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Light spread of WRGB2 Pro and similar bar lights

Mortis

Member
Joined
17 Jun 2009
Messages
410
So I have an interesting dilemma. I currently have a 75*45*45 cm tank with a DIY LED light over it with a kind of janky mounting system and waaaay overspecced for my tank (180 W !!). Soon Ill be using this on a friends monster 8*2*3 foot tank with narrower lenses to provide some good penetration and create a nice low-medium lighting area in a section of it that is plantable and it gives him a fixture that is reliable, repairable and cost effective at the same time without a crazy budget and is kind of key to the new setup that we are planning.

My dilemma is in finding a suitable replacement for my tank. I cant hang the light from the ceiling because its plasterboard and dont want to risk pulling down the whole section, I also cant hang the light from brackets mounted to the wall behind the tank because there is a bathroom behind it and accidentally drilling through a pipe would result in dismemberment by my better half LOL.

My only option is light fixtures that mount on the tank itself. Since the tank is 75cm long, I cant use a 90cm fixture because in most cases the fixtures "rating" is also the minimum size tank it can fit on unless I hang it which isnt an option
I can only choose from 60 cm fixtures - namely the Chihiros WRGB2 Pro or the current frontrunner the Micmol Master 60 - Because it has a higher output, costs 20% less than the Chihiros and also comes with shades built in.

The main two doubts I have are :
1) Will a single bar type light like the ones mentioned above have enough spread to cover the foreground as well as background of a 45cm tank on the default brackets ? If it was hanging then I could obviously raise it to get more spread but again, that isnt an option. Would they also be able to have good enough intensity at the bottom at 50-55cm, if we take into account substrate height as well as height of the bracket ?

2) I dont like to run equipment at a 100% if possible and instead keep it at a max of 75-80%. Will these 60cm fixtures have enough punch to run a high tech 75cm tank

Another option I have is getting two 45cm fixtures and mounting them front to back but introduces new doubts in case I choose to downsize my tank to a 2 footer or get a narrower 75cm tank - they wont fit on either of those.

The confusion is giving me a headache honestly and I would appreciate the advice
 
75*45*45 one wrgb2 60cm will be fine -it will fit with the standard bracket it comes with. You can also get the brackets that sit on the rim and suspend, but they can be quite expensive.

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Finnex has a lot of 30" (75cm ) bars .
Hyggar as well.
Amazon product ASIN B09B22NMBG
Generally 2 bars are recommended for 18" tanks. Especially for narrow lights.
I assume you have a rimmed tank making fitting some puck style lights problematic?
 
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75*45*45 one wrgb2 60cm will be fine -it will fit with the standard bracket it comes with. You can also get the brackets that sit on the rim and suspend, but they can be quite expensive.

View attachment 202536

I was eyeing these from chihiros. Its a decent option. Maybe I could get something like this fabricated.

One other option is to find SS or Aluminium rods the same thickness as the ones that come with the light and make taller or wider supports

Finnex has a lot of 30" (75cm ) bars .
Hyggar as well.
Amazon product ASIN B09B22NMBG
Generally 2 bars are recommended for 18" tanks. Especially for narrow lights.
I assume you have a rimmed tank making fitting some puck style lights problematic?

Finnex and Hyggar arent available in my country so those two are out

I was thinking of two lights but 2 x 45cm ones instead of 2 x 60 makes more sense to me.
My tank is rimless. By puck style lights do you mean the flattened spotlight type ones ? Somehow neither type has ever appealed to me and also those lights would be out of my budget and not as flexible in terms of colour tuning as compared to two bad style lights I mentioned.
To be honest Im aiming for the bang for buck option as a replacement. Mid range price, lots of features and powerful enough to not run it above 80% at max

Actually the first thought I had was to spend double the money and DIY another mad replacement. I was thinking of using the MakersLED kit and assembling an array of high CRI mixed whites and a channel each for RGB but the cost of the components alone was well above $600 while the Micmol and Chihiros are in the $300 range
 
I have a Chihiros WRGB 2 Pro on my 90 x 45 x 45, no problem with it reaching front and back, it an incredibly powerful lamp. You could add the shutters which help focus the light better. I have them at the front only. I think a 60 on a 75 would be fine.
 
There was a test done somewhere that suggested that a single 1w LED bulb is able to penetrate water more effectively compared to 2 x 0.5w LED bulbs.
Therefore if you compare a 100w light using 0.5w LEDs and a 100w light using 1.0w LEDs in a tall tank, the 1w LED light will be brighter at substrate level, all other things being equal.

I wonder if the engineers/scientists can confirm this? It sort of accords with my own experience where flashlights are concerned - the multi-bulb flashlights (unless they have a really good focusing lens), do not throw light as far as a single bulb flash light with the same total wattage and a good lens.
 
First it's easier to focus a single spot than 2 ( or more) spots.
Your flashlight analogy probably falls prey to that.
Second point is wattage isn't efficiency
One diodes could generate say 80 lumens/ watt. Another 120l/w.
Third, all other things are equal is rare.
Fourth, depends how you measure it.
One may be more concentrated on a small spot but overall adding up all the photons they are equal. Like you may get a tighter hot spot but it is fairly meaningless overall.
1w may have 100 lumens directly under it but 25 1/2 cm away.
The 2 might have 75L and 50 1/2 cm away.
That sort of ties into #1 the reflector/lens thing.
 
Right now Im leaning towards the Micmol unit for a few reasons even though its 0.5W LEDS vs the 1W ones in the Chihiros unit.

1) Higher light output overall so depending on how it is, I could run it at lower power
2) Discrete W R G and B LEDs vs the all in one LEDs in the Chihiros should give me a cleaner colour overall. I hate the pinkish hue in white mode most planted lights have nowadays. Plus some of the Red and Blue emitters are Royal blue and Deep red so I should get a more balanced spectral output.
3) The Micmol is also 20% cheaper than the WRGB2 Pro and comes with the shades built in and also has both a tank mount bracket and hanging kit (minus the stand) in the box so I would say its better value overall.

For now though lets say that they are both equal for simplicity. My main doubt is if a single 60cm unit will be enough to cover a 75*45*45 entirely or if 2X 45cms would be a better option. Another thing I could do would be to supplement the foreground with a single basic light bar or the back corners with a couple of those cheapo corner mount lights.
 
30x18x18, 40gal..
Though it is never as cheap as people would like, not sure where $600 comes from.
Not for a 40gal tank...\
of course getting decent diodes can be an issue.
 
30x18x18, 40gal..
Though it is never as cheap as people would like, not sure where $600 comes from.
Not for a 40gal tank...\
of course getting decent diodes can be an issue.
The cost comes in because I want to use the MakersLED Heatsink for a nice neat fixture along with the associated drivers and hardware plus shipping and customs duty getting them from the USA and some good quality LEDS. All that adds up to $400 with shipping and duty on top. Also Im quite bad at soldering so Ill have to pay someone to do it but that wont be a big expense.
I was eyeing the LCFocus LEDs
The final build would be 210 watts - 70 * 3W LEDs. A lot I know but then it would allow me to run the light at a lower power setting and I can easily use it on a larger tank if I so choose. Lenses will give me flexibility of adjusting the spread and penetration. Basically a much better version of my current light.

CH1 and 5 would be a mix of High CRI 4300k, 6500k and 10000k
Ch2 : Mix of Lime green, cyan and yellow and/or orange
CH3 : Mix of Blue, Royal blue and Ice Blue
Ch4 : Mix of Red, Deep Red, Orange and Grow LEDS (the pinkish purple ones)

The whites would have narrow optics and the colours wider optics with diffusers
 
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