

After searching the internet for an explanation of this odd thing, I've decided it must not be especially wide-spread or else I have failed to find the right search terms - hoping someone here can provide some useful insight!

I have one colony of yellow neocaridina shrimp that have multiplied (obviously) enough that I have established populations in three aquariums. In the aquarium lit by a Chihiros WRGB II the shrimp appear decidedly orange (plants, fish, snails, and amanos are all uneffected).

Other lights that I've got running or previously used include: ONF flat nano, generic LED shop lights, and a Lominie LED (gooseneck/point-source style), and coralife t-5 6500K. Under all of these lights the shrimp are pure yellow.

The WRGB is very adjustable so I have tried many combinations of light color to try to find a combination that allows the shrimp to appear in their correct color, but they are orange under this light no matter what I try.

I'm not hopeful that there is a trick to get them to appear yellow with the Chihiros, but I would like help understanding why this is happening . . . and perhaps what specification/s in the light create this color rendition oddity so that I might avoid purchasing another expensive light in the future that has the same undesirable effect.

Thanks for reading and thanks for any ideas you can share!
-Kyle


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## Djoko Sauza (19 Nov 2021)

The WRGB2 uses only red, blue and green LEDs (why it is still called "W"RGB is beyond me) while most rgb light fixtures from other brands also include white LEDs. This causes yellows to become reddish under this light.

From the Chihiros website:





It's a shame to lose the yellow tones in my opinion. On the other hand, the green and red look amazing, even over saturated if you're not used to it.

Also makes Ember Tetras look red instead of orange.

I know some people here mentioned wanting to mod it by adding a white led strip to the fixture, don't know if it ever happened though?


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## oreo57 (20 Nov 2021)

Kyle3 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> After searching the internet for an explanation of this odd thing, I've decided it must not be especially wide-spread or else I have failed to find the right search terms - hoping someone here can provide some useful insight!
> 
> ...


Simple answer.. light is short of yellow photons. White leds are rich in yellow/green..
No wavelengths, no reflection to your eye of that color.

Coral life uses phosphors to spread out the spectrum whereas leds of a color are usually more narrow.
T5 "whites" are rgb like a rgb diode but with a color smear ( and possiblty  more color phosphors) you don't usually find in monochrome leds, Spectrum above does say it all. 
Add this ..Corallife 6700k


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## rebel (20 Nov 2021)

Very curious indeed!

Does this mean that you may not notice yellowing of plants due to nitrogen deficiency etc while being lite by Chihiros RGB???


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## Djoko Sauza (20 Nov 2021)

rebel said:


> Very curious indeed!
> 
> Does this mean that you may not notice yellowing of plants due to nitrogen deficiency etc while being lite by Chihiros RGB???


Definitely makes it less noticeable in my experience.


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## Kyle3 (21 Nov 2021)

Thank you so much Diogo Sousa & oreo57 - that certainly does explain my orange shrimp!

The “W” is definitely misleading. I should have taken more care in selecting my light I guess. 

Rebel’s question about nitrogen deficiency is a good call out - I’ll have to be sure to keep it in mind lest I miss some suffering plant signals. 

When I finally upgrade my tank (… someday) I’ll have to go with a different light rather than adding a second of these - Le sigh!


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## jaypeecee (21 Nov 2021)

Hi @Kyle3 

Not only is the Chihiros WRGB2 emitting insignificant light in the yellow part of the spectrum but yellow light only occupies 8% of the visible spectrum. Compare that with, say, red where the figure is 23%. No wonder your shrimp look orange, which sits between yellow and red!

JPC


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## rebel (21 Nov 2021)

Kyle3 said:


> When I finally upgrade my tank (… someday) I’ll have to go with a different light rather than adding a second of these - Le sigh!


Cheaper for you to just get used to it... 

As long as there is no comparator, I find that I have just got used to my modified Chihiro A series lights. I added some RGB to them and still chugging along since 2015 when I got them second hand!!!


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## erwin123 (22 Nov 2021)

I was wondering why the colour of my Ammannia Pedicatella doesn't look as 'yellow' or 'golden' as some of the photos on the internet. So it seems that the yellow rendition of the WRGB is a partial explanation, together with liberal use of photoshop on the internet being the other....


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