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Vivid mini Vs Week Aqua

NorthernDan

Member
Joined
2 Aug 2016
Messages
101
Location
Newcastle
Hello guys.
So still in the throws of planning the last item for my 160cm Discus tank, the lighting.
Had great success on my practice tank with a Chihiros A plus Rbg. Was kinda set to go with a couple of Vivid minis on my new one. Tank will be heavily planted but with only easy growing plants like crypts and java ferns so I'm expecting that these would be more than sufficient.
Vivid mini hits all my criteria, having a lot of customization, black hanging bracket with cable management (important to me, I hate cables and the black hides in with my background/setup) and by all accounts great colour rendition for showing off them expensive fish however when doing a Ali express nosey I came across the Z400. It seems semi similar to my untrained eyes.
The Z400 seems to be slightly more powerful and with added UV, also slightly cheaper. Was tempted to go with these but was hoping one of the more techy guys on here would give it the once over and tell if I'd be making a huge mistake.
Thanks in advance.
 
Hello guys.
So still in the throws of planning the last item for my 160cm Discus tank, the lighting.
Had great success on my practice tank with a Chihiros A plus Rbg. Was kinda set to go with a couple of Vivid minis on my new one. Tank will be heavily planted but with only easy growing plants like crypts and java ferns so I'm expecting that these would be more than sufficient.
Vivid mini hits all my criteria, having a lot of customization, black hanging bracket with cable management (important to me, I hate cables and the black hides in with my background/setup) and by all accounts great colour rendition for showing off them expensive fish however when doing a Ali express nosey I came across the Z400. It seems semi similar to my untrained eyes.
The Z400 seems to be slightly more powerful and with added UV, also slightly cheaper. Was tempted to go with these but was hoping one of the more techy guys on here would give it the once over and tell if I'd be making a huge mistake.
Thanks in advance.
BLINK and the Chinese spit out another model.....

I'm not seeing any dimmer/timer/ramping controller or app. That's a big negative.
Secondly w/ 36V power supply diy hacking one (would just be overall dimming, no channel control) is somewhat problematic since most controllers are limited to 24V max.
Third UV/violet diodes generally have a shorter lifespan(30% loss less than 20000 hrs) than normal "colors". It is getting better but no guarantees w/ err "cheap" lights.
Fourth if the diode doesn't die then the lenses can brown (usually one can replace the secondary optic though.

WELLL.. apparently there is an app controlled one..

ODDLY the advertising has some err.. issues in deciding if this is a rgb or rgb-uv panel...
$40US for shipping to the states adds 25%-ish to the cost and little guarantee of any decent recovery if DOA or dies under warranty.
Kudos for them going outside the box though..

Thumbs down for the poor translation and lack of clarity, also naming any light brand Week as in Weak... ;)
 
BLINK and the Chinese spit out another model.....

I'm not seeing any dimmer/timer/ramping controller or app. That's a big negative.
Secondly w/ 36V power supply diy hacking one (would just be overall dimming, no channel control) is somewhat problematic since most controllers are limited to 24V max.
Third UV/violet diodes generally have a shorter lifespan(30% loss less than 20000 hrs) than normal "colors". It is getting better but no guarantees w/ err "cheap" lights.
Fourth if the diode doesn't die then the lenses can brown (usually one can replace the secondary optic though.

WELLL.. apparently there is an app controlled one..

ODDLY the advertising has some err.. issues in deciding if this is a rgb or rgb-uv panel...
$40US for shipping to the states adds 25%-ish to the cost and little guarantee of any decent recovery if DOA or dies under warranty.
Kudos for them going outside the box though..

Thumbs down for the poor translation and lack of clarity, also naming any light brand Week as in Weak...
After doing a little more digging this afternoon it seems the light I posted do come with app control. Very similar to the Chihiros app.
It also seems from a video review I watched that the RGB versions of various week aqua lights can come with or without app control while the UV RGB versions only come with app control. No idea why.
 
After doing a little more digging this afternoon it seems the light I posted do come with app control. Very similar to the Chihiros app.
It also seems from a video review I watched that the RGB versions of various week aqua lights can come with or without app control while the UV RGB versions only come with app control. No idea why.
Yes seems I missed this in your link ..
full spectrum bracket hoisting shading plate mobile APP control
 
1645239421503.png


The UVA chips are probably the little purple dots in the photo.
5054 are 0.5w LEDs, the 'upgraded' version of the ubiquitous 5050 and can be driven up to 1w
 
why the vivid minis? why not just the vivids. I'd recommend 3 vivids over a 180cm tank
Couple reasons. Obvious one being cost. Would add another £200+ to the bill for a couple of vivids which I'm expecting would be huge overkill to grow a few easy plants. The Scape I have planned will only be the back half with a considerable beach area, and thirdly I like that the minis come with the arm which also hides the cable.
View attachment 183006

The UVA chips are probably the little purple dots in the photo.
5054 are 0.5w LEDs, the 'upgraded' version of the ubiquitous 5050 and can be driven up to 1w
Is this a good thing or bad thing?

Cheers guys.
 
I personally don't think the Java fern are a very easy plant to grow - but vivid minis should be fine! However, the arm isn't very long so you're lights would be at the back of the tank and I'm not sure what is the max glass size the clamp is compatible with.
 
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