What Light should I get?

[Shrimpee]

So I have been researching aquarium lights and I have mainly 2 lights that I think would be best for a high tech 20 gal with high light plants and the 2 lights are the new Aquarium Co-op light or the Fluval 3.0 light. Which one should I get or should I get a different one?

[Mmiller2001]

I would pass on those and go for a high contrast light. A Chihiros wrgb 2 or Chihiros wrbg2 pro (kind of over kill in the pro model). Twinstar S series or ONF Flat one. 

The problem with the lights you listed are the diodes they use. Any light using white diodes versus RGB diodes to produce white light are high in the yellow spectrum. There are others but price really ramps up after the ones I mentioned. 

For a budget light, the Finnix planted plus has true 660nm reds and looks semi better. Poor controller function though on the finnex.

[Scapexghost]

I think the coop light us cheaper so id go that. I think the fluval is brighter but on that size tank it shouldnt matter. Neither youd run at 100%

[Mmiller2001]

I also have a comparison of the fluval 3.0 versus Chihiros. This was taken a while ago. Fluval 1st picture, Chihiros 2nd.

And here was the end result under the Chihiros.

 

[Shrimpee]

I think the Chihiros price is gonna exceed my budget so I might go for the Aquarium Co-op plus the finnex planted or the finnex stingray

On 4/15/2023 at 5:10 PM, Pepere said:

And same idea with a second 29 gallon display tank…

 

view A

 

view B

View C

I think View A and View C looks a lot more natural than View B 

On 4/15/2023 at 5:21 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I also have a comparison of the fluval 3.0 versus Chihiros. This was taken a while ago. Fluval 1st picture, Chihiros 2nd.

And here was the end result under the Chihiros.

 

The Chihiros looks way better than the Fluval. If I had an unlimited budget I would definitely get the Chihiros.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Aquarium2343

[Mmiller2001]

Have a look at the Twinstar S series before committing. I almost got one. It was on sale for nearly the same price as a Fluval.

[Mmiller2001]

What's the length of the tank?

[Shrimpee]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:37 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

What's the length of the tank?

The tank is 30 inches long.

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:38 PM, Aquarium2343 said:

The tank is 30 inches long.

For the lower cost and at 30 inches. The Finnix planted plus alc is what I would do. I would throw it on a timer because you can't adjust for an 8 hour schedule.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/15/2023 at 2:21 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I also have a comparison of the fluval 3.0 versus Chihiros. This was taken a while ago. Fluval 1st picture, Chihiros 2nd.

Do you still have the 3.0 somewhere or did you get rid of it?

[Mmiller2001]

I sold the 2 46 inch ones I had and selling a 36 inch I still have. Just been lazy to start the process.

I'm also going to sell my 36 inch Chihiros RGB 2 when I tear down the 40. I'm seriously contemplating going Kessels and selling the Chihiros 90. But apparently, the wife doesn't want to swallow that pill yet...yet...

Edited April 15, 2023 by Mmiller2001

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:29 PM, Pepere said:

If you like the shimmer effect of light reflecting off surface agitation as well as the shimmer shadows on the bottom of the tank, the Finnex planted plus has that more pronounced than either the Chihiros or fluval.

The big issue is the 70 inches of length and I'm not aloud to put any more holes in the house 😆

[DaveO]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:32 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

The big issue is the 70 inches of length and I'm not aloud to put any more holes in the house 😆

But putting extra holes in the house is half the fun.

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:58 PM, DaveO said:

But putting extra holes in the house is half the fun.

😁

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:20 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

I sold the 2 46 inch ones I had and selling a 36 inch I still have. Just been lazy to start the process.

If you find it remotely interesting I can send you my light settings (trying to make it not yellow) and see what you think.  Like you mentioned, there's basically no way to "fix it" based on the way the spectrums are setup.

I posted the breakdown here for anyone who is interested:

I was able to find an old marketing thing on an EU ad for each LED channel with the spectrum of each individual LED. I went and verified the LEDs per channel to the light and adjusted some things on my end based on that.  It's a puzzle, but when I setup mine I tend to want to push red (which we both agree it doesn't do well) and try to balance out the spikes a little bit.

Once I can finalize things I'll try to post an update in the appropriate thread.  I don't have other lights to compare it to.  I have 3 lights and each light looks different.  One tank has a tinge of tannins which does give the tank a skew.  It is much easier to push red on that tank.  The substrate is a white/warm white sand.   On my main tank, the big light it's a very white/pure/cold white and the substrate is black.  On the other tank I have "the bad light" and white sand with red lava rock.  It skews more towards the pure white spectrum.  The aquasky lights are pushing much more of that fluval yellow spectrum that you indicate.  I didn't realize it until I started to try to tune my setups a bit better.

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/17/2023 at 3:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

If you find it remotely interesting I can send you my light settings (trying to make it not yellow) and see what you think.  Like you mentioned, there's basically no way to "fix it" based on the way the spectrums are setup.

I posted the breakdown here for anyone who is interested:

I was able to find an old marketing thing on an EU ad for each LED channel with the spectrum of each individual LED. I went and verified the LEDs per channel to the light and adjusted some things on my end based on that.  It's a puzzle, but when I setup mine I tend to want to push red (which we both agree it doesn't do well) and try to balance out the spikes a little bit.

Once I can finalize things I'll try to post an update in the appropriate thread.  I don't have other lights to compare it to.  I have 3 lights and each light looks different.  One tank has a tinge of tannins which does give the tank a skew.  It is much easier to push red on that tank.  The substrate is a white/warm white sand.   On my main tank, the big light it's a very white/pure/cold white and the substrate is black.  On the other tank I have "the bad light" and white sand with red lava rock.  It skews more towards the pure white spectrum.  The aquasky lights are pushing much more of that fluval yellow spectrum that you indicate.  I didn't realize it until I started to try to tune my setups a bit better.

I don't use it. It's just sitting in the box. I think I'm going to get Weak Aqua P series lights. For now, the Chihiros is working well for my plant selection. I did some digging and it seems the Kessel A360x lights have too much yellow still. And the Weak Aquas are cheaper than Chihiros and pack way more punch and color. Only negative is the fan cooling and worst app of any light. 

[rockfisher]

On 4/14/2023 at 10:43 PM, Aquarium2343 said:

So I have been researching aquarium lights and I have mainly 2 lights that I think would be best for a high tech 20 gal with high light plants and the 2 lights are the new Aquarium Co-op light or the Fluval 3.0 light. Which one should I get or should I get a different one?

Unless you planing on having  CO2 there is no need to go crazy with a light I have several types of lights and most work well. I like my co-op light but for basic plants I have a what used to be cheap Chinese lights Hager’s light and the work well.