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gmartins

Member
Joined
31 Jan 2011
Messages
316
Location
Azores
Hey all,

It's been a while since I last posted here, or held a tank really. Life got in the way....
Anyways, I'm considering the idea of setting a new planted tank. I think I will go for a shallow one, as I really like the emersed and immersed growth contrast.
Also, low-tech. I'm done with high-tech weekly water-change and pruning for the moment.

I think I will go for Blau cubic with 45 x 24 x 16 cm. Not huge, but it suits the space I got for it.

Anyways, since I last kept a tank, LED became the norm and I am bit at a loss with the current offer, and would like some feedback on this. I want something that can be tighten to the sides (clamp-on) to allow some space for emergent growth. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
 
Chihiros CII/CII RGB are an option, Week Aqua also has various lights that would suit your criteria. Do you have a budget in mind? If you're sticking to low tech then your options are vast 🙂
 
FrozenShivers said:
Chihiros CII/CII RGB are an option, Week Aqua also has various lights that would suit your criteria. Do you have a budget in mind? If you're sticking to low tech then your options are vast 🙂
Click to expand...
I don't have a budget in mind. But I don't want something that I regret after purchasing. I want a good colour rendition. Also the ability to control light intensity seems a pretty cool feature as it allows to go higher or lower tech according to needs. Going to check your suggestions. Thanks
 
FrozenShivers said:
Chihiros CII/CII RGB are an option, Week Aqua also has various lights that would suit your criteria. Do you have a budget in mind? If you're sticking to low tech then your options are vast 🙂
Click to expand...
Just checked the Chihiros CII / CII RGB. They are quite sleek and seem quite good.
Do you guys think the ability to control the individual colour channels in the RGB version is worth the price difference over the "normal" model?
 
gmartins said:
Just checked the Chihiros CII / CII RGB. They are quite sleek and seem quite good.
Do you guys think the ability to control the individual colour channels in the RGB version is worth the price difference over the "normal" model?
Click to expand...
I have real reservations, I'll be fascinated to read what folks more scientific than me say. Extra green certainly can have a really impressive aesthetic impact, green plants look super healthy - ADA gallery tanks - but basically what we want is intense white light. Few of us are scientifically knowlegeable enough to tweak a light in terms of colour intensity to help the plants, and actually, unless you are a commercial tomato grower and want to grow plants cheap and use red and blue light, light is light, we need to see our plants and fish under something approximating to natural sunlight. I like warm white, orange/red rich - dawn and dusk type light, but I wouldn't pay extra to be able to do that. I know you want to mount on the tank and a bit higher so my wall mounted floodlights are no use to you, but I can grow almost any plant with bog standard floodlights, I am looking at my Rotala macrandra pearling currently after I harvested a load of floating plants and the light is penetrating. Good luck.
 
Just by way of illustration, under a pair of LED floodlights, 100 watt 5000K and 30 watt 3000k, combined price under £50. CO2 level between 20-30ppm and TDS 225 (it has risen up on me, time for a water change) I use garden centre fertiliser occasionally, but basically lean dose. Plenty of pearling, not algae free and I think the light quality is not unpleasant to the human eye.
 

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gmartins said:
Just checked the Chihiros CII / CII RGB. They are quite sleek and seem quite good.
Do you guys think the ability to control the individual colour channels in the RGB version is worth the price difference over the "normal" model?
Click to expand...

I haven't used either light as my current tanks are too large, I have a Chihiros WRGB Slim 90 for example. MJ Aqua has a video on them here. It's personal preference really, some prefer one over the other, I don't think you'll struggle to grow anything due to it not being RGB or vice versa, especially in low tech.

Connswater said:
Few of us are scientifically knowlegeable enough to tweak a light in terms of colour intensity to help the plants, and actually, unless you are a commercial tomato grower and want to grow plants cheap and use red and blue light, light is light, we need to see our plants and fish under something approximating to natural sunlight.
Click to expand...

I think many do it because they like to tinker the light to their individual preference of colour tone, not due to it growing their plants better, just depends on what you want out of a light though - sometimes having too much choice or adjustability can be a curse.
 
I know that some wavelengths can foster different responses (e.g. flowering, reproduction, vegetative growth) in certain plant species, although the responses tend to be species-spefic in most cases.I am marine ecologist professionally, but this is my hobby. I like it relaxing and don't want to spend the whole time fiddling with the lights (or other things, for that matter). I think my high-tech times are now in past (who knows).... My question regarding the two models was more about color rendition than anything else.
FrozenShivers said:
I haven't used either light as my current tanks are too large, I have a Chihiros WRGB Slim 90 for example. MJ Aqua has a video on them here. It's personal preference really, some prefer one over the other, I don't think you'll struggle to grow anything due to it not being RGB or vice versa, especially in low tech.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link for the video... Both produce quite pleasant light IMO.
 
gmartins said:
Hey all,

It's been a while since I last posted here, or held a tank really. Life got in the way....
Anyways, I'm considering the idea of setting a new planted tank. I think I will go for a shallow one, as I really like the emersed and immersed growth contrast.
Also, low-tech. I'm done with high-tech weekly water-change and pruning for the moment.

I think I will go for Blau cubic with 45 x 24 x 16 cm. Not huge, but it suits the space I got for it.

Anyways, since I last kept a tank, LED became the norm and I am bit at a loss with the current offer, and would like some feedback on this. I want something that can be tighten to the sides (clamp-on) to allow some space for emergent growth. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
If you are going for the emersed aspect most aquarium lights aren't really designed for that.
Connseater floodlights has the right idea if the " floods" as defined by architectural standards would have tight enough optics to be placed high over the tank .
120 degree lights in free air heights over a few inches spills a lot of light outside your tank surface area.
Breaking your tank in 2 units 24-ish x 24 and a decent height for say a 90 degree light would be 1ft off the water line giving you that 1ft for emergents .
 
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Any thoughts on the Lominie Asta 20? the MD fish guy from YouTube seems to be using them often and with good results. It does create a nice shimmering effect.

I think I reduced my options down to 3 light sets:
ONF Flat nano
Chihiros CII
Asta 20
 
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