ADA Solar RGB vs Kessil A360x vs ONF Flat One+ vs Chihiros Vivid 2 for 300gal planted tank

[Maf 2500]

Hi Gareth (@Wookii)

Unfortunately, no. And, it all seems to have gone quiet. Even their UK website isn't very helpful. I'd be happy to contact them when I can find time!

JPC

Interesting technology. From reading around, the release of the Kyocera lights was Japan only, and they are available for 107,000 yen (£700) per unit. Hopefully the tech will prove effective and efficient enough to become mainstream in time.

Kyocera LED - 海水魚ショップ　ナチュラル

 

[oreo57]

Interesting technology. From reading around, the release of the Kyocera lights was Japan only, and they are available for 107,000 yen (£700) per unit. Hopefully the tech will prove effective and efficient enough to become mainstream in time.

Kyocera LED - 海水魚ショップ　ナチュラル

Worst thing at that price..not even dimmable.


Tech is "mainstream" sort of. See Sorra, Yuji, Waveform lighting and I believe another manufacturer or 2.
Here are the hurdles as I understand them:
1) Violet emitters underperform ( photons/watt) blue base emitters.
2) Blue phosphors for leds have/had stability issues.
3) Higher cost less demand ( good enough philosophy)
I''ll add high energy darkening of plastics and shorter lifespan.

As to reefers using them.. my lurker assessment is they don't really want "natural" in the real sense. Just an enhanced"natural".

 

[Nick potts]

As to reefers using them.. my lurker assessment is they don't really want "natural" in the real sense. Just an enhanced"natural".

Defintalety enhanced, I run my reefs in the 20-30k region, I have even had one reef running only blue light, and while I know that reefs get a lot more blue light, it looks nothing like how most run there tanks.

 

[aeneas]

Guys, I am continuing the topic in the main journal thread; I will now need some help thinking through the appropriate CO2 system and how to set that up properly. I looked at ELOS and they seem to have really good stuff; also looking into CO2Art products. If you can help me with some further advise and tips regarding CO2 setup that would be greatly appreciated as well.

 

[aeneas]

Guys, may I once more revive this thread to ask you for one more help - choosing the right light intensity: I now received quotes and need to pull the trigger on the purchase:

1) 4x Mitras LX7004:

• spec for each one: 48 LEDs, 87W at high efficiency mode, 131W at high output mode
• they don't state lumens, but somewhere I found "up to 150lm/W for their whites"... since colored LEDs likely have less, I can assume 100-120lm/W average? This would lead to ~9000lm-10500lm per light in efficiency mode and ~13000-16000lm per light in high output mode. This seems really quite a lot - does it make sense? ADA Solar RGB is only stating 3000-3500lm for their lights...?
• 4x units would thus give me 35k-40k lm in efficient mode or 52k-62k in high output mode.

2) 4x Mitras LX7006:

• spec for each one: 72 LEDs, 130W at high efficiency mode, 195W at high output mode
• assuming same calculations as above, this gives me 13k-15k lm in efficiency mode and 20k-24k lm in high power mode
• 4x units would give me 52k-62k in efficiency mode vs 78k-93k in high power mode.

A tech support from GHL said: "If you're going to do mostly high-light demanding plants, 4x 7006 fixtures would be ideal since it will put out that extra bit of light necessary for those plants. This option would also give you the flexibility to mount the lights higher off the water if needed. You could do 4x 7004 if the tank will be a mixture of low - high light plants."

So, assuming my 1100L 240cm long tank: I would personally prefer to go with 4xLX7004 model - cheaper and less obtrusive. But I want to make sure I am not making compromises... and if I push the lights in high output I worry I might have more fan noise and heat generation, shortening lifespan etc. Would you guys consider the light output of 4xLX7004 sufficient or should I go for the bigger and more expensive lights?

 

[Wookii]

They all sound way over powered @aeneas - not a bad thing as long as you can turn them down. it will of course depend on how high you suspend them above the tank, and what plants you choose to try and grow, particularly for the carpet if you have one.

Lumens aren't the best of measures for comparison, as some lights can have a higher 'PAR per lumen' than others. However using the lumens as a rough yardstick, if you compare to other lights, for example, the ADA RGB Solar One's are a high light option. Say you went extreme with those and had five above you tank, that'd only be 17,500 lumens for example. Five Vivid 2's would be 27,500 lumens at full power.

Both of those should be more the enough light suspended 30-40cm off the water surface (realistically four of each would probably be sufficient), even with your deep tank. The PAR per lumen on those two examples will likely be higher than the GDL's, but even so, I wouldn't be shooting for much over 30,000 lumens - less than 20,000 lumens could well be enough, particularly at start up. At that level you're also going to have to get your CO2 bang on point if you don't want it to turn into an algae fest.

 

[aeneas]

They all sound way over powered @aeneas - not a bad thing as long as you can turn them down. it will of course depend on how high you suspend them above the tank, and what plants you choose to try and grow, particularly for the carpet if you have one.

Perfect, thanks! Then I will order the 4x LX7004 ones (the smaller version); it will look nicer and will also save me some money for other toys 😉