This is great content for those of us who are trying to make nice, lower tech tropical tanks on a budget. I've been cross shopping these lights. This is exactly the type of comparison I would spend too much time making in a spreadsheet, but you've saved me the trouble. I hope more folks start to see your channel. It's my favorite on UA-cam!
I use the Hygger that you use on my 10/20 gallon tanks the 957. I've dropped them lots of times and they seem pretty tough (knock on wood). I also use a Hygger light that only has the DIY24 and 6/8/10 hr selections, which runs cooler than the one with controls at the top. I like both as the Hygger starts out dim and works it's way up to the brighter selection. I think they are just fine and seem to be helping plant growth. If I used a super bright light fancy light I'd have massive algae and I don't want to go for the whole CO2 tank route. I'm still having plant issues in some tanks though, although strangely not all of them. I'm trying passive CO2 diffusion now with a bell diffusor. I've heard some good things about it...doesn't push plants real hard but rather supplements some CO2. It's fun using it and I hope I see some results. if it doesn't work I'll just move on, but I don't feel it's a light issue at this point.
Had a small nicrew for my plant and snail jars and ordered a hygger when i got an actual 30 gal. Hygger is built with good quality and all but the controls are dogshit, and the default 24 hr cycle isn't great. The 24/7 mode on my nicrew which is not programmable at all is more useful than the custom hygger one because it very gradually simulates sunrise and sunset with beautiful rose peach and orange colors.
Hmmmm. I've never run a hygger light, only Fluval and Nicrew, but I've also never run a c10, all my Nicrew lights are the RGB variant with remote controls. I don't really care about type of controller, however it needs to have a timer with full customization, not the shitty 6/9/12/24 hour blocks. The Nicrew RGB's system is very like the hygger you show, thought customized RGB colors are way easier. I'd really like to see direct comparisons between the lights on the same tank at max brightness, because honestly I feel the power/light outputs available online seem REALLY suspect. I've got lots of planted tanks with "high light" plants that do just fine with Nicrew lights as well - maybe the hygger is brighter (is it though, in practice?) but the base Nicrew (RGB anyways) easily handles high light red plants.
Yea I hate those 6/9/12/24 hour blocks too mate! I actually had the 40 gallon rigged up with both lights as I run it, then with just the 957, then with the C10 but I record everything with my smartphone and its camera made it all look the same but to the human eye it was very different so I left the clip out.
@@GlassBoxDiaries too bad. And sadly PAR meters are absurdly expensive. Aquarium lighting is kind of frustrating as there's so much stuff that's either good but REALLY expensive, or just... Maybe great, maybe terrible, but it's hard to tell. Fortunately - as you address - for most people it doesn't really matter a lot. I mean, we did fine with florescent bulbs for decades that put out way less light than the C10 does. I just yearn for hard, proven data is all (and a world where amazon is held responsible for the content of product descriptions)
@@Wintersdark Tell me about it, I was thinking of getting a PAR meter then I saw the price, tried a few PAR apps for my phone but they fave very different results to each other so I scrapped that bit of the footage too.
@@Wintersdark is the lumen rating fine for rating a plant light's ability to grow this plant or that? it's confusing all the elements of choosing lights.
There's a lot of variables to consider when it comes to plant growth. I guess if plants aren't growing well with lights that should be working, there is something else to consider. That's been my progression anyway.
onbody controls really limit on what tanks you want to put them ... higher up tanks or tanks in racks often make looking at the screen impossible. I had to laugh about a friend using a small mirror and struggling with his Hyggers. Either that or he couldnt do decent cable managment because he had to take the lights off everytime for changes. As for the C10, have two of them and I am rather disappointed .. light color and how its programmed isnt all that good, alltho they manage low light plants fairly well. As for those who consider an upgrade from C10s, look also to NICREWs RGB+W series .... similar price increase for a decent increase of light quality, usability etc. ... most of my tanks have the RGB+W now simply because Hygger wasnt an option in my setup because of its control placement.
@@tonyk7899 the 999 was on my radar, but for my setup of multiple tanks in racks the remote of the Nicrew RGB+W was more convenient, its not as basic as the C10s remote and allows for a more detailed programming. Got no complaints and the prize difference is usually minimal. Considered a Hygger for my solo standing puffer fish tank, but went for the Chihiros Series B instead as they went down in price in a promotion at the time ... always too tempting when the price difference to the next best is just around 10 bucks.
@@dumbfishtanks fairly powerful and very natural daylight, also has a milky glas so that the lightdistribution is smoother then with clear glas LED lights, so the B series wont give off harsh reflections on the water. With more power ofc its gets also a bit hotter. Only disappointment is that the RGBs dont allow a color adjustment (some might assume that being possible when a light has white and RGB LED combined) ... so its just brightness the B series allows to be programmed. As for the APP control via bluetooth ... no complaints, the daylight cycle is adjustable down to the minute via a userdefined graph on a timeline. Your choice how long the ramp times are and you can simulate clowdy hours in between. Given the usual price difference I only would consider the B series if your plants and/or tank depth require the additional brightness/power. If the Hygger seems bright enough for you its usually the better deal and ofc those offer the color adjustment feature for those you want a red sunrise or a blue night.
In Danish: If we "hygger", it means we're "having a cosy time" But looks like the company is Chinese, based in ShenZhen Are there no European or American producers of good lights for aquariums ??
@@henrikmadsen2176 Yea but their prices increase drastically. To my knowledge, Chihiros are based in Albuquerque New Mexico and they have some great lights, Fluval are Canadian and they have some good lights too.
This is great content for those of us who are trying to make nice, lower tech tropical tanks on a budget. I've been cross shopping these lights. This is exactly the type of comparison I would spend too much time making in a spreadsheet, but you've saved me the trouble.
I hope more folks start to see your channel. It's my favorite on UA-cam!
Thanks so much mate, glad it helped :)
I use the Hygger that you use on my 10/20 gallon tanks the 957. I've dropped them lots of times and they seem pretty tough (knock on wood). I also use a Hygger light that only has the DIY24 and 6/8/10 hr selections, which runs cooler than the one with controls at the top. I like both as the Hygger starts out dim and works it's way up to the brighter selection. I think they are just fine and seem to be helping plant growth. If I used a super bright light fancy light I'd have massive algae and I don't want to go for the whole CO2 tank route.
I'm still having plant issues in some tanks though, although strangely not all of them. I'm trying passive CO2 diffusion now with a bell diffusor. I've heard some good things about it...doesn't push plants real hard but rather supplements some CO2. It's fun using it and I hope I see some results. if it doesn't work I'll just move on, but I don't feel it's a light issue at this point.
Great points mate, the Hygger definatley seems to make red plants form their color more too.
Love my 957s ,love the programmability
Yea, I am impressed with their price relative to their light output too. My Rotala in the tanks running with 957's grows insanely fast now.
I only watched this because I love your accent.
I could never afford either the Nicrew or Hygger.
haha cheers mate, people in my area have a unique accent, cross between English and Scotish. >.
The are not expensive at all
Great video. I just wanted to say though, that your voice reminds me of Werner Herzog.
Cheers mate :).
Having a German twang on my accent is definitely a new one for me, people usually mistake me for being Scottish :).
@GlassBoxDiaries I'm not well versed in accents, I heard that too though. Cheers.
I read this title so wrong, twice
🤣
Had a small nicrew for my plant and snail jars and ordered a hygger when i got an actual 30 gal.
Hygger is built with good quality and all but the controls are dogshit, and the default 24 hr cycle isn't great.
The 24/7 mode on my nicrew which is not programmable at all is more useful than the custom hygger one because it very gradually simulates sunrise and sunset with beautiful rose peach and orange colors.
Yea I wish Hygger would fix the issues with their 24 hour systems on their next release of lights.
Hmmmm. I've never run a hygger light, only Fluval and Nicrew, but I've also never run a c10, all my Nicrew lights are the RGB variant with remote controls.
I don't really care about type of controller, however it needs to have a timer with full customization, not the shitty 6/9/12/24 hour blocks. The Nicrew RGB's system is very like the hygger you show, thought customized RGB colors are way easier.
I'd really like to see direct comparisons between the lights on the same tank at max brightness, because honestly I feel the power/light outputs available online seem REALLY suspect.
I've got lots of planted tanks with "high light" plants that do just fine with Nicrew lights as well - maybe the hygger is brighter (is it though, in practice?) but the base Nicrew (RGB anyways) easily handles high light red plants.
Yea I hate those 6/9/12/24 hour blocks too mate!
I actually had the 40 gallon rigged up with both lights as I run it, then with just the 957, then with the C10 but I record everything with my smartphone and its camera made it all look the same but to the human eye it was very different so I left the clip out.
@@GlassBoxDiaries too bad. And sadly PAR meters are absurdly expensive.
Aquarium lighting is kind of frustrating as there's so much stuff that's either good but REALLY expensive, or just... Maybe great, maybe terrible, but it's hard to tell.
Fortunately - as you address - for most people it doesn't really matter a lot. I mean, we did fine with florescent bulbs for decades that put out way less light than the C10 does. I just yearn for hard, proven data is all (and a world where amazon is held responsible for the content of product descriptions)
@@Wintersdark Tell me about it, I was thinking of getting a PAR meter then I saw the price, tried a few PAR apps for my phone but they fave very different results to each other so I scrapped that bit of the footage too.
@@Wintersdark is the lumen rating fine for rating a plant light's ability to grow this plant or that? it's confusing all the elements of choosing lights.
There's a lot of variables to consider when it comes to plant growth. I guess if plants aren't growing well with lights that should be working, there is something else to consider. That's been my progression anyway.
I don’t know what any of this stuff is but I definitely read the title very wrong
They are just two brands of aquarium lighting :)
onbody controls really limit on what tanks you want to put them ... higher up tanks or tanks in racks often make looking at the screen impossible. I had to laugh about a friend using a small mirror and struggling with his Hyggers. Either that or he couldnt do decent cable managment because he had to take the lights off everytime for changes.
As for the C10, have two of them and I am rather disappointed .. light color and how its programmed isnt all that good, alltho they manage low light plants fairly well.
As for those who consider an upgrade from C10s, look also to NICREWs RGB+W series .... similar price increase for a decent increase of light quality, usability etc. ... most of my tanks have the RGB+W now simply because Hygger wasnt an option in my setup because of its control placement.
Thats a great point about the onbody contols mate, never even thought of that as my tanks are all pretty low down.
Try the Hygger 999. The lcd display is on the cord instead, very similar to the 957 yet different.
@@tonyk7899 the 999 was on my radar, but for my setup of multiple tanks in racks the remote of the Nicrew RGB+W was more convenient, its not as basic as the C10s remote and allows for a more detailed programming. Got no complaints and the prize difference is usually minimal.
Considered a Hygger for my solo standing puffer fish tank, but went for the Chihiros Series B instead as they went down in price in a promotion at the time ... always too tempting when the price difference to the next best is just around 10 bucks.
@@diedampfbrasse98 How do you like the Chihiros B series? Was comparing the Hygger 957 to the B series
@@dumbfishtanks fairly powerful and very natural daylight, also has a milky glas so that the lightdistribution is smoother then with clear glas LED lights, so the B series wont give off harsh reflections on the water. With more power ofc its gets also a bit hotter.
Only disappointment is that the RGBs dont allow a color adjustment (some might assume that being possible when a light has white and RGB LED combined) ... so its just brightness the B series allows to be programmed.
As for the APP control via bluetooth ... no complaints, the daylight cycle is adjustable down to the minute via a userdefined graph on a timeline. Your choice how long the ramp times are and you can simulate clowdy hours in between.
Given the usual price difference I only would consider the B series if your plants and/or tank depth require the additional brightness/power. If the Hygger seems bright enough for you its usually the better deal and ofc those offer the color adjustment feature for those you want a red sunrise or a blue night.
Hygger is a crazy name
Aye :)
In Danish: If we "hygger", it means we're "having a cosy time"
But looks like the company is Chinese, based in ShenZhen
Are there no European or American producers of good lights for aquariums ??
@@henrikmadsen2176 Yea but their prices increase drastically.
To my knowledge, Chihiros are based in Albuquerque New Mexico and they have some great lights, Fluval are Canadian and they have some good lights too.