Kessil or Chihiros vivid 2 (2024)

I’m contemplating changing my vivid 2 for kessils, mainly because I want the shimmer and the more greener look.

The vivid is a great light that produces great growth etc. The photo was taken due ramp up

Vivid II colour rendition is hard to beat. Moving away to a Kessil would be like giving up 4K TV for VHS.

That being said, I love shimmer too and have been waiting some time for a smaller point source light that uses the combination RGB LED chips used in the Vivid/Solar RGB etc.

Chihiros have recently released a Vivid Mini, which is only 355mm long:

However I suspect it might still be too big to create shimmer.

My hope is that they one day decide to release a smaller Vivid Nano, a similar size to the likes of the AI Prime and Ecotech XR15.

bazz said:

Hi,
I'm running a single a360x Tuna Sun and I'd disagree with all of the above. With the amber and red LEDs I've never had a tank looking so vibrant compared to Twinstar, before that TMC and again before that 4x different T5s in a single unit.
However for me there is a major drawback 'overspill', a single PS above a 90cm in my living room ensures the photoperiod coincides with natural daylight hours.
I also have a Prime Freshwater running over a 70l albeit on 25% which for me doesn't quite have the edge but for the money is far better value.
Just my 2c
Cheers!

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Just goes to show how much of all this is down to personal preference too I guess - I thought the AI Prime was a far superior light to the A360X when I had them both, in almost every regard. I just couldn't get on with the A360X's very yellow rendition.

I guess ultimately its worth trying out, or viewing, the lights you are considering if you can.

I’ve seen kessils in the flesh at riverwood aquatics and I like the natural look they produce. The rendition of my vivid is excellent and I can tweek the colour and temperature rating.

if I got the kessils, I would keep the vivid light. I guess i just fancy a change.

Hi all,

im new and this is my first post.

I ran kessil on my ADA tank for 6 months before changing to Chihiros rgb. All I can say is I wish I had sooner.
I will say Kessill do offer a beautiful shimmer, unique to this brand. Visually spectacular. However at the expense of plant growth.

Thanks

In Reef tanks Kessils are often used in combination with t5s because they lack enough punch to grow stony corals well. They are a bit fool proof with two knobs. I tend to run them higher and redder, on full power. Setting are all ok for coloration. It does mimic natural sun well.

Kessil Aqua Sun provide depths and shadowing well and certainly can grow plants well. I burned through 2 as they are delicate and essentially unserviceable. In US, Kessil has a atrong presence where Chihiros is a special order from one source.

That being said my second Kessol died and I am trying Vivid 2. I have par meter and enough sense to ser a reasonable spectrum and leave it alone.

Plants are so forgiving compared to stony corals i am not too concerned. It compared more to t5 bulbs with a effective diffuser. To me I would lile a combo of both. A kessil at end angled for shimmer would be ideal.

Either seem fine. I am not sure how well ADA solar sells for 2 to 3x the price for subjectively better performance.

Wookii said:

Just goes to show how much of all this is down to personal preference too I guess - I thought the AI Prime was a far superior light to the A360X when I had them both, in almost every regard. I just couldn't get on with the A360X's very yellow rendition.

I guess ultimately its worth trying out, or viewing, the lights you are considering if you can.

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For a tank with a footprint of 60x45, would you take a chihiros, prime or twinstar - from your experience?

Garuf said:

For a tank with a footprint of 60x45, would you take a chihiros, prime or twinstar - from your experience?

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Chihiros for colour rendition, Prime if you really must have shimmer. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the Twinstar I had to be honest.

Wookii said:

Chihiros for colour rendition, Prime if you really must have shimmer. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the Twinstar I had to be honest.

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Not bothered about shimmer, I just want a nice enough colour rendition and that isn’t going to have a kWh footprint/impact that means I need to sell a kidney to turn it on.

Garuf said:

Not bothered about shimmer, I just want a nice enough colour rendition and that isn’t going to have a kWh footprint/impact that means I need to sell a kidney to turn it on.

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Chihiros is the way to go then, and you can set the output level to your liking, and so avoid having to sell off bodily parts!

Garuf said:

Not bothered about shimmer, I just want a nice enough colour rendition and that isn’t going to have a kWh footprint/impact that means I need to sell a kidney to turn it on.

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Depends on what you mean by " color rendition".

AI Prime has whites so you can tune the color rendition to a more natural look.

Chihiros is rgb so a more exaggerated color look.
Chihiros Pro to some consternation now includes white diodes ..

Green greens and no “blurple” tones. I don’t really grow red red plants so having a greener overall suits me.

Like the Ada 8000k tubes of old has been what I like, generally. Not exactly realistic but also not really the over saturated look some leds give.

Garuf said:

Green greens and no “blurple” tones. I don’t really grow red red plants so having a greener overall suits me.

Like the Ada 8000k tubes of old has been what I like, generally. Not exactly realistic but also not really the over saturated look some leds give.

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In that case I'd "lean" to the wrgb Pro or AI.
Thing is they are all color tunable. Only question is if, when tuned, you have sufficient PAR.

There are alternatives like the Chihiros current "A" model (all white diodes, A series plus?) that favors green tones.
There is a thread here regarding this somewhere.
To be honest it looks to be an acquired taste like AFA "green" metal halides.

Metal halide lamp NAG-250W-Green​

Just a Chihiros model comparison. Shows versatility.

am really keen to read more user reviews on the WRGB2 Pro.

What interests me would be: If I set WRGB2 Pro at 100% R, 100% G, 100% B, and 0% White, would it basically be the same PAR as WRGB2 at 100/100/100?

In other words, would anything I add to the white channel would be a bonus? i.e. I do not necessarily need to set the white channel to 100% (read a few comments about it being 'washed out'), but maybe add just enough white to improve the spectrum (i.e. fill in the "valleys" between the R/G/B peaks) without washing out the R and B colours?