# Lighting Question



## dengveevi (Aug 30, 2015)

I just bought a 20L from PetCo since they're doing their 1 dollar a gallon sale. I'm debating between the Finnex FugeRay Planted+, Finnex Planted+ 24/7 or the Finnex Ray2. I want to make the right decision and pick a light that will promote faster growth without co2 first for this tank. Which lighting would be best for growth without filling my tank with algae? What are your experiences?


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## Dalloway (Apr 13, 2014)

I would advise staying away from the Ray 2, it has far too much par output for a 20l without co2. If you aim to have a high light, the planted plus 24/7 is dimmable so you can adjust the intensity (alternatively, Current USA Satellite plus LEDs are just as good at a lower price point and are dimmable as well. I personally see no difference in quality of light between the two brands and I own a fugeray, a planted plus, a finnex stingray, and current fixtures. I like the sleek design of Current better though.)

If you're going to keep low-med light plants, a finnex stingray is the a good intensity for that height in my opinion. My 10 gallon has been running with a stingray and so far that I can remember I've grown R. rotundifolia, B. monnieri, L. repens, S. subulata (dwarf sag), H. polysperma in it successfully. I currently have it stocked with just various types of anubias and java ferns and the dwarf sag which are all growing slowly and there's no algae outbreak. I think this is my favorite tank and fixture despite the simplicity and minimalism of it.


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## BettaBeau (May 14, 2014)

I have the Finnex Stingray and I love it!


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## Nuggette (Aug 3, 2015)

As for the algae most of it can be prevented by having your tank lights on for twelve hours or less. You could get a timer and set it for a couple hours in the morning and again when you return for the evening for the remainder.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Do you plan to suspend the light above the tank? I'd not get the 24/7 or planted + if its sitting on the rim-they're too strong for a 12" depth tank.

12 hours is way too long a photoperiod for aquatic plants without co2, people typically do 6-10 hours at the most (even with co2). I have my lights on for 7-7.5 hours a day and it works well, no hair algae (common algae when lights are on too long). The exception being my ripariums that have no aquatic plants, the terrestrial plants block 95%+ light from getting to the water-one of those is on 12 hours and another about 8.5. My riparium with both aquatic and terrestrial plants gets treated like the other planted tnaks-7 hour photo period.

I agree that a light timer is a great investment. I use 2 prong 1 outlet $4
http://www.homedepot.com/p/24-Hour-...CH=RV-_-rv_search_plp_rr-_-NA-_-100685881-_-N
or 3 prong 2 outlet $10 
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Defiant-...CH=RV-_-rv_search_plp_rr-_-NA-_-203677447-_-N

Btw Finnex lights are 2 pronged ^^

Use them on all my tank lights so I don't have to remember to turn them on off. Expect my husband's 12g long because he likes to have it on moonlight mode when its 'lights out' time and he's in the office. I didn't want to buy a second set of lights and timer for that.. so I use an alarm on my phone to make sure lights turn on/off on time.


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## dengveevi (Aug 30, 2015)

Thanks for the reply everybody!

I actually have the Finnex Stringray on one of my tanks but I haven't seen much major growth and it's been installed for over 8 months which is the reason why I want to look at other options too. 

@Nuggette, I have a timer set on all my lights for a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night. One of my tanks still has a little algae even after I lessened the light load but my otos are taking care of it so a little algae won't bother me. I just don't want it to explode with algae to the point where it's uncontrollable without co2. 

@Aqua Aurora, planning to get a lid to put the light on top of it. I usually have my lights on a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night. So at this point, the Finnex Ray2 is out of the question because it uses highlighting and without co2, it'll be impossible for me to avoid algae even if I had my lights on for only 6 hours a day. The 24/7 also has a moonlight mode but I probably won't be using it since all my lights are controlled by timers and I'm not always home. Wait, so aside from the 24/7, which other lights do you use?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Finnex CS advised me the same as the above: The Planted+ is too strong for a 12" deep tank. I went with the Stingray on all of mine. I have two on the 20 long and the 10.

What plants do you have?

This is the growth in the 20 using root tabs and Iron tabs:


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

dengveevi said:


> @Aqua Aurora, planning to get a lid to put the light on top of it. I usually have my lights on a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night. So at this point, the Finnex Ray2 is out of the question because it uses highlighting and without co2, it'll be impossible for me to avoid algae even if I had my lights on for only 6 hours a day. The 24/7 also has a moonlight mode but I probably won't be using it since all my lights are controlled by timers and I'm not always home. Wait, so aside from the 24/7, which other lights do you use?


I don't have the 24/7 since I use timers, for finnex I have a ray 2 and a fugeray. Fugeray is over my husband's 5.5g with window screen on it to diffuse light since its a very low light tank (he wanted the LED or I'd have used a weaker light on it). 2x marineland double brights over a 10g, I have a USA Satellite planted + led on a 12g long (dimmed its plant light mode (yellow button) to make it medium light-husband's other tank). 2x bulb 6400k 54watt T5 over the 55g (along with the ray 2 and a cfl-lot of light for the riparium plants!) and everyone else has 6500k 13 watt cfl bulbs in clamp lamps or desk lamps-20g long has 3x cfl bulbs in clamp lamps.


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## dengveevi (Aug 30, 2015)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> What plants do you have?


I currently have a bunch of random plants. I moved them over from my 10g which has the Finnex Stingray and none of them has been dying so I guess they're not super high light plants. I just want them to grow better. I was thinking about trying iron tabs to see if it'll help it.


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## dengveevi (Aug 30, 2015)

@Aqua Aurora, ooh. Yeah, I was thinking about the Fugeray but it might be too much lighting for such a low tank.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Some plants grow slower than others; that's why I asked what you had. I've seen people lament their Anubias hadn't grown an inch and they'd had it a month. ;-)


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## dengveevi (Aug 30, 2015)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Some plants grow slower than others; that's why I asked what you had. I've seen people lament their Anubias hadn't grown an inch and they'd had it a month. ;-)


Yeah, most plants do grow rather slowly but what confused me is that the only plant that didn't do very well was my java fern which is supposedly one of the easiest plants to take care of. My dwarf sagittaria in one tank stopped showing progress about 6 months ago but it didn't die either which is strange but this only happened in one tank. In my other two tanks, the dwarf saggitaria grew like crazy. All the tanks get the same treatments so I'm kind of confused.


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## Nuggette (Aug 3, 2015)

@ aurora Good to know. i'm off to change my timers.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I can't grow Java Fern for anything; so, for me, it's not easy. ;-)


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## dengveevi (Aug 30, 2015)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> I can't grow Java Fern for anything; so, for me, it's not easy. ;-)


Lol, I guess I'm not the only one then. :lol:


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