The fixture now lighting the tank, installed 17 September 2026. It replaced the ADA Solar RGB, whose survey remains the baseline, and the comparison between the two is still open.
Why I chose it
The standing PAR survey found the constraint on this tank was spread rather than output: no position read below its working range, and the highest reading was more than three times the lowest. A bar the length of the tank starts from a different distribution than a pendant narrower than the tank, which is the thing being tested.
What I've learned
·Measured spread improved on the fixture it replaced: across the positions re-measured after the swap, the ratio between the highest and lowest reading narrowed.
·Four channels give control over the look that the previous fixture did not have, but the channel mix is a visual decision rather than a growth one.
·The onboard sunrise and sunset ramp moves in visible steps roughly once a minute rather than continuously.
Installation
Hung over the tank on the manufacturer's hanging kit, replacing the pendant on the 17th of September 2026.
Configuration
·Suspended over the tank on the manufacturer's hanging kit
·Channels: R125 G95 B130 W0
·Photoperiod: ramp up from 9am, full 9:30am – 3:30pm, off 4pm
·Set and scheduled from the manufacturer's app rather than from the controller
Maintenance
·Wipe the lens when condensation or salt creep appears.
Known limitations
·The onboard ramp steps rather than fading smoothly, which is visible at the start and end of the photoperiod.
·Nothing reads the channel levels back: what it is set to is known only from what was last copied from the app.
·No manufacturer PAR data is published for it, so every figure on this site for this fixture is measured here.
Controller integration
Not switched by the controller. The fixture runs its own schedule; Pearl reads its presence, firmware and clock over Bluetooth and treats the programmed schedule as the definition of when the light is on.
Current observations
·Running R125 G95 B130 W0 (copied from the app, last checked 2026-11-01). Earlier settings: R86 G86 B95 W15 from 18 September, R97 G100 B118 W8 from 1 October. These are channel percentages on a four-channel fixture and do not convert to a colour temperature.
·The full survey under this fixture (18 September 2026) was taken at R86 G86 B95 W15 with the fixture 7.25″ above the water, so it describes an earlier setting than the one running now.
·Spot readings at the current setting, 10 October 2026: Rotala 'Orange Juice' about 150 µmol/m²/s at the tops, the older 'Blood Red' group about 110 at the tops, Monte Carlo 50–60 at the carpet.
What this item is doing now, as distinct from what has been learned over time.
Live measurements
Latest survey
September 18, 2026 · Chihiros WRGB II Pro 90 · R86 G86 B95 W15
Too early. The spread it was bought for did improve on measurement, but the comparison against the fixture it replaced is not finished, and the fixture it replaced is still here.
Future upgrade considerations
·Whether the channel mix settles where it is or moves further toward the appearance of the fixture it replaced.
·Whether intensity rises from here, which is a question about what the tank can absorb without feeding algae rather than about what the fixture can produce.