# LED lights? Finnex in particular



## LouIE82 (Nov 6, 2012)

Hey everybody,
I have a tank which I've always despised for it's awkward dimensions(got for free). It's a 37 tall, 12 deep, 30 long, 23 tall. I just have white sand, cool rocks and some black occelatus which have been breeding like mad. I had a nice 50/50 light but it recently started flickering and went dim. I knew it was close to its end on the lifespan so I didn't mind, the day it stopped coming on I went to swap the bulb with a spare I had and realized the actual fixture was out, not just the light.

I've been looking at LED lights, before I thought about getting a beamswork but now I think the Finnex look nicer. Since this tank is slim front to back I think a Finnex will cover, but I'm having a hard time deciding which one to get. I don't need blasting super light since I have no plants in this tank, but it's a tall tank so I need enough to get to the bottom. I searched a lot of other forums but they all worried about plants, I have no wish to promote photosynthesis, I just want to see my fish, I don't really care for the moonlight feature either. I typically run the light for two hours in the morning, then off for a few hours, then on again for 5 hours in the afternoon. Here's what I think, if anybody has any experience with these please give me some advice.

Monster Ray- don't want it, too red
Ray2DS- looks promising, super bright white but might trigger algae 
Ray2DB- it's a high power 50/50, I don't think I need the blue but it would probably make the blue on my occies pop.
Original Ray- looks very mild, afraid I will be disappointed with the light output.

Thanks for any insight.


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## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

I just picked up a couple of the finnex ray planted+ lights, which are somewhat milder than the ray2's. I put one on a standard 29 Gal, so same footprint as yours but a bit shorter. It's a newly planted tank, but low tech. It should have enough to fully light your tank without overpowering, as the 29G looks great with this light on it. The moonlight led's are on a separate switch, so you can turn them both on for a more bluish tint, or just the white/red led's for more daylight look. It's not as flexible as my current sat+ light (on my 75G), obviously, but the light itself seems much crisper than the sat+. It doesn't seem too red without the moonlights. Seems like a nice compromise between the original and the ray2 for your purposes, even though you're not planting.


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## LouIE82 (Nov 6, 2012)

Thanks for the quick response. I looked at the planted plus as well, most people called it low-medium lighting so I worried about how far the light would throw. I looked over a lot of PAR charts but don't know what that stuff means, guessing higher number means more light.

Does the planted plus look pink at all? If not that might be the ticket.


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## jimmyforsyth (Jun 19, 2014)

My guess is its not ok.
Voltage in the US is 110v ours is 240v
The diodes in the transformers usually blow up with a bang when you plug the unit in for the first time.
The manufacturer needs to confirm that the transformer is capable of handling voltage up to 250 volts to suit our conditions.
I recommend you look at products already distributed in the Australian market.


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## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

LouIE82 said:


> Thanks for the quick response. I looked at the planted plus as well, most people called it low-medium lighting so I worried about how far the light would throw. I looked over a lot of PAR charts but don't know what that stuff means, guessing higher number means more light.
> 
> Does the planted plus look pink at all? If not that might be the ticket.


A bit slower the second time around, sorry about that. I don't think there is any pink to them. I leave the blues on all the time (on a sep switch) and the light is very white and crisp. If you turn the blues off, you get a little softer light, but I am not sure I'd call it pink. You could also look at the ecoxtic line, more expensive but seem to be a cross between a high powered perf light and the control/timing options of the Sat+ style. Of course, you pay for the extras.


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## LouIE82 (Nov 6, 2012)

jimmyforsyth said:


> My guess is its not ok.
> Voltage in the US is 110v ours is 240v
> The diodes in the transformers usually blow up with a bang when you plug the unit in for the first time.
> The manufacturer needs to confirm that the transformer is capable of handling voltage up to 250 volts to suit our conditions.
> I recommend you look at products already distributed in the Australian market.


I'm in California, we have 110.

I went ahead on Hose91's advice and I'm very thankful for it. All the threads I had read before were from planted tank guys and they all swore the light wasn't enough, I suppose they want their tank to look like the police helicopter is lighting it up because this Finnex is plenty bright. I'm so happy with it that I might have to get one for my other tank now, I can feel the halogen plagued jealousy of the fish.

In pictures/videos it's really not a fair display of how bright the lights are, cameras tend to exaggerate or not capture the clarity/intensity of the lights. First thing I did was flip on the blue out of curiosity, it was bright enough to see my fish. I flipped on the white and reds and was amazed how clean and bright the light was without spilling all over my apartment. The spread of this light is awesome too, I can push it all the way back and it doesn't cast shadows up front. I can see more detail on my fish than ever and my rocks are popping with color. The sand isn't glaring too much either which I was worried about, perfect, thanks for the direction Hose91.

First picture is a little fuzzy, my apologies.









































This guy seems to approve.


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## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

Fantastic! Actually, I thought your camera did a decent job of picking up the light in that third shot. I couldn't have said it better myself. I still have a Sat+ on my show tank in the house (48"), which is cool for its functions and colors, but I love the way these planted+ light up my 2 smaller tanks. Love the Occies and the white sand/black rocks. One of my summer projects is setting up a 40G breeder Tang community, and although I'm leaning towards multis, I really like the look of these Black Ocdelatus, and they don't seem shy about having babies. Plus, it looks like the shell bed doesn't need to be quite as prolific as that of a multie colony. Congrats again, I'm glad the Finnex advice worked out!


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