Pepere Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 (edited) 3 different lights on the same tank to see the difference a light makes…. 2 fluval planted 3.0 lights one on back, one on the front. about $180.00 each, so $360.00 for the pair. These are the 24-36 to fit on my 30 inch wide 29 gallon tank. The lights are centered and full strength. You can see shadows in the lighting on the right and left edges especially near the top. 2 Finnex planted plus ALCs 100% red, 70% blue, 50% green, 100% white. About 107.00 a piece and I have each controlled by a nicrew inline timer dimmer because the onboard timer dimmer is a horrible design. $240.00 for the set up. Probably close to 60 watts for the two with these settings. Chihiros WRGB 2 pro. 116 red, 96 green 140 blue 11 white. single light, consuming 69 watts at this setting, extra power to spare. $279.00. All three photos taken with my I phone. None of the three photos, render in the photo as they do to my eye in person. I just finished a very big pruning session on the tank and weekly service. The white haze is due to Equilibrium added for GH. the Fluval looks much more yellow in person and is not at all to my liking. I love the Fluval ap functionality. I hate the led color and bulb counts fluval included. the light spread is unacceptable to me for a 29. The Finnex is better, but the RGB channels are not nearly powerful enough to light the tank. They are there primarily to help fine tune the color rendering. The PAR comes from the white leds… with the clear lens, there is a LOT of shimmer from the light and surface agitation shadows in the tank. The Chihiros is the one that looks the most different in person from the photo. The photo has the red and green far in excess from what I am seeing in person, but no mistake the plants are definitely redder and greener with this light than the other two lights. The harlequins and cherry barbs are also much more pronounced… with a plate of white sand in the bottom of the tank with this setting, the sand looked white. (A tip I was given for helping to dial in the color channels to prevent over saturation of a color channel) I am not sure this is the final setting, but, it is close. With the Chihiros you get most of your power from the RGB setting and use the white to tone it down to be more neutral. The Chihiros also has a white panel diffuser under the led bulbs eliminating the shimmer and shadow. it definitely gives more contrast and vividness and more sense of depth. While it is a premium price point for a single light, well, it is a single light that is getting me the power and coverage of two of the Finnex or Fluval lights… I am thinking I am going to offer the fluvals and the Finnexs for sale on Ebay soon in order to buy another Chihiros for my other 29 gallon tank. Edited July 13 by Pepere 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggaz Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 This is a great thread, pepere, thanks for posting. It's always interesting how far off a camera is from your own eye, but you do a good job explaining the apparent differences. I'm thinking of upgrading my own lights, got too much yellow and no real control, and this thread is a big help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 13 Author Share Posted July 13 On 7/13/2024 at 1:43 PM, daggaz said: 'm thinking of upgrading my own lights, got too much yellow and no real control, and this thread is a big help. Chihiros, Week Aqua and Netlea are the ones I would be looking at if starting feom scratch. I will likely get another Chihiros to match this one so I canhave them both on the same ap. The Chihiros Ap is nowheres near as nice to use as the Fluval 3.0… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beech Hill Aquatics Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 I appreciate that you added photos along with a really good explanation for the three separate brands. The Chihiros photo to me looks like that light blows the others out of the water. Great photo. Thanks for posting the explanations of the difference. Your plants look great too ! Are you using Easy Green ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 13 Author Share Posted July 13 @Mmiller2001 advised to decrease the exposure on the iphone when taking a photo until it looks closer to real life. so here are three more photos. It is closer, but it still fails to capture the full effect. 2 Fluval planted 3.0. This photo really starts to show the drop off of illumination to the left and right, however it is still much yellower light in front of me than in the photo. 2 finnex Planted plus ALCs. They are not horrid lights, and the color rendering is far superior to the Fluval in my opinion and it illuminates the entire tank better… but, where this set up cost me roughly $240.00…. And for $280.00 I get… The extra $40.00 is very well spent in my book, and cheaper than 2 Fluval 3.0s… The Camera fails to catch the serious illumination of the Fish. It almost seems to turn the fish into Glo Fish. MyHarlequins have brilliant red fins and a particular shimmer to their pinkish red areas. The Glow Eye Tetras stripe and eye spot light up like an old fasjioned neon sign from the 60s neon orange. The Malre Cherry Barbs become breattaking. The Green Neon Tetras and Lambchop Rasboras become irridescent in their coloration. No amount of expensive fish food colrs them anywhere near what this light does. You have to see it in person to fully appreciate it. If you ever had sunlight stream in to your fish tank and light up Neons and take your breath away from the beauty, it is akin to that…. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 13 Author Share Posted July 13 On 7/13/2024 at 5:44 PM, Beech Hill Aquatics said: Your plants look great too ! Are you using Easy Green ? Thanks for the compliment. yesthese plants are water column fed using Easy Green as well as Seachem Equilibrium, co2 and intense lighting. The substrate js inert gravel and I do not regularly use root tabs… the Equilibrium supplements calcium and Magnesium as I have very sift water and also provides Iron and Potassium. I am planning to switch to dry salts fertilizer soon and purchasing trace elements liquid fertilizer from another hobbyist. In essence, you dose dry ferts for nitrates, potassium and phosphorous and the suitable number of ml of the trace elements solution. Mixing up traces is a lot of bother vs NPK…. I do a 50% water change on Saturday morning and then dose Easy Green sufficient to raise nitrates to 30 ppm. As this is a 29 gallon tank instructions would be 3 pumps Twice a week. I end up frontloading after water change usually 20 pumps… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 13 Author Share Posted July 13 (edited) a glow eye tetra. male and female cherry barbs and Harlequins. Better view of Harlequin giving a hint of the iridescence they are displaying with this light. And a gratuitous photo of a new stem I am working at propagating more of… Again, the photos cant quite capture whatI am seeing in person… Edited July 13 by Pepere 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricksonAquatics Posted July 14 Share Posted July 14 Are those long fin cherry barbs?! So neat. That light makes them look like ridiculously red fireballs and I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 14 Author Share Posted July 14 The females are veil tale cherry barbs. The males are standard cherry barbs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 14 Share Posted July 14 Lower it even more until the black background is near actual black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 14 Author Share Posted July 14 On 7/13/2024 at 11:14 PM, Mmiller2001 said: Lower it even more until the black background is near actual black Ok, but I am not going downstairs to get the fluvals again… both photos show black background darker than they do to my eye. Finnex planted plus ALC Chihiros WRGB2 pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 14 Share Posted July 14 On 7/14/2024 at 4:10 AM, Pepere said: Ok, but I am not going downstairs to get the fluvals again… both photos show black background darker than they do to my eye. Finnex planted plus ALC Chihiros WRGB2 pro No no, just future photos 😆 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 26 Author Share Posted July 26 (edited) Playing around with the various lights convinced me to retire the Finnex Planted Plus ALCs. The Fluval 3.0s were retired over a year ago. I will be putting them up for sale on ebay soon, but keeping the Finnex’s in reserve for the time being.They are not horrid lights and they are bright enough for most plants. They do fall short in getting the most color out of red plants, and they pale in comparison to the Chihiros.. I bought another Chihiros WRGB2 pro. I now have one on each 29 gallon tank. Main display tank with new light. This pic is instructive. I pulled some Pink Flamingo from one of my tanks that had been growing well and transplanted it into this tank that I had the Chihiros on. The Chihiros is brighter. It didnt take long to see brilliant new growth forming. The new leaves are much pinker than the older that has olive colored tones on it.. the Older leaves also responded to higher light by growing algae on them. I have clipped off the worst of the algae infected leaves and I am closely observing the new growth to see how it progresses… Edited July 26 by Pepere 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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