# Juwel Helialux LED vs SPECTRUM



## Ackroyd (21 Oct 2020)

Hello.
I was wandering about differences of these two lightning.
I have Rio 180 with helialux LED 1000. However, it seems like plants would appreciate a little more light. I know that spectrum can be connected to mobile phone and colours set individually, but i am more interested in intensity of these lights. Did someone measure PAR of both lights?


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## stu123 (17 Dec 2020)

Hi I see you haven't had much feedback:/  I'm looking for the same answers myself, I have a rio 180 like you, brought the helialux led 1000 2 years back, £170 didn't realise at the time I would need to buy a separate controller so that was another £80  it says state of the art high performance for optimal plant growth,  I'm running co2 fertiliser root tabs, yet in 6 months 32 out of 36 plants dead , have been told I need to upgrade my light but then also been told I can grow any plant with my light, I just want to rule out my light being the issue, can you add an upgrade to it do you know, instead of having to buy a whole new unit, I've had bit of trouble with my controller as well, can't get it to come straight on at 100% , how ever i set it it brightens up in stages, and it seems like when in the stored  programme  it never goes up to 100% white , its like it only reaches 85% white, i swear my eyes don't fail me  , I normally have 30/60 min of just blue light before I got full white, should I have my blue light up to 100% as well as white, you can't see the blue when white up that high but was wondering if it made any difference  to the plants, I normally have it on 100%  white 80% blue


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## Ackroyd (17 Dec 2020)

Hello.



I dont think that Helialux LED was a bad light, not at all. But for advanced plants it was sometimes insufficient. This is the result i had with that light. I had my light set to be at 90%White and 90%blue for 8.5 hours (including 0.5h ramps) daily.
The controller (day-night) was not user friendly i think. But had no problem setting it up. If you send me a video about how you are setting it, maybe we can find a problem with yours.
So if i undrestand correctly you have:
1. pressurized co2 system - (at what level are you keeping your co2?)
2. Root tabs
3. Liquid fertilizers (which and what is your dosing?)


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## dw1305 (17 Dec 2020)

Hi all, 
Welcome to the forum.


stu123 said:


> I'm running co2 fertiliser root tabs, yet in 6 months 32 out of 36 plants dead ,


It would depend a little bit on what the plants were? But my guess would be that it wasn't entirely light related. 

I use a simple technique, <"that takes both light and CO2 availability out of the equation">, and then you know that  any growth problems that are left <"relate to mineral nutrition">.  I called it the <"Duckweed Index"> , but I now prefer (Amazon Frogbit) _Limnobium laevigatum. _It doesn't matter what floating plant you use, but one <"with dark green leaves"> makes life easier. 

A photo is really useful to us, particularly if it shows changes in <"leaf colour or leaf growth">. Have a look at <"Mg/Fe deficiency.....">.

cheers Darrel


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## stu123 (13 Jan 2021)

Hi sorry for delayed reply ,I've added some pictures,would really appreciate your help

 I had a few stem plants,only 2 really grew,hygrophila polysperma and ludwigia super mini red,had to cut them back monthly but even then the leafs were a lot smaller and storks about 3rd of original size, I'd replanted them a good 4/5 times and they were fine, I replanted them about 4 months back ,I'd lost heart then a bit,  so was a bit erratic with fertiliser,the ludwigia died off and the hygrophila has not really grown since, there is a picture I've added of the hygrophila.
 I had lobelia cardinalis,  look nice when I first got them,big leafs and purple,  that lasted a good 4 months , but the big leafs slowly dropped off and any new leafs were like a quarter of the size and it lost all its colour turning from purple to pale green, by the time a got rid of it the stems were about a 10th of the size
 I had ludwigia glandulosa and alternanthera  sessilis that didn't grow what so ever,just sat there and festered,about a month later they were just storks
 in the pictures you will see my echinodorus harbii , that had been going pretty well, to start with new leafs were growing tall, I guess because of the way I pruned it back but now I just get short stems, but was still looking good, the last 3/4 months thou it has struggled and have had to take a good 20 leafs off, my amazon sword has been the same
  you can kinda see by my anubias how new growth is , lighter green and a bit stringlely
  I've added a picture of leaf deficiency,  going by that I could have a good 5 problems,  but then shouldn't fertiliser solve most of that 🤷‍♂️ I use TNC complet and have some easy life profito too, but what ever I do it makes no difference

 there's another screen shot of plants I've had that did nothing and lasted 3 weeks, I first had eleocharis sp mini carpet plant, for about 3 weeks it seemed to be doing ok and spreading out but then just stopped and over few weeks became stringlely and ended up just coming out every day, I do use tap water but still shouldn't have all this trouble, my PH is 7.3 ,could do with being maybe 6.5 I know but still can't see how thats the problem, it's all doing my brain in if I'm honest, I've found out my light is just over 3000 luminance, again not great but should be good for medium standard


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## stu123 (13 Jan 2021)

All dead within 3/4 weeks


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## stu123 (13 Jan 2021)

My dream is for you to totally know my problem and give me guidance as you would a child, as said its doing my brain in lol


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## mort (14 Jan 2021)

stu123 said:


> My dream is for you to totally know my problem and give me guidance as you would a child, as said its doing my brain in lol



You maybe better off posting your reply above in the plant section as it's likely to get more views and help from the knowledgeable people in there. If you tell us more about the setup, maybe a full tank shot, it will be easier to answer. From the pics it looks like you aren't very densely planted at the moment which can be a real problem in new setups and I would suggest co2 distribution is also a problem for you at the moment. But try a post in thee plant section and see what others suggest.


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## stu123 (14 Jan 2021)

mort said:


> You maybe better off posting your reply above in the plant section as it's likely to get more views and help from the knowledgeable people in there. If you tell us more about the setup, maybe a full tank shot, it will be easier to answer. From the pics it looks like you aren't very densely planted at the moment which can be a real problem in new setups and I would suggest co2 distribution is also a problem for you at the moment. But try a post in thee plant section and see what others suggest.


Hi that's just how my tank is at the moment,  I've planted it twice, started in April  and just have 6 plants left out of about 38 , just wrote here as I got reply but I'm about 2 weeks late :/


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## MTaquairl (1 Sep 2021)

I've Rio 180 for couple of months now with standard Helialux LED without controller. TBH I ha e to trim everything at least every 2-3 weeks. Also its low tech without CO2 just quality aqua soil. But has been thinking about Spectrum light more for colour intensities. 
For carpet plants Spectrum would be better as stronger light


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