- Redemption -

[Andrew T]

On a side note, all carpet and stems came out.
White sand is going in all around the “tree”. That’ll be more in line with the initial vision I had with this scape!

 

[Andrew T]

Quick evening shot of the changes made. Nice and easy to keep clean now; stems definitely helped the first couple weeks to keep algae in check . I might put in a few more plants but don’t know what yet...

Another benefit of the light screen or similar backlighting setup : you don’t really notice the co2 mist going around the tank because of the white light coming from the back practically hiding the mist in plain sight.
If I turn it off, the mist is really unpleasant;
Just thought I mention it ...

 

[CooKieS]

Love the scape but sad to see the carpet go. I do love the color of the lightground too. One thing to take note it’s that it’s better to take the power of it down while taking final shot otherwise the scape will look to dark, especially with an weak light unit like the aquasky rgb (doesn’t seem to be an issue with an vivid like yours)

 

[Andrew T]

Love the scape but sad to see the carpet go. I do love the color of the lightground too. One thing to take note it’s that it’s better to take the power of it down while taking final shot otherwise the scape will look to dark, especially with an weak light unit like the aquasky rgb (doesn’t seem to be an issue with an vivid like yours)

The carpet was struggling same with the stems. That’s why they came out really;I blame the co2 from the in tank diffuser paired with the light on the high side...just not enough of the gas being distributed well and bubbles larger than I liked them...

Another less probable reason could be plant melt because of the fresh aqua soil powder...once I started trimming I realized what was really going on underneath and stems down below - significant melt....Hooked the in-line diffuser and I’m happier with the mist and distribution since it comes right out of the lily pipe.

Also wasting way less co2 and less things in the tank which is a plus.
I also couldn’t believe my eyes how much mulm had accumulated in all the hidden corners in only a month since I set this up . Flow was also an issue...
So I decided that open sand area is better for all the reason stated above.

Thanks for the tip with the light screen on low while taking pictures...I’ll try that even though I keep it at 100% the rest of the time.
The vivid 2 is very bright but there’s something about RGB lights that make them look a bit dim under water not sure how to explain it.
For me it’s just not pleasant to view the tank below 70% intensity looks too dim and blah...but 100% is perfect lol.
My twinstar 600s seemed brighter... I’m sure it’s the human eye playing tricks... Or maybe I’m getting old...

 

[Andrew T]

Added a group of six Venezuelan red sailfin cories.

 

[not called Bob]

I bet that looks stunning in the flesh, I think the camera sensor has blown out the image a little, as the left seems very bright, but it does look nice

 

[Andrew T]

I noticed new fish take a few days to acclimate to co2 levels...

One or two always swim in circles, the others lay down low within the plant mass not moving much especially in the later hours of the photoperiod.

If the “dizzy” ones are removed in time, put in fresh tap water they bounce back within the hour. As days go by, they develop some sort of immunity to the co2 levels...

I’m experimenting with a powerhead aimed at the surface besides the lily pipe setup in the same way. Higher o2 levels should allow higher co2 levels being pumped in.

There’s no surface scum when I aerate the water overnight so this should only help.

I don’t like the sight of the powerhead in there but it’ll do for now.

I watched a green aqua video and they were using an Oase Biomaster 600 on an ADA 60P which I thought it was insane but after noticing my Eheim 2217 underwhelming performance on my 60P I’m willing to get that huge Oase 600 filter and call it good as far as flow goes.

 

[Andrew T]

Loving the bloodworms even though he can’t chew them too well

 

[Andrew T]

For people considering the Chihiros RGB vivid 2, make sure it is connected to a timer and don’t trust the app too much.
Here’s what happened when I simulated a power outage: if it’s plugged back in within a minute or so, it works perfectly and no errors or weird glitches happen.
Last night we had a real outage that lasted from midnight til about 2:30 in the morning..(at least that’s when the power company predicted the power will be back on)..I was up until 1:00AM and when I woke up in the morning the light was on full power..not good ! It was only supposed to come on at 1:00PM.
I plugged it into a timer without doing anything else to it such as messing with the app....at 1:00PM it came on just as scheduled.
That gets me thinking: The light doesn’t lose its programming as far as duration ,intensity and spectrum; however the ON/OFF or at least the ON function is lost when it gets power to the terminal.

I will say, it happened the other way too, where after a long clean up of the tank with the light unplugged, when plugged back in it actually stayed off when in fact it was in the middle of the photoperiod and should have been on so you really can’t trust or know if it’s going to stay off or on in such circumstances.
Better plug it into a cheap timer and have peace of mind that it’ll work every time the way you programmed it.

 

[Vijay_06]

Does the light have a battery somewhere? Maybe for the Bluetooth emitter?

I remember someone mentioning on the forum that replacing the battery ensured that the light did not turn on outside of the programmed schedule. I could be wrong though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Andrew T]

Does the light have a battery somewhere? Maybe for the Bluetooth emitter?

I remember someone mentioning on the forum that replacing the battery ensured that the light did not turn on outside of the programmed schedule. I could be wrong though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Honestly that’s the first time I’m hearing that.
Could be under the fan cover? Really not sure but I’m assuming those batteries should last for years and not be something that need replacement on a fixture that came out in 2019.
I’ll dig more into this....

 

[Wolf6]

My current setup has the same issue, if the power is off for a bit more then a few minutes, the controller resets to 00:00 until it makes a network/bt connection and can get the time restored, or I set the time on it manually. I always assumed all lights with controllers had that, never occured to me others dont Tbh here in NL power outages or so rare, I dont even take them into account, and should one occur I'd make a round checking everything regardles. But thanks for the warning, its good to know!

 

[not called Bob]

sounds like the

For people considering the Chihiros RGB vivid 2, make sure it is connected to a timer and don’t trust the app too much.
Here’s what happened when I simulated a power outage: if it’s plugged back in within a minute or so, it works perfectly and no errors or weird glitches happen.
Last night we had a real outage that lasted from midnight til about 2:30 in the morning..(at least that’s when the power company predicted the power will be back on)..I was up until 1:00AM and when I woke up in the morning the light was on full power..not good ! It was only supposed to come on at 1:00PM.
I plugged it into a timer without doing anything else to it such as messing with the app....at 1:00PM it came on just as scheduled.
That gets me thinking: The light doesn’t lose its programming as far as duration ,intensity and spectrum; however the ON/OFF or at least the ON function is lost when it gets power to the terminal.

I will say, it happened the other way too, where after a long clean up of the tank with the light unplugged, when plugged back in it actually stayed off when in fact it was in the middle of the photoperiod and should have been on so you really can’t trust or know if it’s going to stay off or on in such circumstances.
Better plug it into a cheap timer and have peace of mind that it’ll work every time the way you programmed it.

Hue Lamps before Philips re programmed them

if there was a power out, your house was illuminated at max brightness on the resupply of power, now it remembers its last state, handy if a guest does not realise there are other options in play as opposed to the old rocker switch as well.

living in an area with frequent power blips, it was not long till I found out the hard way in the small hours about that flaw.

 

[Andrew T]

Well that was short lived.
Plugging in the light into a timer essentially simulates a power outage when the timer is OFF...duh
So now the light comes on full power instantly when the timer kicks in...
Not good; I wanted the ramp up and down.
So back it goes to the initial setup until I figure this out somehow...

 

[Andrew T]

My current setup has the same issue, if the power is off for a bit more then a few minutes, the controller resets to 00:00 until it makes a network/bt connection and can get the time restored, or I set the time on it manually. I always assumed all lights with controllers had that, never occured to me others dont Tbh here in NL power outages or so rare, I dont even take them into account, and should one occur I'd make a round checking everything regardles. But thanks for the warning, its good to know!

Being surrounded by tall trees in the woods in the PNW, power outages are too many to count between Sept-April.
So you can see how this can get annoying fast..recipe for disaster if I’m out of town for days and this happens...Light will stay on 24/7 or until the next power outage haha; at least algae will love it...

 

[Wookii]

Being surrounded by tall trees in the woods in the PNW, power outages are too many to count between Sept-April.
So you can see how this can get annoying fast..recipe for disaster if I’m out of town for days and this happens...Light will stay on 24/7 or until the next power outage haha; at least algae will love it...

You could try replacing the battery, but I imagine it won't make any difference. I suspect (unproven) the blu-tooth controller operates based on actioning the next available individual time setting you add to the schedule. So after a power outage, it will come back on at full power until it next reaches a scheduled change. For example, say you have a 1 hour ramp up from midday to 1pm, but you get a power outage at 9am. It will come back on at full power until hit the 0%/0%/0% (R/G/B) setting for the start of the ramp up occurs.

If my suspicion is correct, you could edit your schedule to include a 0%/0%/0% setting for every 15 minutes or so of your lights off period - laborious to enter on the Chihiros app I know.

Thats assuming the battery is good and keeping the correct time. if not, you could have your timer turn off and on at midnight every night, and then set a scheduled 0%/0%/0% setting at 1 minute past midnight.

Neither is ideal though to be honest, and if I were in your position with the risk of regular outages, I'd have already invested in a decent sized UPS I think.

 

[Karmicnull]

if I were in your position with the risk of regular outages, I'd have already invested in a decent sized UPS I think.

We get regular sub-1-minute outages on a pretty much weekly basis, and all our computer kit runs off UPSs. Now I have a tank with timers etc. another UPS went on the Christmas list! Still doesn't help for the big ones (other than to give you time to shut everything down cleanly), but deals with 90% of the cases.

 

[Andrew T]

Neither is ideal though to be honest, and if I were in your position with the risk of regular outages, I'd have already invested in a decent sized UPS I think.

A backup bank is great and I used to have one with my reef tank...the only thing plugged into it was my Vortech powerhead; it was a life and death situation with the corals; if there’s no water movement the mucus build up chokes them up and die. That Costco UPS was running the powerhead for about 6 hours.
Now with the planted tank it’s not much of an issue, however if the light stays on and the filter and co2 is off, you can see where algae issues could arise from unstable co2 levels , super long photoperiods etc
So the hunt is on for a big enough UPS to run the filter, co2 solenoid and the light.
I have a feeling it’s not gonna be cheap.

 

[Andrew T]

Lovely crypts !

 

[Andrew T]

New growth on my Anubias nana turning transparent...
I’m wondering if the Excel is to blame. Maybe I should cut it back a little ...
Ideas?