As someone who just graduated from college and starting a freelance career in media, I can speak from experience that aquascaping is super expensive, and I’m used to companies charging 1000’s of dollars for a piece of metal (just look at Red’s website and you’ll cry just as much as I do). So in order to save money, I’m always looking for the best products, for the lowest price whenever I can. So naturally, I started to feel a little anxious when I saw that aquarium lightning is super expensive.

After months searching the dark corners of the internet I found the perfect contender at a local trade show. The Chirios A361, suited for my nano Betta tank.

Specs:

Length: 36cm (11″)

Amount of leds: 63

Lumen: 3450

0,33 Watt per led

Voltage: AC 100-240V 50-60HZ

Color temperature: 5500k (6500k is daylight

It also comes with a brightness dimmer, it works fine I guess, but broke after a few weeks of use.

Build Quality and Design

The Chririos A361’s build quality is higher then I expected it to be and gives lights from a lot of settled brands a run for it’s money. On top of that, it has a super sleek and minimalistic design, which makes it perfect for aquascaping.

Light quality

This is the most important part of the review, how’s the light performing and is it good enough for my plants? First of all, I like color accurate light and prefer a color temperature close to daylight (5600 Kelvin), to give the most accurate colours. Cheaper led lights tend to cast a ‘greener color’, I have not seen any green shifting from this light whatsoever. This little unit also shoots out a ton of light and my plants love it.

What I like

  • The Price
  • The build quality is up their with the big boys
  • The design and built quality
  • Colortone en brightness

What I don’t like

  • The brightness dimmer broke within a few weeks
  • The cable isn’t sturdy.

Overal, The Chirios lights are a really good and cost saving alternative to some of the more expensive brands out there. The colours are amazing and my plants love it! They’re sold in different sizes to fit your tank.