# New Chihiros RGB Vivid - looks VERY promising



## Zeus.

After going to Green Aqua and seeing the ADA RGB LED solar I was blown away , then thanks to Nigel informed me about the New Chihiros RGB Vivid




Dont think you need to ask 'if' I will be getting one to try it out on my 50l if they make one to fit


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## alto

That second video

ROFLMAO

Funny how Chihiros never manages to get their “R&D” product out first


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## MvR-NL

Just in time to fit my new tank if it does what they say and prive is reasonable 

Today i sold my "old" 225cm ... next week a OpticWhite 1200x600x450 rimlesswill be ordered.
Was just looking for new lights, love the ADA but dont want to pay 2 months of mortgage for 2 lights hahaha


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## Daveslaney

Any more news on the Vivid yet?


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## rebel

Price is not 'reasonable' AFAIK.....


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## Daveslaney

They are expensive then?


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## rebel

Daveslaney said:


> They are expensive then?


Yes I saw it in farcebook but cant remember details. I didnt think there was a logical reason for the expense. From memory it was about 3.5 times the original A series. 

Dont quote me on it have a look. I can never find old posts in farcebrock though....


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## Barbara Turner

They should now be available.. They are a whole lot more expensive than the A series. But it's a vastly superior light with far more functionality.  They also  have a whole range of new lights coming out, the vivid is there flagship model both in performance and price.

I need to check shipping and import cost but I would guess arround £200 mark.


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## Daveslaney

IF it does as advertised,Sounds good at that price range then.


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## Johny

Look for Chihiros on facebook. They posted all the infromation about all the new lights. Spectrums/watts/lumens etc. Now if you want the Vivid for a smaller tank like my 50cm, then check out the "X400" it uses the exact same led as the VIVID, just smaller and cheaper.


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## David Edwards

Any more feedback on this from members. Acquired a 90 x 45 x45 and considering lighting.

Thanks


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## Nuno Gomes

The RGB Vivid is not available yet, only the WRGB models are out.


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## Daveslaney

Any more news in these lights? Seems to be taking a while to release.


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## rebel

Nuno Gomes said:


> The RGB Vivid is not available yet, only the WRGB models are out.


They have also phased out the older models A plus, A series, and even the regular RGB which is disappointing. It may have been advantageous to keep a lower end to higher end to capture all segments of the market. Not everyone needs a WRGB at that price.


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## Stu Worrall

are they ever going to hit the market?


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## Nuno Gomes

I saw a post on the Chihiros facebook page stating that some European countries will receive these lights after christmas. So I'd say they will be available at the beginning of next year. I might consider replacing my WRGB90 with a Vivid.


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## CooKieS

It's available here in France...but for 399€, way overpriced for an chihiros lightning IMO.


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## Edvet

Sad, i see they want a pice of the pie, but the lower end models are good for their price.


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## CooKieS

Edvet said:


> Sad, i see they want a pice of the pie, but the lower end models are good for their price.



Yes sure, personally I don't like the oversaturated colors render by the vivid or the ada new solar anyway.

Twinstar S or chihiros wrgb are OK IMO


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## Nuno Gomes

CooKieS said:


> It's available here in France...but for 399€, way overpriced for an chihiros lightning IMO.



Considering their goal was to offer an ADA Solar RGB alternative, I'd say 399e is a decent price. It's less than half of a solar rgb.


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## rebel

Wonder whether they have a steady and consistent supply of specific LED diodes with good BINs etc... In other words, if you buy two lights and put them side by side, would they look exactly the same colour temperature....


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## HypeBuce

They're £200 I want to get one but I'm unsure on the fan noise. Does anyone have one that can send a video of the noise created? I don't want to hear it... Those of you that ha e the WRGB, Do you think it can reproduce these colours?


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## Tom Michael

HypeBuce said:


> They're £200 I want to get one but I'm unsure on the fan noise. Does anyone have one that can send a video of the noise created? I don't want to hear it... Those of you that ha e the WRGB, Do you think it can reproduce these colours?



Do you know where you can purchase them? £200 seems very reasonable, but like you I would be concerned about the noise of the fan...


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## HypeBuce

Tom Michael said:


> Do you know where you can purchase them? £200 seems very reasonable, but like you I would be concerned about the noise of the fan...


Chinese websites!
Alibaba,Aliexpress etc


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## Daveslaney

Would there be any import tax etc to pay on these if ordered from these sites? On Aliexpress the shipping is free by DHL 7 to 15 days.


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## Onoma1

HypeBuce said:


> Those of you that ha e the WRGB, Do you think it can reproduce these colours?



I think I could reproduce the colour tone using the app, however, the light from the WRGB doesn't seem as bright.


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## Onoma1

Daveslaney said:


> Would there be any import tax etc to pay on these if ordered from these sites? On Aliexpress the shipping is free by DHL 7 to 15 days.



DHL tends to ensure tax is paid. I used the service and paid in the region of 18 pounds on a 125 pound light (with the controller).


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## Daveslaney

Ok so not to bad really. What happens do you pay DHL the tax on delivery?


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## zozo

Yes i believe that nowadays, ebay etc. have an international agreement to also charge taxes for the destination country.. That used to be different, than you could expect a bill in the mail box from customs 6 weeks after the purchase. Last time i ordered exceding the tax free range was from the USA and taxes were immediately included on top of the sales price via ebay pay service.. In my case that was 21% at that time.. I guess this to avoid fraud, in the past it was easy to simply contact the seller and ask them to Label the package at a lower price. Now the sellers payment service is used as the customs gaurd dog.

In my country if i order anything outside EU and i stay bellow € 21 i don't have to pay VAT.. Do i order higher than €21 VAT is added. Thus if possible i split my orders, for example if i want to order a bunch of stuff all together € 80 with free shipment  Than i split it up into 4 separate orders and seperate payments of € 20. This to avoid 21% tax.. That saves me over €16.

Good to check if your country has a simmular arrangement.. It seems billing VAT over small payments is administartively to expensive for customs to collect it.


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## DutchMuch

wow just noticed the price of this is 250$

better be worth it.. Expensive


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## Onoma1

Daveslaney said:


> Ok so not to bad really. What happens do you pay DHL the tax on delivery?


 
I have seen different approaches used by the companies selling on Chinese websites. Some seem to put a lower value on their bill of goods whilst others put the full amount. This may or may not be accepted by customs and the goods can be inspected.  If DHL / customs think tax needs to be paid you will get an email from them and then can pay online. None of the Chinese sellers that I have seen seem to add tax onto the selling price.


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## rebel

They should send a few units out to the top scapers out there. I wouldn't be game to pay top dollar for a product with poor warranty/customer service etc if something goes wrong. Also the longevity of the product needs to be solid too.


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## zozo

Onoma1 said:


> None of the Chinese sellers that I have seen seem to add tax onto the selling price.



In my case it was may 2017 and a private used item purchased from the USA via Ebay. Only showing the $150 sales price + international shipping costs.. The moment i hit the "Pay Now" button got redirected to Ebay pay service and they automaticaly added the 21% customs applicable for my country as final price i had to pay with a login button to Paypal. It was all calculated and arranged before Paypal came into play. Never heard a word from customs after that all was already taken careoff.

How they arranged it i do not know, it wasn't the seller, it wasn't paypal nor was it DHL or was it UPS i forgot.. ebay payment services itself came up with it. They must have made some international agreement on that, never seen it before. If this arangement is applied world wide or only between certain countries i also do not know.. My country at least does nowadays with ebay or maybe only the USA. 

The last time before, maybe 2015, i orded a higher amount over $100 from the USA i had to pay an extra bill on top, weeks afterwards directly to our customs.

I rarely order such high amounts online.. But indeed i sometimes also notice that a China package from a $20 order shows a $10 value. I have no idea why the seller does that.. Maybe to avoid shipping delays.  For me personaly it doesn't make a difference..


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## HypeBuce

My major concern is the fan noise. I'm going to have a 60P in my room and you've seen the Scape I want in one of my earlier posts. That's why I'm deciding between the WRGB and VIVID Twinstar aren't as bright and get hot leading to a short lifetime and the brighter models are even more expensive and out of budget. WRGB seems to be a reliable light as the thermals are good but the VIVID just seems to be the ideal colour rendition and brightness. Just not sure about that fan. 


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## zozo

I looked it up.. 

It's Ebay Global Shipping Program service in cahoots with Paypal..  making the buyer pay import and tax fees at checkout.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/s...pping-options/global-shipping-program?id=4646

But its indeed a Seller option and needs to subscribe to using this service, only available if paypal also is used. Than the global shipping program takes care of all extra duties.


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## HypeBuce

zozo said:


> I looked it up..
> 
> It's Ebay Global Shipping Program service in cahoots with Paypal..  making the buyer pay import and tax fees at checkout.
> https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/s...pping-options/global-shipping-program?id=4646
> 
> But its indeed a Seller option and needs to subscribe to using this service, only available if paypal also is used. Than the global shipping program takes care of all extra duties.



What American ebayers are selling a Vivid then? I can only find them on Aliexpress(China)


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## Daveslaney

Just ordered one from Aliexpress, used PayPal to pay and it cost a extra £7 to pay with PayPal at the checkout. Delivered by DHL so should be here in a couple of weeks.


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## zozo

HypeBuce said:


> What American ebayers are selling a Vivid then? I can only find them on Aliexpress(China)



It doesn't need to be an American seller, just an international seller that is subscribed to the Global Shipping Program.. Only than is the TAX and import duty calculated at checkout. If you look in above link explaining the program and the Eligible countries, China is one of them..

Chihiros products are also sold on Ebay but mainly China vendors.

Still it depends if seller is not connected to this program than import and tax duties are the buyers responsibility after purchase. 

But here is one from the states
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Chihiros-A...h=item23b3733ad4:g:dl0AAOSwhr9cNqdx:rk:8:pf:0

Using this program it als says so at the shipping details....


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## Tom Michael

Daveslaney said:


> Just ordered one from Aliexpress, used PayPal to pay and it cost a extra £7 to pay with PayPal at the checkout. Delivered by DHL so should be here in a couple of weeks.


Look forward to your initial feedback Dave!


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## HypeBuce

zozo said:


> It doesn't need to be an American seller, just an international seller that is subscribed to the Global Shipping Program.. Only than is the TAX and import duty calculated at checkout. If you look in above link explaining the program and the Eligible countries, China is one of them..
> 
> Chihiros products are also sold on Ebay but mainly China vendors.
> 
> Still it depends if seller is not connected to this program than import and tax duties are the buyers responsibility after purchase.
> 
> But here is one from the states
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/Chihiros-A...h=item23b3733ad4:g:dl0AAOSwhr9cNqdx:rk:8:pf:0
> 
> Using this program it als says so at the shipping details....



That light is not an RGB VIVID. it's just a normal Chihiros RGB


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## macek.g




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## HypeBuce

macek.g said:


>




Ah it's annoying how he didn't share the noise of the fan! Too bad it's not in English aswell . 


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## konrad.mrozek.7

Mate it's my review. If you want I can trqnslate it. About fans i totally forgot about it in my first impressions. They're not loud at all. At 50-60% only one running. Above that 2 are running. I would say you can compare to good computer fans. What else you guys want to know?? Btw color rendition fhenomenal. Hands down best light i got so far. Chihiros rgb to vivid ( i have both) it's like vw to mercedes.

Wysłane z mojego SM-G950F przy użyciu Tapatalka


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## DanielC03

sorry for the off topic: buce is planted on the ground?


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## konrad.mrozek.7

Buce is planted on small rock ( glued to it). You can't see it becouse parvula overtook the rock

Wysłane z mojego SM-G950F przy użyciu Tapatalka


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## HypeBuce

konrad.mrozek.7 said:


> About fans i totally forgot about it in my first impressions. They're not loud at all. At 50-60% only one running. Above that 2 are running. I would say you can compare to good computer fans.
> 
> Wysłane z mojego SM-G950F przy użyciu Tapatalka



Could you pm me or post it here a video of the fans running at max in a completely quiet room. I would have the light in my bedroom so I don't want to be able to hear it. I'd greatly appreciate it if you would  Thanks!! Just take a few steps away and record then slowly get closer, that might help get a good idea about the loudness. Also where did you get yours from and for how much 


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## HypeBuce

Also I wondered if anyone has any comparison between the RGB Vivid chihiros and the Twinstar 600S? I'm deciding between the two


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## konrad.mrozek.7

I will try to do it tommorow. No offence but why would anyone run their lights while they're sleeping?? It's so much light you couldn't sleep. It will lit up your room like crazy. I have huge living room and it lip it up a lot. My wife complaining about it. IMHO Twinstar is no match for this. You could comapre it to Chihiros rgb, wrgb. Vivid to Ada Solar Rgb.

Wysłane z mojego SM-G950F przy użyciu Tapatalka


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## Johny

Why did you decide to upgrade from your rgb to the vivid?
I have the rgb and the A-Plus right now, and they are not that bad


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## konrad.mrozek.7

I upgraded it becouse I always wanted that solar rgb look. In real life color rendition is outstanding. Don't get me wrong a series and rgb are real good, you can grow anything with it but that yelowish tint to it always buged me. Green Aqua on youtube have nice comparision Twinstar vs ada solar vs ada moonlight. Watch it and you will get what I mean. Hope this makes sense. 

Wysłane z mojego SM-G950F przy użyciu Tapatalka


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## HypeBuce

konrad.mrozek.7 said:


> No offence but why would anyone run their lights while they're sleeping?
> 
> Wysłane z mojego SM-G950F przy użyciu Tapatalka



Just because I have it in my room doesn't mean I was sleeping with the light on  I'm cautious about the sound because I'll be studying and watching movies and videos there in the Daytime. It would be both distracting and annoying for me to hear a fan. 

I saw the green aqua comparison. Would you say the green aqua comparison between the Twinstar and solar rgb is basically the same between the Twinstar and chihiros vivid? 


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## konrad.mrozek.7

In terms of color I would say it's pretty much it. Ofcourse twinstar and ada are much more expensive conpared to chihiros. Quality and looks are spotless on those but i rather pay less and get same results.

Wysłane z mojego SM-G950F przy użyciu Tapatalka


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## Daveslaney

Mine came this morning .


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## PAYN3Y

Daveslaney said:


> View attachment 121025Mine came this morning .



Chop chop. Reviews, pics, comparisons and videos


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## Daveslaney

Lol.
Waiting for the hanging kit to arrive at the min.
Have had a play with the light though. Easy to connect via Bluetooth with the app. It is very very bright. There are 6 presets on the app. Then you can make your own sunrise times, sunset time ramp up and down duration adjust the intensity throughout the photoperiod. A just the intensity of the red green and blue channels individually. Make the light do what you want really.
Quite impressed with it to be honest.


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## Daveslaney

Still faffing about with the hanging frame and wires.
But just for comparison here's of couple of pics took on my phone.
First is with the Twinstar second with the Vivid.


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## PAYN3Y

Unfortunately it’s really difficult to judge from iPhone pics as the camera will adjust the white balance and not give a true representation. What’s your initial thoughts?


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## Daveslaney

At the min im thinking it's a PITA to get lights to hang properly.
There is a difference in the colour rendition and it's a lot brighter. There is a lot more control on the light. But initial thoughts if I'm honest the difference isn't massive.


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## PAYN3Y

Well the greens look much less yellow and the red look more vivid so looks like an improvement to me so far. Probably better to take pics with the co2 off so the mist is less apparent. My tank looks so much better once the co2 goes off.

Lovely scape btw.


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## rebel

Thanks for your pics and impression. I agree that it looks slightly different. It will down to individual preference. I doubt you needed more brightness TBH. Tank looks healthy.


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## Daveslaney

Thanks.
Didn't really want more brightness to be honest will prob run this light at 50% or so. I wanted a pendant style light that I could hang above the tank. Looked into ONF, Twinstar sp etc and for the price the Chihiros worked out the best deal really. Don't get me wrong I'm not dissatisfied with the light it's a great light. it does everything I want.
The app is a breeze to use.
Just the difference isn't as big as I thought it would be given the extra power etc.


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## Kalum

I think there's a noticeable difference in colour going by your pics but would you say that's a true reflection on the difference in real life or exaggerated by your phone pic settings?


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## Daveslaney

Yes I would say it's a true reflection. I just had the light on default settings for the pics. The leds are all rgb so there is all three colour in one led diode. Not like on the Twinstar where there are so many red individual leds so many green and so many blue.
You can alter all 3 colour intensitys independently in the app. So you can pop the reds the blues or the greens if you want by altering the spectrum of the light.


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## Daveslaney

These are all pics taken with my phone. But for example if you want to pop the reds you can.


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## Stu Worrall

Just a little tip Dave when taking photos with the iPhone. If you put some card on the top lip of the tank and rest it on the light you’ll stop the glare which is reducing the contrast on your photos. Should get a better idea of what it looks like then


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## Daveslaney

Cheers Stu.
Here's one with the light on full and a piece of cardboard in front of light.


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## Shinobi

Stu Worrall said:


> Just a little tip Dave when taking photos with the iPhone. If you put some card on the top lip of the tank and rest it on the light you’ll stop the glare which is reducing the contrast on your photos. Should get a better idea of what it looks like then



Also, it’s hard to really do these comparisons on a phone. The software is doing all sorts of processing, post and dynamically on the picture depending on light, movement etc. this is especially true on IPhones with no Manuel settings


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## Edvet

Just found this:


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## HypeBuce

Edvet said:


> Just found this:




Yeah good for comparisons against chihiros lights but doesn't say a lot about comparisons to Twinstar etc...


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## Fred13

I bought the new twinstar sa900 (version 2) which is more balanced without the reddish tint that version 1 has .
I haven't tested it yet because scape isn't ready but the light it produces seems amazing . It is stronger than version 1 with 5800 lumens and a dimming controller is a must . I have the s2 controller .
Quality of the metal frame and aesthetics are wonderful imo.

The downside comes to price. It's pretty expensive for aquarium light .


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## H.Alves

Fred13 said:


> The downside comes to price. It's pretty expensive for aquarium light .



I second that, and add the fact that there is no dimmer included or chance to tweak individual RGB leds. Its pretty standard these days, even for much cheaper lights.


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## rebel

H.Alves said:


> I second that, and add the fact that there is no dimmer included or chance to tweak individual RGB leds. Its pretty standard these days, even for much cheaper lights.


They are copying the ADA which doesn't include dimmer or colour tuning. Actually color tuning is assumed to be not needed in this sort of light although would be nice! Dimmer should be included but it's not because the light may change color temperature when dimmed. I think the idea is to keep the light very consistent (ADA philosophy) and this fits into their 'system' where if you follow their formula, it will just work.


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## zozo

rebel said:


> I think the idea is to keep the light very consistent (ADA philosophy) and this fits into their 'system' where if you follow their formula, it will just work.



I guess so too..  Changing color will always cost intensity output.. Than if you would like to have consistant outup with rendering color you would need to over power the setup quite a lot with all colors at 100%.

Technicaly i do not realy see the problem it can be made. Just regarding giving it output specification with color rendering and each color i wouldn't know where to start.

If you look at the Kessil, it only does color rendering with a cool white ad a warm white led chip.. I guess yet nobody realy did test it, but it likely has some PAR shift as well when color is rendered. Since you have to make one color dimmer or brighter to change it. It would take quite some intelligent electronics to render color at same output performance with multi color leds like RGB and White leds in combination.


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## Daveslaney

I run mine at around 60%. You just dail each individual  colour down to 60% and this reduces the overall intensity and keeps the colour rendition as on full. But obviously not as bright. It is just too bright at 100% it lights the whole room.
I have dropped it to a local firm at the min to have a stainless steel shade made for it to reduce the light overspill. Should get it back middle of next week.


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## Fred13

Twinstar suggested me to start with 90% and then increase to 100%.

I have the sa900 for 100x50x50  tank.
90 and 100 percent seem very very strong for early stages .
I believe that I will also start with 70% and then slowly move on .
As far as I see when you dim the light all the rgb led go down so the color spectrum doesn't change . The intensity does which is the what we want anyway .


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## notmysign

Daveslaney said:


> I run mine at around 60%. You just dail each individual  colour down to 60% and this reduces the overall intensity and keeps the colour rendition as on full. But obviously not as bright. It is just too bright at 100% it lights the whole room.
> I have dropped it to a local firm at the min to have a stainless steel shade made for it to reduce the light overspill. Should get it back middle of next week.


 ? I had a word with aquasabi and they told me they didn't want to sell it because of the noise the fans do. Is it anything you notice? Could you change the fans to noctua ? Also how did the shading go?


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## Ed Wiser

Lighting is a very individual thing what each human see's is different and What one person see's color wise is different from another person. The important factor is par out put and what it is for the light. I just did a Par reading on a club members tank and looking at it you would think the light that came with the tank was putting out a good amount of Par but with a meter I was getting 26 Par when I should have been getting 125 par. You would have not been able to tell with the human eye.
On the Freshwater lights there is just not much dimming capability compared to the same price light on the saltwater side. Also integration with a aquarium controller is not a feature which is really handy. Lots of room for freshwater lighting to get better compared to the same priced light in the saltwater hobby.


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## Tim Harrison

Fred13 said:


> Twinstar suggested me to start with 90% and then increase to 100%.


I use the Twinstar S series and start it on 60%. I've found that it's plenty to grow pretty much anything, healthy and compact. Good CO2 implantation is far more important.
I know AG start at 50% and increase the intensity by 5% every week up to 100%. But they need to get their scapes showroom ready asap.
You need to be top of your game to do it the AG way, since it becomes a race between healthy plant growth and algae infestation.
If you get it right by the time 100% intensity is reached a large and healthy plant biomass effectively inhibits algal growth. But get it wrong and you'll be farming algae on steroids...


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## Basviola

Interesting reading. I will also appreciate a video of noise from the fans. I worries me that I read a bad feedback do to extreme noise from the fans on aliexpress. Anyway this more like in the category of a assembly fault on that specific product.

Still find it a bit wired, that today there is one review on the lights... the one posted above.

Also an update on how the extended reflector works and was made.

Thanks


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## Daveslaney

Sorry I've not been online alot lately. So just caught up on this thread.
Here is a short video I have just done of the noise from the fans with the light at 100%.
To be honest it sounds worse in the video than it actually is,  as it's a totally silent room. I would say the noise from the fans is about on par with the noise you would get from your laptop.
It doesn't bother me or the wife in normal situations with the TV on etc. Hope this helps.


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## Daveslaney

Lol just played it back and it sounds absolutely terrible in the video sorry.
For a comparison on sounds on the video here is one on my fluval G3 that is near silent.


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## Basviola

Thanks for the video of the fans... I have no doubt, I like the look of the light. But the fans still worries me. I realise now that there need to be some reference noise in the video, to have a chance to compare how much noise the fans make. Without reference (in the same video) it is not possible.

The best people have right now is your statement: "like good laptop fans"....

The problem is that it is not possible to adjust the speaker volume the replicate the IRL fan noise volume. 

So if I could be so humble to ask you to make another video with some reference sound in it, then you get the very best review of the Chihiros VIVID RBG out there so far. Which also is spectacular few!

This could be done like this:
Distance to the VIVID RBG in the previous video is good, but maybe you could close in on the light in the end, with the last reference sound continuing.
The reference sounds need to be generated at same distance to the camera. (Just next to the light!)
The reference sounds must be at a fixed volume, and something people know the volume of. The more different ref. sounds the better.

Example of reference sounds:
A person side by side with the aquarium turning on a lighter for some time.
Then grabs a pen and clicking on the top for some time,
Then browsing through a newspaper
The person could also say: I will now whisper at a volume where the camera man/woman can barely pick up the words, then speak "normal", then speak out loud.
The person could clap, all the way from not able to hear it, and to full power and sour hands!!!
Turn on and off an air pump with bubbles popping in the aquarium. (a noise many can relate to)
The more the better, as long as the reference noise is something people kind of know the volume of, to compare volume of the fans.

I know it is a lot to ask for, but I am sure this is the only way for people to get something out of a video "showing" the fan noise. Sorry but I only realised this after watching your video.

It is the same issue with the video with noise from the G3. There is nothing to compare, you can only tell the noise is at a different frekvens. There could have been a little to compare if the G3 noise was filmed at the same distance from the source of noise, as with the VIVID.... but still different phone, different setting and so on.

Both videos I can play full power through my speaker and have everybody in the building running down with complains!! 


Thanks, I would really appreciate it, and I am sure a lot of others would too.


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## Daveslaney

Yes I'm with you all he way on that. It wasn't until I had posyre the video and played it back that I realised how loud it actually sounded on the video. If i had heard the video before i bought my light there is no way i would have bought it i assure you of that.
Just be aware that any light with a fan will make some noise and if it is something that will bother you go for a fanless light option as this is the only option that will be totally silent.
Leave it with me i will see what I can do with regard to a video with reference noises also.


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## Basviola

Daveslaney or someone else with VIVID, how far above the top of the aquarium will you suggest hanging the VIVID.

On a tank with the size 80cm long, 40cm deep, and 40cm high. 128 liters.

Thanks in advance.


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## Daveslaney

I have mine hung around 30cm above the tank and run it at 60% max. You can hang it as high or low as you like and adjust intensity pro rata but I find any lower maintenance is awkward and any higher the light over spill is more of a problem as my tank is sited next to the sofa.
Here's another video on the Vivid noise, I have included some house hold noises that people should be able to relate to for ref.


----------



## Daveslaney

In the last video you can see the shade I had made for the light also.


----------



## Basviola

Thank you for the video. It might be the light I will buy to my 250 liter aquarium. B.ut have another projekts before that


----------



## rebel

I wonder what the service life of the fan would be? If that fails, the light may go caput.


----------



## Basviola

rebel said:


> I wonder what the service life of the fan would be? If that fails, the light may go caput.



Some quick researh on fans, saus around 150.000 h


----------



## Basviola

Still happy with your VIVID Dave?


----------



## Jayefc1

Think he sold it after breaking down his tank and buying a reef tank


----------



## Basviola

Daveslaney said:


> In the last video you can see the shade I had made for the light also.



I have a VIVID now, light is really intense, and i would like to make a shade/reflector too.
Dave please tell me how the shade was attached?


----------



## Basviola

As the lamp gets pretty hot.... so hotglue will not be an option!!!! =)


----------



## Chris Tinker

damn that tank looks niiiice!


----------



## Kalum

just placed my order for one of these this morning, looking forward to seeing the difference between the Vivid and my Twinstar


----------



## rebel

@Daveslaney great work with that video of the noise!


----------



## Basviola

Daveslaney said:


> In the last video you can see the shade I had made for the light also



Dave how is the shade attached? please tell me!


----------



## Kalum

I've got an idea for when I get mine but need to find a place that can cut aluminium sheet into something other than a rectangle, only places so far only do rectangular or square pieces


----------



## alto

Kalum said:


> rectangular or square


time to support local Artists


----------



## Paulo Pacheco

Hi all, 

So I've got two fixtures to use on my new project. Notice that both of them keep blinking blue even after been successfully programmed. 

They seem to be always searching for a Bluetooth connection. 

When I connect with the Chihiros Magic App, the blue leds stop blinking and remain on. Soon after I close the app on my phone, they start to blink again. 

On the overall, the fixtures seem to be working fine, but all this blue blinking is really annoying when lights go off and the room is dark. Take a look:



So... is that to be expected on Chihiros Vivid? @Basviola @Daveslaney can you confirm? If so, it seems to be a really bad UX... I will open the fixture and put some cover on those annoying Bluetooth leds...


----------



## alto

What did the retailer say?
That seems very annoying and can’t be normal


----------



## Paulo Pacheco

I've just sent messages to Chihiros and the Aliexpress seller, let's see what comes from them...

It seems to be by design, considering both have exactly the same behavior...


----------



## Kalum

I've only had mine in for about 15min so far while trialling different intensities and laying about with app and mine certainly doesn't do that, I'll have a better look when I get home tonight and let you know how mine acts during and after programming via the app


----------



## Paulo Pacheco

That would be great @Kalum thanks...

I've made a small experience keeping mine on for some time (my new aquarium is empty right now) 

They are blinking for at least 1h, I suppose this is the BT connection search status. Programming and manual operation seem to be working fine...

My plan B will be to open them and put something on to cover this status led...

To be honest, I had great expectations on this unit but user instructions are practically nonexisting and I doubt I will receive any real customer support from the seller or Chihiros itself.

So to anyone reading this thread: keep in mind low prices comes with some issues...


----------



## Kalum

Apologies @Paulo Pacheco I ended up working late last night and totally forgot to check, I'll get it done tonight and let you know so you have a better idea how to go forward from here

Totally agree with the instructions being non existent but saying that I've found it really easy to set up and use in my limited experience of it so far, connected quickly as soon as I loaded the app and loaded a custom preset 1 and cycled through the standard preset options

The only issue I've had with it so far is the connection dropped off a couple of times at the start but it seemed to stabilise quickly after that and worked fine


----------



## Kalum

@Paulo Pacheco just had the light out again and there isn't a blue light in sight, I didn't want to say until I confirmed it but I've never had a blue light appear ever 

Cycled through all saved profiles and ran a preset during sunset and it ramped down to off and acting as it should with no blue light 

My light was from Go Aquarium Store on Aliexpress if that helps at all


----------



## Paulo Pacheco

Hey @Kalum, thanks for your test. 

Mine are from the same seller and he is replying my messages, so It seems he will provide support. 

Anyway, it's strange because I bought them on different occasions, months apart, and both have this dedicated blue BBT status led bellow the grey sticker.

Maybe its a new feature (annoying one) on this batch.


----------



## dbq5anlxj

I want to make a shade for this light. Any ideas on how to make it and what material to use ? thanks


----------



## Zeus.

@Daveslaney made a shade for his unit


----------



## Basviola

You could "just" bend a square piece of metal on one side to form a "hook" , and hang it on.... maybe glue it on but what kind of glue to use, I do not know, as light gets kind of hot!


----------



## Basviola

By the way... I just played a little bit around with my VIVID, but I did not see any blue lights blinking.


----------



## becks

Basviola said:


> By the way... I just played a little bit around with my VIVID, but I did not see any blue lights blinking.



how do find the fan noise?


----------



## Basviola

It is notable... I would not sleep next to it, still again it is not that bad. Think the best thing I can say, as said before, it is like a good quality computer fan, running at normal operation speed.


----------



## becks

Basviola said:


> It is notable... I would not sleep next to it, still again it is not that bad. Think the best thing I can say, as said before, it is like a good quality computer fan, running at normal operation speed.



Is it possible that you could measure the DB rating with an app on your phone?


----------



## Marius

Is light enough for the aquarium 90 * 45 * 45 ?


----------



## Basviola

Sorry but I packed away the power supply as I am not using the lamp yet... and then now they promote the VIVID 2 is comming out next month! OMG, oh well it should basicly be the same light with some updated fetures. Design is better IMO. not to much looking like a space craft.

They made a new app 'My Chihiros' I wont to tey it out... even though it could make more sense to wait untill i have the aquarium ready... when ever I get a grib on my self, I will make the test for you.

About supporting a 90 long tank, I think its the very limit. You can see the par test on their facebook page and the new VIVID 2.


----------



## Kalum

Just seen that and the output of the light stays the same but it's just 2cm wider, 3cm narrower and 1cm slimmer in height, looks nicer as well

Will be interesting to see what the fan situation is in comparison but all in it's pretty much a looks upgrade by the sounds of it, the app upgrades are gimmicky at best

If it's the same price then it'll still be tempting but got a feeling they might up the price a bit


----------



## becks

I was going to order one...but ill wait for the V2


----------



## becks

First sighting on aliexpress for the vivid 2, £280 delivered. Im not entirely sure how accurate that is because only one store has them listed.

It seems that might have been from a US supplier, as it can be seen for as little as £230 delivered from Hong Kong.


----------



## becks

Well, after confirming the seller was selling a vivid version 2, I placed an order for one in black and paid £224 delivered to the UK.  

I’ll keep everyone updated


----------



## Basviola

becks said:


> Is it possible that you could measure the DB rating with an app on your phone?



I have the VIVID up and running for a DSM and yogurt method combo...  Hope it turns out well.

Still interested in a DB measure on the VIVID 1?


----------



## becks

Basviola said:


> I have the VIVID up and running for a DSM and yogurt method combo...  Hope it turns out well.
> 
> Still interested in a DB measure on the VIVID 1?



it’s ok, I have a vivid 2 on route.


----------



## Basviola

Lucky you!


----------



## becks

It’s arrived!!! The quality is excellent, the fan is super quiet (there is only one fan), the light...the light is blindingly bright


----------



## becks

the quality is excellent, on par with twinstar


----------



## CooKieS

becks said:


> It’s arrived!!! The quality is excellent, the fan is super quiet (there is only one fan), the light...the light is blindingly bright
> 
> View attachment 129807 View attachment 129808



Superb, just ordered one too with the new hanging kit.

Waiting for the shades part to be sold too...

How are the colours please? As good as it seems?


----------



## Kalum

oh the black does look nice..............but I do like my silver one as it doesn't stand out too much


----------



## Jayefc1

Can I ask where you ordered it from @CooKieS
And how much you paid please mate

Cheers
J


----------



## CooKieS

Kalum said:


> oh the black does look nice..............but I do like my silver one as it doesn't stand out too much



I prefer black but that's just a matter of taste, it matches with my room decor. 



Jayefc1 said:


> Can I ask where you ordered it from @CooKieS
> And how much you paid please mate
> 
> Cheers
> J



Sure, from China seller on aliexpress, it was about 285€ shipped. I have great hopes, let's see how it performs.


----------



## becks

The colour is just as good as in the photos and just like the ADA solar lights you see on green aqua.  I’m very pleased with the light and the build quality.


----------



## Jayefc1

Any tank pics with the light please @becks


----------



## CooKieS

Jayefc1 said:


> Any tank pics with the light please @becks



+1


----------



## Wookii

Has anyone compared these to the Fluval Plant 3.0 in terms of colour rendition?


----------



## CooKieS

So got it, and impressed so far...

Pros:
-price
-settings (each colors , power, sunset...)
-sleek looking and good finish on it

Cons:
-laggy BT app
-one fan but noisy (think as an loud filter pump)

Here's some shots under it, the colors rendition is on par with the ada solar but with the ability to tweak colors as you want to.












I will make another review after some weeks but very happy for now!


----------



## Wookii

^^ Great pics as always CookieS!

Can anyone advise how to tell the difference (and indeed, what is the difference) between the Vivid 1 and Vivid 2?

Is it just the cooling reducing from two fans to one, or is there something else?


----------



## CooKieS

Wookii said:


> ^^ Great pics as always CookieS!
> 
> Can anyone advise how to tell the difference (and indeed, what is the difference) between the Vivid 1 and Vivid 2?
> 
> Is it just the cooling reducing from two fans to one, or is there something else?




Cooling reduced to one fan and sleek profile, better suspension too. That´s all

Seems less pricey too


----------



## Wookii

CooKieS said:


> Cooling reduced to one fan and sleek profile, better suspension too. That´s all
> 
> Seems less pricey too



Thanks man - I buckled the other day and ordered one, as I just don’t think my Fluval Plant is quite punching down to the substrate level, plus the Fluval itself is very narrow so some of my stems at the rear get quite leggy - I’m hoping the increased width and spread from the Vivid will help that, even though I’ll aim to keep overall light levels the same.


----------



## CooKieS

Hi there,

I found a way to reduce the noise from the vivid 2 to near silence;

Just remove the 3 screws between the fan and the chassis, those are the cause of the buzzy noise. The fan itself is very silent. Works like an charm!


----------



## CooKieS

Good way to get your h.pinnatifida red? Burn it under the vivid!


----------



## lazybones51

Wow! That puts the red tones I'm getting from h.pinnatifida with a Twinstar 600S to shame!


----------



## CooKieS

lazybones51 said:


> Wow! That puts the red tones I'm getting from h.pinnatifida with a Twinstar 600S to shame!



You'll need ada solar to get the same colors, twinstar led chips aren't 3 in 1 for now.

Twinstar leds are good for reds but then the greens will looks more yellowish.


----------



## Barbara Turner

*Has anyone tried the vivid 2, the difference in Chinglish is below.. 
I'm guessing the GVE power supply is cheaper than the meanwell version, but I bet the price hasn't dropped.*

*
Chihiros Aquatic Studio*
9 November 2019 · 
RGB VIVID 2
-Size/Light unit 45.5*16.2*3.4cm
-Weight/light unit:2kgs, power supply:0.55kg
-Input voltage AC100-240V 50/60HZ
-Power consumption 130W
-Led light/ 160PCS(RGB IN ONE LED SHIP)
-Operating temperature range: -20-40
-4m DC CABLE
-Luminous flux:5500lm
-Built in bluetooth controller (New app:My Chihiros)


The difference between old one
1.VIVID2 size more silm
2.RGB VIVID have two colors, which are silver and black
3.APP new function for each one or two colors can adjust more than 100% when other colors setting under 100%
4.RGB VIVID use by GVE power supply, only Germany still use Meanwell power supply
5.Hang up use new way can more easier to balance the body of lamp


----------



## CooKieS

Actually the vivid 2 is 60$ cheaper than the V1.


----------



## Emil.

What are the setting options like? Can you lower the light enough to create a `night mode` without asking for a major algae outbreak?


----------



## becks

Emil. said:


> What are the setting options like? Can you lower the light enough to create a `night mode` without asking for a major algae outbreak?



no, even on 1% the light is to bright for moon light


----------



## Russell Moffitt

I just received the Vivid 2 this week. A few of my impressions relating to topics and issues others have already brought up.

1) LIGHTING: very very bright (at 100%) and nice colors once adjusted. I wanted to make some nice sunrise/set ramps that fade from very low intensity moonlight/dusk in red/orange or blue/purple hues up to the high intensity balanced white. As others said, it is way too bright at even 1% on a single channel, looks like nightclub mood lighting, not a sunset or moonlight.  It is also very hard to mix the color channels at low intensity. The proportional colors shown in the app don’t match what the light is actually doing. I have a Fluval Plant 3.0 and a Current Satellite Pro Plus that do all of this very nicely. Of course, the Chihiros Vivid 2 obliterates them with the high intensity photoperiod.

2) APP + INTEGRATED CONTROLLER: as mentioned, the app is finicky to work with and to adjust. When building a ramp schedule, t’s almost impossible to select the time you want without clicking randomly 30 times until you get it.  Once you get it set, just save it and you are good to go.

If the light ever loses power, due to an outlet timer or a blackout, others have reported that the light loses its schedule. What actually happens is that the internal clock resets to midnight when the power is restored. The schedule is intact, but runs at the wrong time offset.  My Fluval Plant 3.0 behaves the same way.  I address this problem by putting the lights on an outlet timer that is set to turn off at 11:59pm and turn back on 1 minute later at 12:00am. This keeps everything on the right schedule and everything will recover at midnight if there is a power outage anytime during the day, especially if I’m traveling and can’t run the My Chihiros app to reset the light. The only problem now is if the power restores in the middle of the photoperiod and the CO2 solenoid turns back on without the light. A pH controller would help in that situation.

3) FAN NOISE: my unit came with a very noisy/buzzy fan. Others have said theirs is noisy, others say it is quiet. While CooKieS fixed the fan noise by tightening the screws, I was not so lucky. Mine was discernible across the living room and was only inaudible if I turned on the TV or music.

I swapped in a different 75mm GPU fan with a height of 10-15mm. It was slightly quieter than the original fan, but still noticeable across the room. In my quest for silence, I picked up an ultra quiet Noctua NF-A8 FLX 80mm x 25mm fan. I cut it out of its square mounting bracket and glued the bare fan with silicone inside the light assembly. Now I can’t hear a thing when the light is on except when I put my ear on top of the light. The faint electric whine from the PWM dimming of the led light arrays is louder than the fan.

One big problem, there isn’t enough clearance in the light assembly for a 25mm high fan. I cut out an 80mm circle from the plastic top cover and attached one of those wire fan grills on top of it. Now the cover can lock down and the fan works great. I anticipate that this quality fan will remain quiet for a longer time than the original one. I wish I didn’t have to modify the light this way, but I don’t have any warranty or support options with this light.

In the end I’m really happy even though I wanted throw the Vivid 2 out the window in a few moments of frustration.


----------



## Wookii

Russell Moffitt said:


> I just received the Vivid 2 this week. A few of my impressions relating to topics and issues others have already brought up.
> 
> 1) LIGHTING: very very bright (at 100%) and nice colors once adjusted. I wanted to make some nice sunrise/set ramps that fade from very low intensity moonlight/dusk in red/orange or blue/purple hues up to the high intensity balanced white. As others said, it is way too bright at even 1% on a single channel, looks like nightclub mood lighting, not a sunset or moonlight.  It is also very hard to mix the color channels at low intensity. The proportional colors shown in the app don’t match what the light is actually doing. I have a Fluval Plant 3.0 and a Current Satellite Pro Plus that do all of this very nicely. Of course, the Chihiros Vivid 2 obliterates them with the high intensity photoperiod.
> 
> 2) APP + INTEGRATED CONTROLLER: as mentioned, the app is finicky to work with and to adjust. When building a ramp schedule, t’s almost impossible to select the time you want without clicking randomly 30 times until you get it.  Once you get it set, just save it and you are good to go.
> 
> If the light ever loses power, due to an outlet timer or a blackout, others have reported that the light loses its schedule. What actually happens is that the internal clock resets to midnight when the power is restored. The schedule is intact, but runs at the wrong time offset.  My Fluval Plant 3.0 behaves the same way.  I address this problem by putting the lights on an outlet timer that is set to turn off at 11:59pm and turn back on 1 minute later at 12:00am. This keeps everything on the right schedule and everything will recover at midnight if there is a power outage anytime during the day, especially if I’m traveling and can’t run the My Chihiros app to reset the light. The only problem now is if the power restores in the middle of the photoperiod and the CO2 solenoid turns back on without the light. A pH controller would help in that situation.
> 
> 3) FAN NOISE: my unit came with a very noisy/buzzy fan. Others have said theirs is noisy, others say it is quiet. While CooKieS fixed the fan noise by tightening the screws, I was not so lucky. Mine was discernible across the living room and was only inaudible if I turned on the TV or music.
> 
> I swapped in a different 75mm GPU fan with a height of 10-15mm. It was slightly quieter than the original fan, but still noticeable across the room. In my quest for silence, I picked up an ultra quiet Noctua NF-A8 FLX 80mm x 25mm fan. I cut it out of its square mounting bracket and glued the bare fan with silicone inside the light assembly. Now I can’t hear a thing when the light is on except when I put my ear on top of the light. The faint electric whine from the PWM dimming of the led light arrays is louder than the fan.
> 
> One big problem, there isn’t enough clearance in the light assembly for a 25mm high fan. I cut out an 80mm circle from the plastic top cover and attached one of those wire fan grills on top of it. Now the cover can lock down and the fan works great. I anticipate that this quality fan will remain quiet for a longer time than the original one. I wish I didn’t have to modify the light this way, but I don’t have any warranty or support options with this light.
> 
> In the end I’m really happy even though I wanted throw the Vivid 2 out the window in a few moments of frustration.



Nice solution on the timer to reset. I guess the other solution would be to get a UPS - I've been thinking of doing that for a while - I have one for my home NAS unit.

With regards to the fan, I think CookieS actually removed the screws rather than tightened them as his solution to the noise. When I read his post, I did wonder if it might be possible to fit some anti-vibration fan mounts that I've used in PC's before:


----------



## Wookii

Has anyone in this thread directly compared the Vivid to the ADA Solar RGB - I’m interested to know how they vary in terms of colour rendition?


----------



## HypeBuce

Haven't been on this thread for a while but I remember a while back somebody had to make a DIY shade because it was so bright. Not sure if anyone has mentioned it already but they have come out with these 
 2020 Chihiros WRGB VIVID LED light shade board reflect plat board for WRGB I WRGB II RGB VIVID II
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dTU1eCU


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Oleg Z

hello everyone! can anybody recommend  for me some optimal setup for ma 90p Aquarium.looking for some right settings on my chihiros VIVID 2.I am just got the light and confusing with settings.


----------



## becks

Oleg Z said:


> hello everyone! can anybody recommend  for me some optimal setup for ma 90p Aquarium.looking for some right settings on my chihiros VIVID 2.I am just got the light and confusing with settings.



What aspect is confusing you?


----------



## CooKieS

Wookii said:


> With regards to the fan, I think CookieS actually removed the screws rather than tightened them as his solution to the noise.



Hello, you are right, I ended up removing the screws, it wasn't the fan that was noisy but the vibration coming from it and going through the chassis with the screws in. 

Now it's very quiet, at 1 meter distance I just hear the neo co2 diffuser hiss. 

I'm now using it at full blast on a 60cm tank, but it sit higher above the surface (about 25cm) then before, I cut some diy shade to avoid blindness, works great. Thanks for the link, I might order the chihiros shades too 

Still very happy with the light, the color rendition, the power and the look are awesome, I mean it has it cons (fan noise, bt app) but really can't complain for the price!


----------



## nohitnorun

i want buy vivid 2 for my new tank ada 120x50x50. i read this forum and make me rethink. its better buy new wrgb 2 or vivid 2? i heard new wrgb2 have same led type as vivid2. please share your opinion. thank you


----------



## Wookii

nohitnorun said:


> i want buy vivid 2 for my new tank ada 120x50x50. i read this forum and make me rethink. its better buy new wrgb 2 or vivid 2? i heard new wrgb2 have same led type as vivid2. please share your opinion. thank you



I’m going through the exact same decision making process myself, for my new 1500 x 450 x 450 tank.

In the end I decided to order a WRGB II 60 for my current 60cm tank, just to see how it performs. I should have it in the next few days.

I suspect if your tank is less than 600mm deep, you’d be unlikely to run the Vivid II at 100% (I’m sure some owners will confirm), so maybe wouldn’t need all it’s power anyway.

In your case with a 1200mm tank, you can buy the WRGB II 120 which should ensure more even light coverage along its whole length, rather than two Vivid II’s which would only cover 2 x 450mm of that length technically speaking, and will hot spot more.

The WRGB II 120 is £254 and 130W/7700 lumens. 2 x Vivid II would be £259 x 2 = £518 and 260w/11,000 lumens.

The WRGB II is also a slimmer profile and has no fans (though that could be seen as a positive or a negative depending on how you look at it - quote and low profile vs longer life from active cooling).

To summarise, for me, I think the benefit comparison comes down to - WRGB II: lower cost, even coverage less, obtrusive design vs Vivid II: higher power. If my tank was 600mm deep, I think I’d be potentially looking at 3 x Vivid II’s for my 1500mm tank, but as it’s only 450mm deep, I think I’d be better with WRGB II’s (in my case 1 x 600 and 2 x 450’s).


----------



## nohitnorun

thank you for your detail opinion WOOKI.
i'll wait for your wrgb2 report then.
but if i choose wrgb maybe i'll buy 2 60 wrgb.
if not good enough i can still use it for my small tank.


----------



## Nick72

If I'm reading the above charts correctly, one Vivid II would give me full coverage on a 90x45cm tank.

The PAR chart does confuse me a little though, it appears to me that the Vivid II provides very inconsistant PAR across the substrate, with extreme PAR in the dead center of the tank, then ever decreasing par as you go wider and longer (particularly longer).  Am I reading this correctly?


----------



## nohitnorun

maybe u right nick72. wrgb 2 just cover 40cm. for deep 50cm vivid2 maybe right choice. 
thank you.  
btw i send email to chihiros to update comparison on their site. i hope they will update with picture too.


----------



## Wookii

Nick72 said:


> If I'm reading the above charts correctly, one Vivid II would give me full coverage on a 90x45cm tank.
> 
> The PAR chart does confuse me a little though, it appears to me that the Vivid II provides very inconsistant PAR across the substrate, with extreme PAR in the dead center of the tank, then ever decreasing par as you go wider and longer (particularly longer).  Am I reading this correctly?



Yes, I think you are interpreting it correctly. The Vivid II is only 450mm long, so you’ll get very high par at the centre where the output from all the individual LED’s overlap. By the time you get to +/- 300mm or more you’re starting to get well off axis of the light.



nohitnorun said:


> maybe u right nick72. wrgb 2 just cover 40cm. for deep 50cm vivid2 maybe right choice.
> thank you.
> btw i send email to chihiros to update comparison on their site. i hope they will update with picture too.



They issue is that they don’t say on the PAR map for the WRGB II which light size is being represented. I have assumed it is the 450mm unit, the same size at the Vivid II, or it could even be the smallest 300mm unit.

If that is the case, the PAR map would look very different if the 600mm unit was represented over a 600mm length. There the higher overlapping output would be spread over a longer length.

I think the WRGB II should usually give better coverage along the length of a tank, as long as the light selected is the same length of the tank, just at a lower peak and average par than the Vivid II can achieve (120 PAR peak vs 280 PAR peak).


----------



## becks

I'm just waiting for my shades to arrive...I have my light raised quite high above my tank, so the shades will help to prevent light spill.  anyone have any ideas how I can hide the cable?


----------



## Roland

Brilliant lamps


----------



## CooKieS

becks said:


> I'm just waiting for my shades to arrive...I have my light raised quite high above my tank, so the shades will help to prevent light spill.  anyone have any ideas how I can hide the cable?


 Waiting for the pics, As I was looking for them too


----------



## becks

CooKieS said:


> Waiting for the pics, As I was looking for them too



they should arrive soon, tracking says they are with Royal Mail. I’ll post some photos once they arrive


----------



## Wookii

Finally arrived, quite literally on the slow boat from China!


----------



## nohitnorun

i order 120 chihiros wrgb 2 and arrived today. 
everything  good but dispointed 
what the heck with box package?
where the original box?
because corona stuff they cant shipping with original box?
i cannot jugde its new or used. 

and one more. 
power adapter size ...
for second i want throw it but.. 😩

i hope my mood will change  after my tank arrive and see how this led will work.


----------



## BarryH

Wookii said:


> Finally arrived, quite literally on the slow boat from China!



Pleased to see your order eventually arrived Wooki. I ordered a plain and simple A401 Plus for a new shrimp tank and hopefully it's on the boat that set sail after yours. How long did your order take overall?


----------



## Wookii

nohitnorun said:


> i order 120 chihiros wrgb 2 and arrived today.
> everything  good but dispointed
> what the heck with box package?
> where the original box?
> because corona stuff they cant shipping with original box?
> i cannot jugde its new or used.
> 
> and one more.
> power adapter size ...
> for second i want throw it but.. 😩
> 
> i hope my mood will change  after my tank arrive and see how this led will work.



Hmmm strange they didn’t ship it in the original box, Mine came in the original box even though they crammed the fitting kit and the two shades in there too.


----------



## Wookii

BarryH said:


> Pleased to see your order eventually arrived Wooki. I ordered a plain and simple A401 Plus for a new shrimp tank and hopefully it's on the boat that set sail after yours. How long did your order take overall?



To be fair I ordered mine on 16th April in the middle of a global pandemic lockdown, so all things considered a month isn’t too bad! Lol


----------



## Wookii

Anyway I test the light briefly last night, and I was quite shocked by the difference in comparison to my current Fluval Plant 2.0. I’ve always though the Fluval gave a bit of a yellow cast, particularly when I’ve added bright blood red pieces of pepper for the shrimp, for them to suddenly look orange in the tank, but the new Chihiros light has made me realise that the Fluval is almost all yellow.

With the Chihiros on 100% for all three channels, the red are incredible; my Embers and Bloody Mary’s are almost luminous oranges and reds by comparison, and the greens are also incredibly strong, I actually had to dial the green back a little as it seemed a bit too much. With the Fluval I’ve always been concerned that my Anubias looked a little yellowed and malnourished when viewing from above the tank, with the Chihiros they look like completely different plants.

On just that first brief initial test, at 100% on all three channels, I think the colours are a little too much, and look a little artificial (or possibly I’m just not used to them), but after a couple of minutes of playing and dealing the blue down slight and the green down slightly more, it looks fantastic.

If difficult to really capture the difference on a camera, particularly on a phone, but these shots might give a little idea:

Fluval Plant 3.0:




Chihiros WRGB II:


----------



## Wookii

I should probably also mention that the Chihiros app seemed to work fine, finding the light straight away - though I haven’t tried to set up scheduling yet. Also the blue light at 1% is sufficiently low enough to act as a moon light.

Out of interest what are Vivid owners settling on in terms of the RGB mix percentages?


----------



## Wookii

I take it back - the Chihiros app is a pile of s@#t! After working fine for half an hour, it now loses connection every 10 seconds!


----------



## Wookii

OK, so anyone here having problems with blu-tooth connection on an iPhone with the latest version of the app?


----------



## Sammy Islam

Wookii said:


> OK, so anyone here having problems with blu-tooth connection on an iPhone with the latest version of the app?



I have found with some software it's easier to connect to certain apps by first enabling airplane mode and then using wifi or bluetooth. My fluval 2.0 would rarely connect unless i did so.


----------



## Wookii

Sammy Islam said:


> I have found with some software it's easier to connect to certain apps by first enabling airplane mode and then using wifi or bluetooth. My fluval 2.0 would rarely connect unless i did so.



Thanks Sammy, I’ll give that a try. I’ve never had a problem with my Fluval Plant 3.0, it’s worked flawlessly from day 1, so this connection issue is a bit of a pain, especially as it was working fine for half an hour leading up to it. Just hoping it’s not a heat released issue.


----------



## Wookii

Sammy Islam said:


> I have found with some software it's easier to connect to certain apps by first enabling airplane mode and then using wifi or bluetooth. My fluval 2.0 would rarely connect unless i did so.



Tried that and it didn’t make any difference. I’ve contacted Chihiros, and they’ve asked for screen shots etc, so hopefully they’ll come up with a solution.


----------



## Wookii

OK, so bad news for me on this one:

a) it seems Chirhiros believe there is a fault with the LED controller.

b) They  have stated that they do not offer ANY warranty cover or support for their products if purchased through AliExpress!

Given AliExpress is the only way to purchase these lights in the UK, and you are presumably buying from authorised resellers who are buying the lights directly from Chihiros, this is very very disappointing.

I’ll be raising a return request through AliExpress now, and I’ll presumably have to stump up the cost for return shipping to China.


----------



## Wookii

The plot thickens. Chihiros are now telling me that I can purchase a replacement controller for the WRGB II, and they even have a month old YouTube video on how to go about replacing the controller on their brand newly released light:



Any one know the Chinese for “known fault”?!


----------



## Nuno Gomes

I'd just give up and return it. It's a pain in the ass any time I have to change anything in my wrgb settings and I've had three different controllers. I'll be sticking to twinstar with a plain old timer.


----------



## Wookii

Nuno Gomes said:


> I'd just give up and return it. It's a pain in the ass any time I have to change anything in my wrgb settings and I've had three different controllers. I'll be sticking to twinstar with a plain old timer.



To be honest I could just stick a timer on this, and have it turn on and off, but if I was going to do that I’d get an ADA light. I didn’t buy this light for cost reasons, I bought it  because it’s the only one on the market that has full RGB LED’s and has full controllability for intensity, colour mix and on/off ramping/scheduling.

Out of the box, for me, the colours need adjusting, the greens are just too OTT. So without the controller working it’s not usable.

I could, and I might, return it, but that will cost me at least £35 in return shipping to China. A replacement controller if $8 plus shipping. So I have a decision to make!


----------



## CooKieS

Wookii said:


> To be honest I could just stick a timer on this, and have it turn on and off, but if I was going to do that I’d get an ADA light. I didn’t buy this light for cost reasons, I bought it  because it’s the only one on the market that has full RGB LED’s and has full controllability for intensity, colour mix and on/off ramping/scheduling.
> 
> Out of the box, for me, the colours need adjusting, the greens are just too OTT. So without the controller working it’s not usable.
> 
> I could, and I might, return it, but that will cost me at least £35 in return shipping to China. A replacement controller if $8 plus shipping. So I have a decision to make!



Hi,

Sorry to hear that your wrgb2 has some issue...well, chihiros really needs to improve their service and QC! It seems that their aren't many issues on the vivid series but those less expensive wrgb series got some room for improvements.

In the end I would say the colors you get from this Lightning is Worth trying the 8$ diy trick, hope you'll sort it quick by ollowing their instructions (pretty ridiculous on a new product but hey, at least there is an video ​​).​
At first, I also felt that the greens were too OTT but you'll eventually get used too it, and running it full blast like I do now. ​


----------



## CooKieS

BTW are you using the 'my chihiros' app with the red dragon logo? Because that's the one I use and it works flawless, the old one won't work with those new led series.


----------



## Wookii

CooKieS said:


> BTW are you using the 'my chihiros' app with the red dragon logo? Because that's the one I use and it works flawless, the old one won't work with those new led series.



Yep, the My Chihiros app. It worked fine for the first half an hour, and I was just starting to get to grips with the slightly odd schedule setup, then ‘POP’ and the fun was over lol


----------



## Wookii

So its seems the easiest solution, though not ideal on a brand new light, is to order a new controller direct from Chihiros, at $8 plus $6 shipping. In the end I told them to send me three new controllers, then I'm covered for potential future failures!

Chihiros also mentioned, that as there is no distributor in the UK, lights can be ordered from them directly, and will come with warranty, so I won't be using AliExpress again in the future!


----------



## becks

My shades arrived today for the vivid 2,  I got some photos of before and after and then I’ll add some with the lights on, as they have literally just came on for sunrise.  I mostly wanted them so I don’t get glare from the light when viewing the tank from my desk.

- only one shade has the logo on, so you can  face the logo to the wall if you wish.

- the shades have no reflective mirror inner edge, so if you want reflective strips on the inner face, you will need to modify yourself.

ps. Excuse the loose hanging wire, I’ve still not terminated it just incase I decide to lower the lights


----------



## Wookii

becks said:


> - the shades have no reflective mirror inner edge, so if you want reflective strips on the inner face, you will need to modify yourself.



I noticed the shades have a bit of a slot, so you could slide a piece of mirror polished stainless steel or aluminium inside, or cover over with some aluminium tape.


----------



## becks

Wookii said:


> I noticed the shades have a bit of a slot, so you could slide a piece of mirror polished stainless steel or aluminium inside, or cover over with some aluminium tape.



Yes could slide a mirror in or use reflective tape. I have some silver foil tape that I will stick on the inside.


----------



## Wookii

becks said:


> Yes could slide a mirror in or use reflective tape. I have some silver foil tape that I will stick on the inside.



You might just want to try stick it to one shade first, and try that shade front and back. When I made some polished stainless shades for a light some time ago, I found the shade at the rear defeated the purpose of having them as it reflected the light back into the eyes underneath the front shade.


----------



## Ivan Stoyanov

Hi, can someone help me with chihiros app. 
On 0 a.m. lamp just go on only on red light, any suggestion. This is not the biggest issue, for me its, when electricy cut off and lamp not start, any possible solution on this. 
Will be very grateful, if someone help me.


----------



## CooKieS

Thanks for the shade pics @becks , I might consider buying those too even if my DIY shade works great for now, it doesn't look as good. 



Ivan Stoyanov said:


> Hi, can someone help me with chihiros app.
> On 0 a.m. lamp just go on only on red light, any suggestion. This is not the biggest issue, for me its, when electricy cut off and lamp not start, any possible solution on this.
> Will be very grateful, if someone help me.



Unfortunately when electricity cut off, the light won goes ON by itself, you'll need to reboot it from the app. Well, that's minor issue until your get a lot of electricity cuts in your city?


----------



## CooKieS

Wookii said:


> So its seems the easiest solution, though not ideal on a brand new light, is to order a new controller direct from Chihiros, at $8 plus $6 shipping. In the end I told them to send me three new controllers, then I'm covered for potential future failures!
> 
> Chihiros also mentioned, that as there is no distributor in the UK, lights can be ordered from them directly, and will come with warranty, so I won't be using AliExpress again in the future!



Good to know, hope you'll sort that out and Chihiros too...

In my country we got an official reseller, fortunately, so the lights are under 2 year warranty.


----------



## rebel

It's amazing that Chihiros have released a poor unstable app despite charging a fair amount for the lights. Shows their confidence as the competition (especially for value) might be harder to find.


----------



## CooKieS

rebel said:


> It's amazing that Chihiros have released a poor unstable app despite charging a fair amount for the lights. Shows their confidence as the competition (especially for value) might be harder to find.



Wouldn' t say the app is that unstable or bad, they're lot of settings possibilities on the new version, you can even select your spectrum between 3000 and 12000K which I find useful. 

I mean my onf flat one + app isn't very useful in comparaison, just an simple daytime cycle and dimmer function. 

Of course, Chihiros team still need to improve QC on the future products.


----------



## LondonDragon

becks said:


> My shades arrived today for the vivid 2, I got some photos of before and after and then I’ll add some with the lights on, as they have literally just came on for sunrise. I mostly wanted them so I don’t get glare from the light when viewing the tank from my desk.


Just out of curiosity what are the measurements of the shades? many thanks


----------



## Wookii

CooKieS said:


> Good to know, hope you'll sort that out and Chihiros too...
> 
> In my country we got an official reseller, fortunately, so the lights are under 2 year warranty.



Well my three new controllers arrived today. Replacing the dodgy one was simple enough, and so far so good on the new one, it all seems to be working fine.

Colour rendition looks a little better too, like some of the green tones are better, though that may just be my imagination as I don’t know how the controller could affect that!

Now so just need to figure out how to set up a schedule on this infernal app!


----------



## CooKieS

Wookii said:


> Well my three new controllers arrived today. Replacing the dodgy one was simple enough, and so far so good on the new one, it all seems to be working fine.
> 
> Colour rendition looks a little better too, like some of the green tones are better, though that may just be my imagination as I don’t know how the controller could affect that!
> 
> Now so just need to figure out how to set up a schedule on this infernal app!


 
 Nice to hear, once you get used to this light, you’ll find the colors under other lights very pale .

as for the app, go on the automatic menu and then down on ‘quickset’, that is easier.


----------



## becks

LondonDragon said:


> Just out of curiosity what are the measurements of the shades? many thanks



length of the fixture,the shades are 8cm wide with roughly five centimetres over hanging the fixture

Regarding the power cuts, you could, if you encounter a lot of power cuts is to use a UPS


----------



## Wookii

So, I'm in the planning stages of my new 1500 x 450 x 450 tank. Part of the reason for buying the WRGB II was to see how I got on with the RGB colour rendition - which I have now grown to love. 

I even picked up a second hand Twinstar 600S and an AI Prime Freshwater to make sure I was going in the right direction for the lighting on the new tank. Neither could come close to the WRGB II.

So the next question is, how many Vivid II's should I go for on a 1500 x 450 aquarium?

I see @CooKieS you are using a single light on an 800 x 400 - so would two be sufficient, or should I be thinking about three?


----------



## CooKieS

Wookii said:


> So, I'm in the planning stages of my new 1500 x 450 x 450 tank. Part of the reason for buying the WRGB II was to see how I got on with the RGB colour rendition - which I have now grown to love.
> 
> I even picked up a second hand Twinstar 600S and an AI Prime Freshwater to make sure I was going in the right direction for the lighting on the new tank. Neither could come close to the WRGB II.
> 
> So the next question is, how many Vivid II's should I go for on a 1500 x 450 aquarium?
> 
> I see @CooKieS you are using a single light on an 800 x 400 - so would two be sufficient, or should I be thinking about three?



wow nice tank size!

2 vivid 2 would be more than enough for your new tank 

also I got the shades, they’re are an very useful addition and cheap (pair of shades : 22€ at my lfs).


----------



## Wookii

CooKieS said:


> wow nice tank size!
> 
> 2 vivid 2 would be more than enough for your new tank
> 
> also I got the shades, they’re are an very useful addition and cheap (pair of shades : 22€ at my lfs).



Thanks @CooKieS - Chihiros said they would recommend three, but I assumed that might be a bit of salesmanship!

I have the Chihiros shades for my WRGB II, but to be honest I find them a bit bulky. I’ll probably knock up my own for the Vivid’s, and design something a little less obtrusive in profile, but something is definitely necessary to stop glare!


----------



## Wookii

Two Vivid 2’s in black just ordered.

I got lucky too - Chihiros quoted me $380 per light, delivered, a couple of weeks ago, but when I checked today the price has gone up to $459! 

Luckily they agreed to honour the quoted price!

They are also introducing a store-front within the MyChihiros app which they put me on the beta for - where you can directly order lights and spares etc.


----------



## rebel

Wookii said:


> I even picked up a second hand Twinstar 600S and an AI Prime Freshwater to make sure I was going in the right direction for the lighting on the new tank. Neither could come close to the WRGB II.


This is important information that Twinstar and AI should take note of...


----------



## Wookii

rebel said:


> This is important information that Twinstar and AI should take note of...



I'd be surprised if AI don't come out with an RGB product at some point. The rest of their product (form factor, control system etc) is superb. Likewise with Twinstar, I'd be very surprised if they don't come out with an RGB product in the next 12 months.

The ironic thing is despite Chihiros traditionally being the big 'copy-cat' manufacturer, their products are now pushing ahead of a lot of the competition with controllable RGB chip base lights.


----------



## Wookii

The Vivid II’s have arrived! Amazed at how much light they put out for their diminutive size.


----------



## Wookii

Interesting that the Chihiros app allows you overdrive one or two of the colours if you reduce other colours below 100%, enabling you to use the full 130 watts. You can’t do that on the WRGB2, or indeed many other lights that’s I’ve tried (other than the AI Prime).


----------



## Nick72

Wookii said:


> Interesting that the Chihiros app allows you overdrive one or two of the colours if you reduce other colours below 100%, enabling you to use the full 130 watts. You can’t do that on the WRGB2, or indeed many other lights that’s I’ve tried (other than the AI Prime).



So what are your initial thoughts on colour rendition?

How are you liking these lights?

(Photos always appreciated)


----------



## Wookii

Nick72 said:


> So what are your initial thoughts on colour rendition?
> 
> How are you liking these lights?
> 
> (Photos always appreciated)



The tank for thee isn’t set up yet, and won’t be for some time, just slowly building everything up.

The colour rendition looks identical to the WRGB II that I already have - that is, superb - just a hell of a lot brighter!


----------



## Tom Ryan (@aquascaperay)

How does the vivid II compare to the twinstar s series? Wanting an upgrade as don't like the purple backlight of the twinstar


----------



## rebel

Tom Ryan said:


> don't like the purple backlight of the twinstar


With the VIVID2, I suppose you can tune the color of the light to your liking?


----------



## rebel

Wookii said:


> Chihiros traditionally being the big 'copy-cat' manufacturer, their products are now pushing ahead of a lot of the competition with controllable RGB chip base lights.


Not necessarily copy cat as such.

Their A series was a sleek little light which I still use (with RGB mod). There was nothing in the Australia market that was similar at the time. Now there are plenty of copy cats on the market although not as bright or with a strong pedigree.

With RGBW, RGB Vivid, they are really establishing their dominance in the freshwater market. Some manufacturers abandoned us and we should not reward them for that; great example is the backward color rendition from AI prime/Kessil (Too yellow) for many years now.


----------



## Wookii

Tom Ryan said:


> How does the vivid II compare to the twinstar s series? Wanting an upgrade as don't like the purple backlight of the twinstar



I don't think there is any real comparison, though the Twinstar is a decent light, the colour rendition is still very yellow compared to the Vivid II, and can't come close to it - but then that seems to apply to any light that uses any white LED's. As @rebel says you can obviously tune the Vivid II to your hearts content too, to get the rendition you prefer.


----------



## Wookii

rebel said:


> Not necessarily copy cat as such.
> 
> Their A series was a sleek little light which I still use (with RGB mod). There was nothing in the Australia market that was similar at the time. Now there are plenty of copy cats on the market although not as bright or with a strong pedigree.



I was thinking more the Vivid line (released not long after the ADA Solar RGB came to market) and the Chihiros Doctor (which appeared after the Twinstar Steriliser was released). 

I've nothing against that approach per-se - plenty of other manufacturers do it the world over - and certainly in terms of the Vivid they have taken the ADA Solar RGB and created arguably a better product in terms of cost and functionality. They could have gone down the route of making a straight copy like UNS have done with the Titan (though as I understand it the Titan is just made out of the same factory that makes the Solar RGB) but fortunately they chose to innovate.



rebel said:


> With RGBW, RGB Vivid, they are really establishing their dominance in the freshwater market. Some manufacturers abandoned us and we should not reward them for that; great example is the backward color rendition from AI prime/Kessil (Too yellow) for many years now.



Agreed - Chihiros seem to have continued to release new and improved products. while many others have dragged their heels. I agree the Kessil and the AI Prime are both very yellow out of the box - it all comes from the white LED's no matter what colour temperature they use. I understand why they have had to historically use the white LED's, as they couldn't get sufficient light output with just single colour LED's, but the advent of true combined RGB LED's seems ti have changed that. 

When I tested the A360X, there was very little I could do to remedy the yellowing without losing most of the light output - not to mention that the fan was horrendous. The AI Prime however is a very impressive light though. It still have a yellow cast, but you can remove a fair amount of the yellowing by turning off the warm white LED's and over driving the  red, green and blue LED's to compensate some. I'm regularly amazed at how much light it can output for such a small and sleek form factor, plus I love the shimmer they produce. It just still doesn't come close to the RGB lights though in colour rendition - bright red plants turn to a dark red/brown at best - as it still relies on coll white LED's for most of its output.

Twinstar surprise me the most - how long have their S series lights been out now? They seem to be sitting on their hands somewhat.


----------



## Tom Ryan (@aquascaperay)

Wookii said:


> I don't think there is any real comparison, though the Twinstar is a decent light, the colour rendition is still very yellow compared to the Vivid II, and can't come close to it - but then that seems to apply to any light that uses any white LED's. As @rebel says you can obviously tune the Vivid II to your hearts content too, to get the rendition you prefer.


Great - thanks both! I think I will go for the vivid II as been hearing great things so far. Any recomendations for the red, blue, green spectrum settings/ratio? I do like the colour rendition used by HeYi in this video. I don't know if anyone knows the setting that he used on the vivid II rgb?


----------



## Wookii

Tom Ryan said:


> Great - thanks both! I think I will go for the vivid II as been hearing great things so far. Any recomendations for the red, blue, green spectrum settings/ratio? I do like the colour rendition used by HeYi in this video. I don't know if anyone knows the setting that he used on the vivid II rgb?




It's always difficult to judge from an image or video as the camera is rarely able to show the true colour rendition, plus difference in your viewing screens etc. For example on my monitor, I'd say you'll see reds that are a lot more punchy than they seem to be in that video (obviously dependent on settings).

In terms of settings, I've not tested the Vivid II long term, just an hour or so playing around (the Vivid II's I bought are for a future tank I will be setting up towards the end of the year), so will let others comment on that. Certainly on my WRGB II which I have tested longer term, I find the greens a little too over-pumped if left at the same level as the red and blue, so I tend to set the green channel 10% lower than the other two.

There are lots of controls that will allow you to tailor the colour to your preference. You can either change each channel independently, or use the colour temperature slider to change the colour automatically. There are also a number of presets to choose from to give you a starting position to tweak from. I used those initially and found I preferred the 'Buce' setting the most, then I just upped the red a bit to preference, and found I liked red and blue at a similar level, and green reduced a bit. I'm sure other folks prefer settings that are completely different though - there is no wrong answer, its all down to personal preference - so thank goodness we're not stuck with one colour output


----------



## Tom Ryan (@aquascaperay)

Wookii said:


> It's always difficult to judge from an image or video as the camera is rarely able to show the true colour rendition, plus difference in your viewing screens etc. For example on my monitor, I'd say you'll see reds that are a lot more punchy than they seem to be in that video (obviously dependent on settings).
> 
> In terms of settings, I've not tested the Vivid II long term, just an hour or so playing around (the Vivid II's I bought are for a future tank I will be setting up towards the end of the year), so will let others comment on that. Certainly on my WRGB II which I have tested longer term, I find the greens a little too over-pumped if left at the same level as the red and blue, so I tend to set the green channel 10% lower than the other two.
> 
> There are lots of controls that will allow you to tailor the colour to your preference. You can either change each channel independently, or use the colour temperature slider to change the colour automatically. There are also a number of presets to choose from to give you a starting position to tweak from. I used those initially and found I preferred the 'Buce' setting the most, then I just upped the red a bit to preference, and found I liked red and blue at a similar level, and green reduced a bit. I'm sure other folks prefer settings that are completely different though - there is no wrong answer, its all down to personal preference - so thank goodness we're not stuck with one colour output


Haha very true! Just fyi I asked the 2hr aquarist what settings he uses and he said he liked the ratio of 100% red to 50% green to 60% blue. I'm guessing you can then tune up or down whilst maintaining the same ratio to get the right light intensity for your setup. As mentioned previously it seems the green spectrum is quite strong so having this below the red/blue spectrum works well for most


----------



## oreo57

Tom Ryan said:


> Haha very true! Just fyi I asked the 2hr aquarist what settings he uses and he said he liked the ratio of 100% red to 50% green to 60% blue. I'm guessing you can then tune up or down whilst maintaining the same ratio to get the right light intensity for your setup. As mentioned previously it seems the green spectrum is quite strong so having this below the red/blue spectrum works well for most


As to the vid.. in terms of color temp it looks to be around 12000-14000K-ish..
So turn blue full, dim red/green till you match.
Turn the green down till the vegetation starts to blacken..
Then start turning down red.
Comparison:
https://www.advancedplantedtank.com/blogs/light-3pillars/k-rating


----------



## jaypeecee

Hi Folks,

All of the Chihiros LED Systems appear to have very similar published lighting spectra. I don't understand why these spectra bear little resemblance to the absorption/action spectra of plants. For example, the Chihiros products all seem to have a peak output at 630 nm. But plants have their peak responses at 430 nm and 660 nm. The only thing that will benefit from light at 630 nm is Cyanobacteria (aka BGA). I don't get it. Take a look at this link:

http://www.chihiros.cn/en/productd/m2/id412.html

JPC


----------



## oreo57

jaypeecee said:


> Hi Folks,
> 
> All of the Chihiros LED Systems appear to have very similar published lighting spectra. I don't understand why these spectra bear little resemblance to the absorption/action spectra of plants. For example, the Chihiros products all seem to have a peak output at 630 nm. But plants have their peak responses at 430 nm and 660 nm. The only thing that will benefit from light at 630 nm is Cyanobacteria (aka BGA). I don't get it. Take a look at this link:
> 
> http://www.chihiros.cn/en/productd/m2/id412.html
> 
> JPC


chl b will hand off photons to ch a..
Keep in mind the "exact" peaks and spectrum are enviroment(solvent) dependent but yes 660nm is the close wavelength for chl a but not b



> Chlorophyll a is the site of photochemical reaction. It absorbs light required for photosynthesis. It is the primary photosynthetic pigment. Chlorophyll b supplies more light energy to chlorophyll a. It is accessory pigment. However, chlorophyll b is more adaptive to stress condition. In absence of light or in shade when chlorophyll a fails to absorb energy, chlorophyll b carries out the function. The ratio of chlorophyll a to b is generally 3:1. However, in shade plants, the ratio is reduced to 1.4:1.






Just for fun since I just found it.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2017.00272/full


----------



## rebel

jaypeecee said:


> The only thing that will benefit from light at 630 nm is Cyanobacteria (aka BGA).


And the human eye. Remember that we are trying to balance aesthetics as well as plant growth. For me personally it's mainly aesthetics because plants generally seem to grow with any ol light if it's intense enough.


----------



## rebel

jaypeecee said:


> All of the Chihiros LED Systems appear to have very similar published lighting spectra.


One wonders whether they are simply just lazy to check each of their lights OR just using very similar diodes/manufacturers for the various lights.

Or a combination of both.

Has anyone ever done a spectral analysis of their lights? Is there a machine which can analyse the spectra? [ It sounds expensive ]


----------



## oreo57

rebel said:


> One wonders whether they are simply just lazy to check each of their lights OR just using very similar diodes/manufacturers for the various lights.
> 
> Or a combination of both.
> 
> Has anyone ever done a spectral analysis of their lights? Is there a machine which can analyse the spectra? [ It sounds expensive ]


Good spectrophotometers are 1000's US dollars though there is a budget line.
Think its French made using, thanks to solid state and miniaturization, using modules..
like this:
https://www.newark.com/hamamatsu/c12880ma/mini-spectrometer-5-to-50deg-c/dp/21AH3200
I'd have to find the company again. I was interested since it was err "cheap" at around $400US
Another "cheap" brand
https://www.intl-lighttech.com/prod...Wtrs3blYGZN5gOk7K1wKmmclrwuECIlhoCly4QAvD_BwE

Thing is none are used under water.
Chihiros usually publishes spectrums.
supposedly WRGB one below.
See this page for why I say "supposedly" Looks more RGB than RGBW
https://www.advancedplantedtank.com/blogs/light-3pillars/the-best-led-for-planted-tanks




https://www.aquariumline.com/catalog/chihiros-light-wrgb45-p-24547.html?language=en

Not sure they ever made or sold this model:




I don't have a RGB version atm.
ADA,UNS Titan, ONFlat.. ALL RGB versions and similar w/ approx 630-ish peak in red. Prob. just the most common available red.
Adding 660nm adds cost. See Finnex line w/ some w/ 660..


Cheap spectrophotometer.. needs fiber optic cable.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Spectromet...Lv5PairwiseWeb&_trksid=p2386202.c100677.m4598


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## jaypeecee

Hi @rebel 


rebel said:


> And the human eye. Remember that we are trying to balance aesthetics as well as plant growth.



Yes, of course, aesthetics is important. But, my hunch is that aquarium light manufacturers are homing in on aesthetics at the expense of optimum plant growth. And there is the important matter of minimizing algae and cyano growth.

JPC


----------



## jaypeecee

Hi @rebel


rebel said:


> Has anyone ever done a spectral analysis of their lights? Is there a machine which can analyse the spectra?



Yes, I've done many spectrum measurements. I use a very low-cost piece of kit called the i-Phos. Please see the following thread:

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/i-phos-budget-spectrometer.61076/

The i-Phos can be calibrated using a CFL. But I used an array of narrow-band LEDs at 395, 430, 470, 568, 625, 645 and 700 nm to calibrate my setup.

JPC


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## jaypeecee

Hi Folks,

I have mentioned the following company elsewhere on UKAPS:

https://www.ledaquaristik.de/epages/64355316.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/64355316/Products/051-xxxx

Just look at the wealth of information they provide. I'm almost certainly going to purchase my next lighting fixture from them.

JPC


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## Wookii

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @rebel
> 
> 
> Yes, of course, aesthetics is important. But, my hunch is that aquarium light manufacturers are homing in on aesthetics at the expense of optimum plant growth. And there is the important matter of minimizing algae and cyano growth.
> 
> JPC



I think the myth regarding specific aquarium lights being optimised for plant growth has been debunct a long time ago. Long and short of it is that plants will grow under pretty much any light without issue providing there is enough output in the red and blue spectrum (all other factors being equal). This is evidenced quite simply by the success of many many planted tanks under a vast variety of lights from so called dedicated plant lights all the way to desk lamps and flood lights, including RGB based lights. @ceg4048 can probably provide you with a more technical response, here is one of his prior posts on the subject:



ceg4048 said:


> Unfortunately this is another false assumption made by almost everyone, and that is exactly why the comment challenges everything you've read on the subject. What you have read was not written by folks who investigated the specific function of plant pigments. They were told what to think and what to write, so they thought it and then wrote it.
> 
> The light harvesting mechanism of plants, algae and some bacteria, such as BGA consists of a central Chlorophyll complex. The complex, has, among many other components, a series of auxiliary pigments which respond to wavelengths of light other than blue and red. The energy captured by these pigments are then passed on to the Chlorophyll and therefore act as a spectral extension of the main Chlorophyll response curve. The leaf analyzes the spectral distribution and fabricates a variety of pigments to perform tasks, such as to reflect wavelengths that have too much energy, to absorb wavelengths that are not primary wavelengths and some pigments are even capable of changing the incident light to another color and reflecting it on to pigments that can then absorb the new color and pass it's energy on to the Chlorophyll.
> 
> It's a very sophisticated system and it doesn't need your help. Whatever spectral distribution you provide, the plant will determine how to best use that energy. In this hobby, it actually the opposite of what folks think. There is actually far too much light, that more often than not overwhelms the plants ability to quench the excessive energy.
> 
> So there is no demonstration that plants "...absorb light mostly in the blue and red..." It's simply that the Chlorophyll pigment itself has a higher response to blue and red but it depends on the other pigments to absorb the remaining wavelengths and to process those wavelengths. On the contrary, it is specifically because the Chlorophyll pigment has such a high response to blue and red that is is easily overwhelmed by blue and red. So if anything, what the photosynthetic spectrum shows is that you should be using LESS amounts of blue and red to reduce photo-inhibition. This fact has been completely misinterpreted for far too long.
> 
> Spectrum loving Klingons are a plague, a pestilence of misinformation on this planet.
> We are the cure.....
> 
> Cheers,



There are many users with RGB lights now, and I think we would know if it couldn't grow plants, or induced BGA. I've had one on my tank for several months, plants grow very well and I've never had BGA - but then I try and ensure very high DO levels, which I think is a more important factor at preventing BGA.


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## jaypeecee

Hi @Wookii

I am fully aware of what Clive has had to say on this subject. Suffice it to say that some very-highly esteemed photobiologists seem to be sending out different messages. I have provided the following link several times on UKAPS but here it is again:




And Clive does not touch on the potential for algae and cyano growth. The fact is that light in the band from 400nm - 500nm is able to reduce ferric iron to ferrous iron and this has the potential to promote algae and/or cyanobacteria. The scientific research is readily available for anyone who is sufficiently interested in reading it. Indeed, Diana Walstad discusses photoreduction of iron on pages 167 - 169 of her book*. This is not to say that light in the band from 400nm - 500nm is to be eliminated. Categorically, not. It simply needs to be adjusted in intensity.

* Ecology of the Planted Aquarium.

JPC


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## jaypeecee

Hi @Wookii 


Wookii said:


> There are many users with RGB lights now...



I just want to understand _exactly_ what you mean by 'RGB lights'. All (white) lighting, LED or otherwise, contains light in the red, green and blue parts of the PAR/visible spectrum. That could be produced by a blue LED with suitable phosphor giving light across the PAR/visible bandwidth. Or, it can be produced by a combined RGB 'chip'. Or, discrete red, green and blue chips. The single RGB 'chip' are geared around general lighting products such as home lighting.

To which of the above are you referring? Or, perhaps, I've overlooked one?

JPC


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## Wookii

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @Wookii
> 
> 
> I just want to understand _exactly_ what you mean by 'RGB lights'. All (white) lighting, LED or otherwise, contains light in the red, green and blue parts of the PAR/visible spectrum. That could be produced by a blue LED with suitable phosphor giving light across the PAR/visible bandwidth. Or, it can be produced by a combined RGB 'chip'. Or, discrete red, green and blue chips. The single RGB 'chip' are geared around general lighting products such as home lighting.
> 
> To which of the above are you referring? Or, perhaps, I've overlooked one?
> 
> JPC



I would have though it would be obvious that we were talking about combined RGB chips with individually addressable channels given you are talking about them in reference to the Vivid II in the thread discussing that product.


----------



## Wookii

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @Wookii
> 
> I am fully aware of what Clive has had to say on this subject. Suffice it to say that some very-highly esteemed photobiologists seem to be sending out different messages. I have provided the following link several times on UKAPS but here it is again:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And Clive does not touch on the potential for algae and cyano growth. The fact is that light in the band from 400nm - 500nm is able to reduce ferric iron to ferrous iron and this has the potential to promote algae and/or cyanobacteria. The scientific research is readily available for anyone who is sufficiently interested in reading it. Indeed, Diana Walstad discusses photoreduction of iron on pages 167 - 169 of her book*. This is not to say that light in the band from 400nm - 500nm is to be eliminated. Categorically, not. It simply needs to be adjusted in intensity.
> 
> * Ecology of the Planted Aquarium.
> 
> JPC




Whilst interesting, I’m not entirely sure of the relevance of the point in ferric iron production since all standard aquarium lights contain output in that bandwidth, otherwise there wouldn’t be any blue in the light source.

Anyway, we were talking specifically about your thoughts that RGB lights (those with individually addressable channels) would not provide the right bandwidth of red light for optimised growth, and would induce BGA. Whilst scientific links on the topics are always interesting, practical application really has to take precedence.

As I say, these types of LED’s are now in fairly wide use. There are many examples of plants lit by ADA Solar RGB lights (which also appear to have a red Centre frequency at 630nm - they likely use the same LEDs), and various Chihiros RGB lights which all grow plants without issue.


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## oreo57

**


jaypeecee said:


> Hi @rebel
> 
> 
> Yes, of course, aesthetics is important. But, my hunch is that aquarium light manufacturers are homing in on aesthetics at the expense of optimum plant growth. And there is the important matter of minimizing algae and cyano growth.
> 
> JPC


Light spectrum has little to do w/ green algae.


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## jaypeecee

Hi @oreo57,


oreo57 said:


> Light spectrum has little to do w/ green algae.


Because?

JPC


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## jaypeecee

Hi @Wookii


Wookii said:


> I would have though it would be obvious that we were talking about...



I shouldn't really need to say this but, if it had been obvious to me, I wouldn't have asked the question.

JPC


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## Tim Harrison

I think spectrum matters for various reasons, but I also think that Clive is right in that if other factors are well balanced it shouldn't be of paramount importance. Further, most of the bulbs we use as aquatic plant growers are full spectrum anyway so most plants, if not all, will get what they need in terms of light wavelength to grow healthily.

On the question of adjustable lights...I think different wave lengths can induce different plant morphologies, for example; it is possible to grow plants with marine lights that are heavy in the blue end because plants have accessory pigments that can utilise this light. But not many folk would want to adjust them to the extreme of either blue or red since the result will be ugly buggly


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## Wookii

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @Wookii
> 
> 
> I shouldn't really need to say this but, if it had been obvious to me, I wouldn't have asked the question.
> 
> JPC



Lol fair enough. So we are in a thread discussing a specific RGB light, and you’ve commented on the same RGB light, and posted specific points regarding the spectrum of that same RGB light, so let’s assume going forward that when we say ‘RGB’ in this thread, we are referring to that same RGB diode used in that same light.


----------



## Wookii

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @rebel
> 
> 
> Yes, I've done many spectrum measurements. I use a very low-cost piece of kit called the i-Phos. Please see the following thread:
> 
> https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/i-phos-budget-spectrometer.61076/
> 
> The i-Phos can be calibrated using a CFL. But I used an array of narrow-band LEDs at 395, 430, 470, 568, 625, 645 and 700 nm to calibrate my setup.
> 
> JPC



This is interesting - I was wondering how I could go about measuring the true output spectrum of some lights.

I have a fairly hefty colourmeter (I calibrate projectors as a second part time hobby/job) - I envisaged reflecting an aquarium light on a neutral projector screen and measuring the reflected light with the colour meter.

How do you go about measuring the lights with the I-Phos to ensure a broad colour mix?


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## jaypeecee

Hi @Tim Harrison 


Tim Harrison said:


> Further, most of the bulbs we use as aquatic plant growers are full spectrum anyway so most plants, if not all, will get what they need in terms of light wavelength to grow healthily.



The term 'full spectrum' simply means that _some_ light is emitted from a bulb at each and every wavelength from 400nm to 700nm. Chlorophyll a is the main absorber of light by plants. And chlorophyll a absorbs light in the band 400nm to 450nm, reaching a peak response at 430nm. All this is is in the violet to blue part of the spectrum. Chlorophyll a also absorbs red light from 640nm to 700nm, with a peak response at 660nm. Now, if a so-called full-spectrum light produces minimal output at the chlorophyll a wavelengths, it's not going to be much use to our plants. But, it can still be called 'full spectrum'.

My concern lies mainly with the red part of the spectrum. If the red light output from aquarium lighting peaks at 630nm, that's not much use to the plant. It may not be the perfect analogy but I like to compare this with tuning in a radio station. A radio set on 90MHz will pick up Radio 3 - but turn the dial to 89MHz and it won't!

JPC


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## Wookii

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @Tim Harrison
> 
> 
> The term 'full spectrum' simply means that _some_ light is emitted from a bulb at each and every wavelength from 400nm to 700nm. Chlorophyll a is the main absorber of light by plants. And chlorophyll a absorbs light in the band 400nm to 450nm, reaching a peak response at 430nm. All this is is in the violet to blue part of the spectrum. Chlorophyll a also absorbs red light from 640nm to 700nm, with a peak response at 660nm. Now, if a so-called full-spectrum light produces minimal output at the chlorophyll a wavelengths, it's not going to be much use to our plants. But, it can still be called 'full spectrum'.
> 
> My concern lies mainly with the red part of the spectrum. If the red light output from aquarium lighting peaks at 630nm, that's not much use to the plant. It may not be the perfect analogy but I like to compare this with tuning in a radio station. A radio set on 90MHz will pick up Radio 3 - but turn the dial to 89MHz and it won't!
> 
> JPC



How would a lack of availability of the appropriate light at the red end of the spectrum manifest itself in a growing plant?


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## jaypeecee

Hi @Wookii


Wookii said:


> How do you go about measuring the lights with the I-Phos to ensure a broad colour mix?



In my case, trial and error - at the moment. But, it's working for me. I simply set up the i-Phos with the light inlet slit in the horizontal position. As my current lighting fixture is mounted in a hood, I lift the hood so that the i-Phos is pointing directly at it. The i-Phos is mounted on a camera tripod about 2m from the lighting. That does the trick very nicely.

JPC


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## Tim Harrison

Wookii said:


> How would a lack of availability of the appropriate light at the red end of the spectrum manifest itself in a growing plant?


Take a look a this paper http://www.apms.org/japm/vol15/v15p29.pdf


jaypeecee said:


> Hi @Tim Harrison
> 
> 
> The term 'full spectrum' simply means that _some_ light is emitted from a bulb at each and every wavelength from 400nm to 700nm. Chlorophyll a is the main absorber of light by plants. And chlorophyll a absorbs light in the band 400nm to 450nm, reaching a peak response at 430nm. All this is is in the violet to blue part of the spectrum. Chlorophyll a also absorbs red light from 640nm to 700nm, with a peak response at 660nm. Now, if a so-called full-spectrum light produces minimal output at the chlorophyll a wavelengths, it's not going to be much use to our plants. But, it can still be called 'full spectrum'.
> 
> My concern lies mainly with the red part of the spectrum. If the red light output from aquarium lighting peaks at 630nm, that's not much use to the plant. It may not be the perfect analogy but I like to compare this with tuning in a radio station. A radio set on 90MHz will pick up Radio 3 - but turn the dial to 89MHz and it won't!
> 
> JPC


I think it can get a bit confusing and I'm certainly not great on the physics of it. But I think in order to get the white light we find so attractive the mix of wavelengths will be of more than adequate quantity for plant growth; remember the prism experiment at school? And don't forget plants have accessory pigments too.


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## jaypeecee

Hi @Wookii 


Wookii said:


> How would a lack of availability of the appropriate light at the red end of the spectrum manifest itself in a growing plant?



I am a physicist, not a plant biologist. In the first instance, this is where I would turn to Dr Bruce Bugbee's videos and the many resources I have accumulated. I think you'll find that Dr Bruce Bugbee covers this in the video to which I linked above.

JPC


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## jaypeecee

Hi @Tim Harrison 


Tim Harrison said:


> ...I think in order to get the white light we find so attractive the mix of wavelengths will be of more than adequate quantity for plant growth



Because the response of the human eye to the white light spectrum is so different from that of plants, it doesn't help. Our eyes are most sensitive to green/yellow light (around 565nm). Plants' 'eyes' are most sensitive to 420/430nm (violet/blue) and 660nm (red).

JPC


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## oreo57

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @oreo57,
> 
> Because?
> 
> JPC


Sorry, sometimes I get a bit cryptic to encourage research.
Anyways let's start at the spore level where it all begins 
Spores can only eat ammonium.
No free ammonium no algae.
Sources include leaky plant tissue,bacteria decomposition ect 

Green algae has basically the same photosynthetic system as higher plants so why would you think spectrum matters?


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## jaypeecee

Hi @oreo57


oreo57 said:


> Anyways let's start at the spore level where it all begins
> Spores can only eat ammonium.
> No free ammonium no algae.
> Sources include leaky plant tissue,bacteria decomposition ect





oreo57 said:


> Green algae has basically the same photosynthetic system as higher plants so why would you think spectrum matters?



Ammonium, albeit at a very low level, will be present in the tank water all the time for the very reason you mention - leaky plant tissue, bacteria decomposition, etc. And algae spores utilize this for growth. Algae (and cyanobacteria) also need iron in the water column. And, photoreduction of ferric iron to ferrous iron ensures a supply of this element. Photoreduction occurs at wavelengths below approximately 500nm and that's why spectrum matters.

JPC


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## oreo57

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @oreo57
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ammonium, albeit at a very low level, will be present in the tank water all the time for the very reason you mention - leaky plant tissue, bacteria decomposition, etc. And algae spores utilize this for growth. Algae (and cyanobacteria) also need iron in the water column. And, photoreduction of ferric iron to ferrous iron ensures a supply of this element. Photoreduction occurs at wavelengths below approximately 500nm and that's why spectrum matters.
> 
> JPC


There is no shortage of people adding  various forms of iron. Higher plants need it too.
Most effective way to combat algea is a clean tank and plenty of CO2. Spectrum would be way low on the list.
Vigorous plant growth is the biggest key afaict.

Once spores germinate nitrates are back on the lunch table.

*



			Spectrum correlation to algae?
		
Click to expand...

*


> There is persistent myth out there that having more blue light gives rise to more algae. Having seen thousands of tank examples, I don't see this correlation arising at all. This is also a consistent observation by other expert plant growers such as Tom barr. Algae is always closely linked with overall plant health and tank cleanliness, organic waste levels. Higher light intensity triggers algae faster in tanks with trigger factors but spectrum (as far as hobbyist tanks are concerned) are a non factor.



https://www.advancedplantedtank.com/blogs/beginners-planted-tank-101/best_light_spectrum


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## rebel

Would this spectrum question be fairly easy to test? One can just a use a red 660nm LED and see whether plants grow ok in that? etc etc? I know that the interest won't be there to investigate aquatic plants but surely there has been tests with the favourite research Ganja plant?


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## oreo57

rebel said:


> Would this spectrum question be fairly easy to test? One can just a use a red 660nm LED and see whether plants grow ok in that? etc etc? I know that the interest won't be there to investigate aquatic plants but surely there has been tests with the favourite research Ganja plant?



Plenty of studies on plants and spectrum going back at least 8 years.
Problem is some things are species specific.
Secondly some things are unrelated to our needs in general.. Like improving flavor via select spectrums
though some flavorings are pigments.
Initiating flowering.. , using UV to increase cannabis potency and also help ward off pests (compounds, not just the UV itself)... ect.
Random asst. of examples.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/plant_growth.html
https://academic.oup.com/aobpla/article/10/5/ply052/5095468
https://www.migrolight.com/best-grow-light-spectrum/
https://www.ledsmagazine.com/horticultural-lighting/article/14177513/automatoes-team-wins-wageningen-autonomous-horticultural-challenge?utm_source=LED+Horticulture&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200723011&o_eid=9875B5209056H5D&rdx.ident[pull]=omeda|9875B5209056H5D&oly_enc_id=9875B5209056H5D
http://hortamericas.blogspot.com/2015/05/could-leds-replace-plant-growth.html
Still doesn't address the "algae thing". The assumption: Heavy blue in freshwater favors algae, heavy red in saltwater tanks favors algae..


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## rebel

oreo57 said:


> Still doesn't address the "algae thing". The assumption: Heavy blue in freshwater favors algae, heavy red in saltwater tanks favors algae..


would be an interesting project isn't it? Light is fairly easy to control IMHO as compared to CO2/flow etc.


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## oreo57

rebel said:


> would be an interesting project isn't it? Light is fairly easy to control IMHO as compared to CO2/flow etc.


Except look at it in the opposite direction and compare..
https://algaeresearchsupply.com/pages/lighting-for-algae-cultures



> The spectrum of sunlight is perfect for growing most algae.  It does contain UV (ultraviolet) that can damagae the genetic material of algae, think sunburn.  Also sunlight contains IR (infrared) which is essentially heat.   Figure-7 below, shows the visible light spectrum from sunlight, recall that PAR is 400-700nM.





> . Our results show that algae grows the best under white light and more in blue light than red light. Therefore, our hypothesis is partially supported because the growth rate was higher under the blue light in comparison to the red group; however, the algae under the control condition experienced the most growth. The results of this experiment are useful to biofuel producers because they could use white light to increase the growth rate of algae, which in turn produces more biofuel.


https://undergradsciencejournals.okstate.edu/index.php/jibi/article/view/3872

Point is EVEN IF there is a small advantage to algae w/ blue light there are other means of control and the fact that blue is also beneficial to higher plants
in terms of both photosynthesis and pigments



> Time, light intensity and the algae antenna also
> control the photosynthesis process. Excess light even in the appropriate wavelengths will be
> converted in to heat and not used for photosynthesis. Light with wavelengths between 600-700nm is
> the most efficient for photosynthesis. Light emitting diodes (LEDs) with a peak weavelength of
> 643nm are the most cost effective light source if operation of the PBR is 1 year or more...
> Summary and Conclusions
> Microalgal interaction with light was discussed. The discussion showed that the most
> important wavelength range for photosynthesis is between 600-700nm for algae, with possibility
> of using 400-500nm to increase the overall amount of photosynthesis. Different light sources
> were discussed detailing their advantages and disadvantages as a light source. The following
> can be concluded from the results and discussion presented


https://www.researchgate.net/public...the_growth_of_algae_in_a_Photo-Bioreactor_PBR
Keep in mind this is in regards to a single organism setup.
Same blue advantage is present in higher plants.
In a sense both "schools" are partially right but practically the minor algae advantage (IF it exists) is not a viable method of control really.
Heavy blue fw tanks don't support that conclusion.

for the sake of an arguement let's say red light is algae free (from the above paper(s) it wouldn't be) would you want a red tank?
how would a tank of just green light grow and look?

Need to reiterate this all refers to green algae, not blue green bacteria (removed w/ antibiotics) red (ie BBA, cleaning and high CO2 healthy plants. Won't grow on growing, healthy or dead leaves for the most part. Those at intermediate stages are susceptible. YMMV) or brown diatoms (remove silicates)



> When all is said and done, prevention is the best method of algae management.


https://www.liveaquaria.com/article/4/?aid=4


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,





oreo57 said:


> Point is EVEN IF there is a small advantage to algae w/ blue light there are other means of control and the fact that blue is also beneficial to higher plants in terms of both photosynthesis and pigments


That would be my point as well. 

cheers Darrel


----------



## gregsaiz

@Russell Moffitt just wanted to drop a note here with a tip I just learned. I was happy with my Vivid 2 so I ordered a 2nd. The new light would not retain clock time and ramp settings after power loss while my original one recovered just fine. I replaced the CR 2032 battery on the new light and now it retains the settings. I think the button battery drains during storage/shipping.


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## rebel

VIVID2 has hit the shelves at Australian dollars $775  (including about $100 of Australia tax; which is a fake markup for us)so it's about 50% of the ADA offering.
https://www.seaviewaquarium.com.au/shop/item/chihiros-rgb-vivid-2-black-130w-60-90cm-tank

In other news, Chihiros is becoming more mainstream here now, with some online shops stocking it!


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## Wookii

I noticed the other day that Chihiros have launched a new smaller Vivid II model, the mini:






						RGB VIVID MINI - RGB VIVID LED light system - Shanghai Ogino Biotechnology Co.,Ltd
					






					www.chihiros.cn
				




I’m hoping they continue the trend and do a Nano version at half the size, as an AI Prime alternative.


----------

