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Juwel heliolux

Richardod said:
PH controller to regulate the Co2
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No this result in unstable CO2 levels, one of the reasons for algea. The pH swings due to CO2 are safe for the fish.
Just uue a timer: on 1-2 hours before light on, off after atleast 4 hours on, 1-2 hours before light out. A pH pen to create a pH profile will give you the correct timing.
 
Hi everyone,
So I'm a new member and a complete novice to the aquarium world. I recently managed to get a Trigon 190 from a friend and replaced the old T8 lights with the Helialux system. The problem is I had already ordered all my plants which were specifically easy grow for a novice like me so don't need much light or CO2. However, since my purchase, I have been reading about too much light causing algae, articles about watts per litre etc and have gotten myself really confused.

As I do not have the day/night controller, the lights are running at full intensity. As I have no pressurised co2, (I am dosing liquid carbon and ferts) I am making the assumption that I will have too much light and therefore algae problems in the near future. So the question is, what do I do now? And how do I work out what light intensity I need for my setup?

If the lights are too intense for my setup, the cheapest option I have I suspect is to buy the day/night controller and adjust the light intensity. Or do I need to start thinking about getting a pressurised co2 setup?

Any advice would be appreciated as I'm getting a bit lost and confused.
 
bionicfinger said:
If the lights are too intense for my setup, the cheapest option I have I suspect is to buy the day/night controller and adjust the light intensity.
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Yes, this is by far, the wisest option. Any brand of light can be used as long as we have total control of intensity and can reduce it.
Too many folks in this hobby assume that blasting their tank with more light is an "upgrade".

bionicfinger said:
As I have no pressurised co2, (I am dosing liquid carbon and ferts)
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Don't forget that liquid carbon should be used daily.

Cheers,
 
not got a tape measure out and not at home right now but posting in case I forget. No bigger that 6 inches by 4. About 1.5 deep.

Also want to add I have been so happy with the light that I bought a new one for a new Juwel Rio 300

Still have not resolved the dual lighting period issues where I cant get it to ramp up and down twice but never mind.

Run 50% light in a low tech but just added co2 so once I get that dialed in I might move it up a little. Don't want insane growth but just a little boost for plants. I heard CO 2 is like a drug however and always wanted to see some pearling...................
 
I see Juwel are now selling "Multilux" LED lighting systems as standard on new tanks. This seems a very different approach to Helialux. Does that mean Helialux is now obsolete?

The Multilux LED units have the LEDs in replaceable tubes. (But apparently these can't be used on a T5 light unit, even though they look like they might fit.) Presumably tubes are replaceable if LEDs fail.

What happens if LEDs fail on Helialux? Has anyone got any dead LEDs on theirs?
 
cjking said:
I see Juwel are now selling "Multilux" LED lighting systems as standard on new tanks. This seems a very different approach to Helialux. Does that mean Helialux is now obsolete?

The Multilux LED units have the LEDs in replaceable tubes. (But apparently these can't be used on a T5 light unit, even though they look like they might fit.) Presumably tubes are replaceable if LEDs fail.

What happens if LEDs fail on Helialux? Has anyone got any dead LEDs on theirs?
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Are the multilux controllable or just on/off?

Replacing burnt out smd leds is doable but not the most straightforward process.

Assuming they're not potted they can be removed by heating the board just enough to melt the solder holding the led and pulling it off with a pair of tweezers.
At this point it's best to clean off the old solder using solder wick as it make refitting easier.

Refitting is done by applying solder paste (microscopic balls of solder suspended in resin)on the board where necessary, you can then sit the new led in place and the paste will hold it like glue. Then apply heat to melt the solder in the paste and presto your new led is installed.

Unfortunately without a reflow oven/bench this is not an easy process
It is possible to achieve the desired results with a heatgun/gas torch but unless you have an accurate temperature controlled heat source it can be quite easy to damage the board/components.
Another issue with replacing smd leds is the board is either aluminium or mounted to a heatsink (or both). This makes localised heating difficult due to the boards ability to dissipate heat, you have to be patient and wait for the board to get up to temp or you can end up using to much heat and cause localised damage. Without an accurately controlled heat source it's a very difficult and fine line to walk.
 
Really, if using high quality LED's which one assumes Juwel are using, and the LED's are sufficiently heatsinked, so over heating is not an issue, LED's failing just won't happen. More likely the driving electronics will fail before the LED's.

Unfortunately we all get very poor impressions of LED light quality (and life time) from the very very very poorly designed and poorly made LED lights flooding in from China.
 
ian_m said:
we all get very poor impressions of LED light quality (and life time) from the very very very poorly designed and poorly made LED lights flooding in from China
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Fully agree, i am hoping the LED industry will soon get more clear and can add some standardization so we know the quality of the LED used.
 
Edvet said:
Fully agree, i am hoping the LED industry will soon get more clear and can add some standardization so we know the quality of the LED used.
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I may be misunderstanding here, apologies if so.
The problem is with the manufacturers of the light units themselves not the led industry as a whole.
Led chips are produced in batches known as bins, the specs for a led are documented in detail and the bin number will get you the specs.
This is well documented and if you buy the chips from a reputable wholesale/retailer they will be able to tell which bin the leds are coming from and provide datasheets that cover all the technical aspects of that bin.
If you go to a reputable manufacturer (Phillips for example) with one of their products that contains leds they should be able to tell exactly what the leds are and which bin they're from.
I bet even most Chinese manufacturers record and have these details available but actually finding who made what for whom to get these details is the difficult part.

Unfortunately alot of manufacturers in the aquarium industry are not particularly forthcoming with information and light units are no different. They're more interested in you buying into the hype around their product and not to asking technical details 😉
 
OllieNZ said:
lot of manufacturers in the aquarium industry
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And that pisses me of to no avail.
"Sure Ma'm , i'll fix your dog with cheap, substandard chinese rubbish, but i'll charge double, because the stitches look so nice"
 
Hi to all,

just got my heliolux with controller this monday and yesterday managed to hook it up on my RIO240...spectacular change.

I am not sure I am understanding the logic of the controller correctly and maybe someone can assist please.

I understand that one has to set the four profiles where dimming occurs and in between the controller maintains the set luminosity. I am trying to set mine as follows:

Dawn: 1700 to 1745
Sunrise: 1745 to 1830
Sunset: 2330 to 0015
Dusk: 0015 to 0100

Now when it comes to setting the sunset, I find that I cannot set the end time of 0015 as there is no change in the digits with the up/down keys....I think I have the impression that the unit can be set from 0000 to 2355 and you cannot go from one day to the other past 2359...is this correct pls....if so any idea on how one might set the phases as described above pls.

tks to all.
 
I find the controller a little over complicated because it's hard to visualise the parameters in your head. It really needs a companion app where you put in the times for each period, the luminosity and then it generates a little graph to show you the lighting period (like what they have in the manual). Basically similar to the Fluval wifi app. Also, having bought a Helialux and Controller for my Rio 180 earlier this week I'm not sure I'm entirely sold on it, everything seems kind of washed out to me? I think I regret not buying the Fluval Fresh and Plant 2.0 with the full spectrum LED's although that unit doesn't fit as nicely on the tank as the Helialux.
 
up to now, i am pleased with what i saw yesterday at least and to say the truth in the end it took no more than 5 minutes to setup a new profile on the controller...once you see the graph I think it is quite intuitive how it works...dimming phases settable and then light remains as per luminosity achieved...but I still do not understand if i can set the controller with the times i described....so any assistance from someone is appreciated.
 
No I don't think you can as when I set dusk on mind the end time was pre-programmed for 23:55. I think you'd have to set sunset from 23:30 to 23:55 and then dusk from 00:00 to 01:00.
 
@danmoz81...it did not allow me this either...i am getting more convinced that it only allows to set the phases for a single day from 0000 to 2355...you cannot skip into the next day...so most probably the workaround for this would be to offset the actual time of the unit perhaps.??
 
You can set different presets for different days. So preset 1 could be Monday, preset 2 can be Tuesday and so on. I don't know if that helps you achieve what you want.
 
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