Reddit reviews Finnex FugeRay Planted+ Aquarium LED Light Plus Moonlights, 48-Inch

Well, if you ask me, T5 and T8 lighting is quickly becoming a thing of the past. LEDs are getting cheaper and cheaper and the quality is getting better and better. I really recommend just going with LEDs. You can get a nice 30 inch fugeray planted plus for less than $100. This should be enough to take care of carpeting the 20 long. You should shop around though, and get familiar with the term photosynthetically active radiation, which is the unit of measure for the effectiveness of grow lights. There are some general guides on what PAR ratings you want for different plants, but I think around 50 is considered high-light, and 30 will take care of most plants. PAR is also measured by the distance from the lights, and is usually shown as a diagram of the aquarium. With your 20g long, being so shallow, you have a lot of inexpensive options that will easily reach the substrate. You should also compare the wavelength charts for each light, which should be available on the manufacturer's websites. With a little google-fu, I found a nice post on the light spectrum and planted aquariums. There are some too-good-to-be-true LED lights on the market that boast their 10k lights, but don't want to show you the spectral analysis, which exposes how crappy the lights actually are.

CO2 definitely as a learning curve. For optimal growth, you want to hit 30 ppm CO2 during the "day", which is indicated by an approximate 1 Ph swing with the shake method (test the water without shaking the CO2 out, then test again after shaking the crap out of the vial). This website explains it all and has a nifty CO2 calculator. If you do a DIY CO2 setup, using yeast in a bottle, you won't have to ever worry about adding too much. This is a great way to get started with CO2, and get your feet wet before buying the equipment. The downside is you have almost no control over the CO2 production, and it gets to become a hassle to deal with the mess and weekly maintenance. Still, do this to start! Eventually you will want a nice big 5 pound (or bigger) canister, and a fancy regulator. Don't bother with those paintball gun things. They cost nearly as much to get set up, and require a lot more maintenance. My 7.5 pound tank lasts me around 4 months before I need to refill it, and that's on a 90g planted tank running around 10 bubbles a second. Most people who get the little paintball setups just end up wanting to upgrade later, and you will have wasted a ton of money.

Balancing CO2 levels with your photoperiod is also important. Be sure to get a regulator with a needle valve for fine adjustments, and a solenoid that will turn on/off the gas for you. I keep my lights and my solenoid plugged into two different lamp timers so the CO2 kicks on an hour before the lights come on and turns off an hour before the lights go out. You can play with the timing yourself by setting up an experimental cycle, and doing periodic Ph tests throughout the day to monitor CO2 levels and Ph swings. Adjusting your CO2 flow is a pain in the but, even with a nice needle valve. It takes most people a full day of tinkering just to get it set right. Basically you turn on the regulator, turn the dials all over the place until you get the pressure where you want (by looking at your bubble counter). Then wait an hour for the airline tube to absorb the pressure, and recalibrate. For a moderately planted 20g, you will probably want to start at around 3 bps. Get it calibrated, let it run, and then check the CO2 levels throughout the photoperiod to see how close to 30 ppm CO2 you get.

Good luck! And hopefully at least some of this information was useful for you!

I use this on my 50 tall: [Finnex FugeRay Planted+] (http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Planted-Aquarium-Moonlights/dp/B00GH9HURE)

My plants are arguably over-growing.

http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Planted-Aquarium-Moonlights/dp/B00GH9HURE

Easy question, the Finnex Planted+

I use them on all my tanks, and they're by far the most recommended lighting over at /r/plantedtank.

Root tabs are usually a good idea. Only reason not to do it is if you have soil under your substrate because then they're unnecessary. What type of soil do you mean? Fertilization always helps even with the 'easy' low tech plants. I fertilize even my java ferns. Macros are nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous. Many fertilizing products lack those in a meaningful concentration. I opted for seachem's macro products so I could be sure there was enough in my water.

The bigger issue will likely be your lighting. For a 55 tall, any sort of stock lighting will not be sufficient to penetrate to the bottom of the tank. You'll want to invest in a quality light if you haven't already. I run a 4 ft finnex fugeray planted+ on my 55 tall and it gets the job done.

First of all thanks for the response.

Some of that article was a bit technical for my current understanding, but I think I see what they mean about hitting ranges that are beneficial for photosynthesis but not as much for algea - and the fact that visible light doesn't equate to a plants needs.

I took a look at the brand you mentioned and found one that specifically calls out the 660nm PAR.

http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Planted-Aquarium-Moonlights/dp/B00GH9HURE

Do you think the light above may suit my current needs? (36'')

Creepin' on your other comments -- BioCube guy here. I run a Finnex on a little 2.5 gal planted and it does great, and I've seen lots of folks recommend them for any size. They make one specifically for planted tanks.

Finnex makes a great light. The FugeRay Planted Plus or Planted Plus 24/7 would seem to fulfill your needs. They are a bit pricy, but like you said, LEDs are worth it in the long run.

1)https://www.amazon.com/Finnex-Planted-Automated-Aquarium-Controller/dp/B00U0HMWLI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466983637&sr=8-1&keywords=finnex+planted+plus+24+7

2)https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GH9HURE/ref=twister_B00HIE3M6U?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

3)http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/145-finnex/189944-finnex-ray-ii-fugeray-par-data.html

Here are links to the two lights I mentioned as well as PAR information for the FugeRay Light. Hope this helps! Cheers.

Being a maker, I know it's hard to hear, but you're better off just buying something made for a planted tank. You really have to worry that the LEDs are in PAR range and cheapo high-wattage LEDs are often outright lies (see). I have a Finnex Planted Plus and it's great, but most importantly of all, it Just Works.

When I first got my 29g it had a light similar to that one. I managed to keep crypts and java moss alive, but anything else died. The plants didn't do well, they were barely surviving and it took months for them to grow even a little bit.

If you are interested in growing plants it is so much nicer to have the proper equipment/supplies and be able to grow whatever you want than to save a few bucks and hardly be able to grow anything.

I'm not sure what your budget is, but for $90 you can get a really nice light like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Planted-Aquarium-Moonlights/dp/B00GH9HURE.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00GH9HURE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1426797270&sr=8-1&keywords=finnex&dpPl=1&dpID=31MmMuKXM9L&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

I know it's still out of budget but it's like $10 more! I run these in multiple tanks. It's beyond worth the money!

Hey guys I might buy this light but I also saw a couple in the close price range and was wondering... thoughts?

• satelite led plus 115.99 Amazon
  
• finnex planted+ 24/7 123.30 Amazon
  
• finnex planted+ 133.24 Amazon

Non-mobile: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GH9HURE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1426797270&sr=8-1&keywords=finnex&dpPl=1&dpID=31MmMuKXM9L&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

This :
http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Planted-Aquarium-Moonlights/dp/B00GH9HURE

Ankle Length
French Terry Cloth
waist xs29. s31. m32. lg35
inseam xs27.5. s28.5. m28.5. lg30


Never seen an aquarium measured like this!

Do you have a planted tank?
Finnex Planted+ are on sale right now. They have a light that should fit you.

Otherwise get something like this and then go to a class shop and have them cut you two pieces of glass and get a divider thing in between them so you can lift the front up. Pretty inexpensive to do.

https://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Planted-Aquarium-Moonlights/dp/B00GH9HURE

http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Planted-Aquarium-Moonlights/dp/B00GH9HURE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417218706&sr=8-2&keywords=finnex+fugeray

An LED fixture would replace the fluorescent fixture. The upfront cost is quickly offset by savings on electricity and replacement bulbs. If your tank is 24" deep or less, I would suggest these. If you need a light brighter than the sun for a very deep tank then you may look at this instead - be careful though, the brightness on the Ray2 can overwhelm many plants.

My tank is currently using a 48" Finnex Planted Plus. I also have a 48" Finnex Ray II I can add on.

Which light should I use? Or should I use both?

We've bought two finnex products in the last year.

Neither has lasted through the year

One, the power supply went out after ~9 months, right outside warranty. We had to buy a replacement for $30.

The second we have not figured out what went wrong. We're tried new PS, as they are commonly the problem with these units, and a new remote. Finnex wants us to send it in on our dime after we've already spent $30.00 replacing the power supply and another $10.00 to replace the remote.

I love the idea of an planted tank LED, but Finnex is not the answer.

Heres a good list of plants that you can read up on

Heres another good easy plants list

another list go easy plants/details

Easiest plants - Java moss, Anubias plants, Java Fern

For substrate i'd recommend going for ... 2 routes to use

1. Sand substrate and add flourish tabs
   
   
2. Going substrate that has ferts already - Eco complete add this at the bottom and top it off with some black sand like this
   
   After you do all that and pick up w.e plants you like. You need to buy liquid fertilizers to dose/make your plants healthier.
   
   You can also go the CO2 route but if this is expensive, go for the cheap route and buy Seachem Excel (liquid co2)
   
   

   Lighting:
   

   
   This is the best kind of lighting you can grab
   
   Or this one
   
   I can vouch for the Planted+ I have that and it grows my plants really well/amazing, down side you'll have algae (but thats what algae cleaners are for ;)) Also I use sand + flourish tabs for rooted plants.
   
   

   Tip:
   

   
   Root plants need flourish tabs (if you just go the sandroute) but if you grab the eco complete you wont really need tabs since thats already fertilizers.
   
   Plants that dont need to be buried in the substrate (anubias plants/java fern) youll need liquid ferts
   
   If you do go for anubias/java fern/java moss - buy driftwood and tie them down with some fishing line (they do best when tied to driftwood)

Yeah I think I'll wait. I haven't moved my plants from my 10g/shrimp tank. What price range do you see the P+2/Elite in? Currently the P+ sits at $135(prime) & the DS2 sits at $165(prime) for the 48". I'm willing to go up to the $200 range, but I want to make sure it's worth it in the long run.

Will this work well enough for high plants?

I have two 26-watt and two 32-watt 6500k bulbs above my 55g (soil substrate with sand cap, DIY red-clay root tabs, and Excel dosing 3x weekly), in 10.5-inch reflectors pointing downward with a photoperiod of about 10 hours a day. I have swords, vals, hygrophila, and pretty much everything else I've tried have done well with very healthy growth and basically no algae problems. I tried HC, though, and that wasn't such a success; none of it has died, but in about five months, it hasn't spread noticeably. Other light/CO2-hungry carpeting plants (DHG, glosso) have done only slightly better. I assume my poor HC growth is more a matter of inadequate CO2 than of inadequate light.

I bought my bulbs online since I wasn't able to find 6500k bulbs in stores, but they weren't anything special--I think GE brand. From what I've heard, the consensus is that shelling out for specialty CFL bulbs from hydroponics stores, etc., (assuming comparable color temp, watts & lumens, etc.) probably isn't worth it.

I spent maybe $60-70 on the whole lighting set-up (including a bar and chains to hang the lights from), which is pretty good, but with a 48" Finnex Planted+ going for like $140 on Amazon, I really wonder if the CFL route is no longer such a cost-effective way to go.

I just bought one of these last week. I haven't hooked it up, yet, but it got amazing reviews on amazon.

[here] (http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-FugeRay-Planted-Aquarium-Moonlights/dp/B00GH9HURE)