DevinB Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Hey all, the tank I was using my OG dual bulb fixture with standard ten gallon plastic lid finaly bit the dust ( it had years of suffering my very very hard tap water as a guppy breeder before it became a shrimp tank). I had an emergency 14" metal dome shade clip on that I threw a 26 watt 5000k on over top for now but want to buy a nice led strip for plants, preferably an actual 18 inch or 20 inch for full light coverage and larger heat sink capacity. The plant stocking is my entire bucephalandra collection of 15+ species on lava rock and cholla wood and Fissiden fontanus on driftwood with my Red Taiwan bees. So doesn't need to be high light by any means just the best color spectrum with lighting to cover a 20 inch wide tank and preferably led. Also it's very low tech, I just add some liquid ferts once or twice a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwin_the_elder Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 On 7/31/2018 at 7:16 AM, DevinB said: Hey all, the tank I was using my OG dual bulb fixture with standard ten gallon plastic lid finaly bit the dust ( it had years of suffering my very very hard tap water as a guppy breeder before it became a shrimp tank). I had an emergency 14" metal dome shade clip on that I threw a 26 watt 5000k on over top for now but want to buy a nice led strip for plants, preferably an actual 18 inch or 20 inch for full light coverage and larger heat sink capacity. The plant stocking is my entire bucephalandra collection of 15+ species on lava rock and cholla wood and Fissiden fontanus on driftwood with my Red Taiwan bees. So doesn't need to be high light by any means just the best color spectrum with lighting to cover a 20 inch wide tank and preferably led. Also it's very low tech, I just add some liquid ferts once or twice a month. Hey Devin! I would suggest Finnex Planted Plus if your budget permits. Really nifty and slim light. Not to mention powerful too. I'm not sure about the spectrum range but I've had results with it in the past Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 +1 on the finnex planted plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinB Posted August 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 16 hours ago, edwin_the_elder said: Hey Devin! I would suggest Finnex Planted Plus if your budget permits. Really nifty and slim light. Not to mention powerful too. I'm not sure about the spectrum range but I've had results with it in the past Hey thanks, I have the 36 inch planted plus 24/7 on my 36 gallon bowfront and it does great at getting light down to the bottom of a tall tank, you dont think that the planted plus would be too strong for a shorter tank with such slow growing plants? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 52 minutes ago, DevinB said: Hey thanks, I have the 36 inch planted plus 24/7 on my 36 gallon bowfront and it does great at getting light down to the bottom of a tall tank, you dont think that the planted plus would be too strong for a shorter tank with such slow growing plants? It might be but you said you were also dosing ferts is why I suggested it. also doesnt the 24/7 version have a dimmer through the remote? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILikeAsianBooty Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 I'd go with a stingray tbh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 I have a stingray but it is a 30" light vs what youre looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNCarpenter Posted August 2, 2018 Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 I really like my beamswork da 6500k. You can use a cheap inline dimmer and if you decide to add co2 it's got enough punch for that as well. Its less than $50 so thats a plus. I do really like my finnex 24/7 se the red leds really help the plants and seem to keep the alge in check. If you want to be able to make your colors pop the 24/7 is amazing. But for value the da series in 6500k or ea or et if your only doing low light. Id reccomend only getting the 6500k versons as the full spectrum models wash out the colors with the 10000k white leds. I also get better growth with 6500k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinB Posted August 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2018 On 8/1/2018 at 4:26 PM, chappy6107 said: It might be but you said you were also dosing ferts is why I suggested it. also doesnt the 24/7 version have a dimmer through the remote? Yea it does for the few days that the remote works for, and also not on 24/7 mode. The light itself is awesome but at least when I bought mine none of the remotes lasted longer than a week, I got tired of sending them back for replacement after the third time and just leave it on 24/7 now. Also I'm not "dosing" ferts by any means, I add in less than half the recommended dose of ferts once a month at water changes and occasionally I'll add a few drops in the middle of the month if i notice any leafs looking iffy. 9 hours ago, MNCarpenter said: I really like my beamswork da 6500k. You can use a cheap inline dimmer and if you decide to add co2 it's got enough punch for that as well. Its less than $50 so thats a plus. I do really like my finnex 24/7 se the red leds really help the plants and seem to keep the alge in check. If you want to be able to make your colors pop the 24/7 is amazing. But for value the da series in 6500k or ea or et if your only doing low light. Id reccomend only getting the 6500k versons as the full spectrum models wash out the colors with the 10000k white leds. I also get better growth with 6500k. I'll definitely check out the beamswork, if finnex has fixed their issues with remotes I'd definitely buy one again. Thanks for the suggestion everyone, now to do some google comparisons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinB Posted August 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 I ended up going with the new finnex 24/7 CC as they seemed to address all the issues I have with the original 24/7. I just got done setting it up, will let you all know how well it works out for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNCarpenter Posted August 10, 2018 Report Share Posted August 10, 2018 With the cc can you make the dark period say 6 or 9 hours long and can you dim the light periods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinB Posted August 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2018 Yes, it still works in 3 hour increments like the original but you can adjust everything else really. I was gone for a few days and had my little brother looking after my tanks and he accidentally double dosed flourish excel and melted a few of my buce but other than that all of my plants are doing good so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdvancedAquaculture Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 The planted+ 24/7 would need to be ran on a short cycle at 50% power or less to not give you algae with slow growing plants. However it is a nifty light if you can afford it. I reccomend the stringray or the beamswork 6500K. Both are budget friendly lights that would be plenty. The beamswork may need to be dimmed a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinB Posted September 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2018 Just wanted to update this thread on how the finnex planted 24/7 cc worked out for me. It has been just under one month since I received this light and this morning the light started flicking in between diferent lighting modes uncontrollably and then on and off. Now it completely stopped working and emits no light, suffice it to say that this is a terribly made light as I've come to expect from finnex. Now comes all of the fun hassle of dealing with returning this light and likely having to buy an entirely new fixture for the mean time so that I dont kill off all of my buce.. I will never buy another finnex product again after this, and am rather upset that I let myself believe that they actually addressed the issues that they said they fixed from the previous 2 models of this light. Mckinney 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valek Posted September 3, 2018 Report Share Posted September 3, 2018 That's too bad, good luck returning it. I've had Stingrays for a couple of years and they are still working flawlessly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdvancedAquaculture Posted September 4, 2018 Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 7 hours ago, DevinB said: Just wanted to update this thread on how the finnex planted 24/7 cc worked out for me. It has been just under one month since I received this light and this morning the light started flicking in between diferent lighting modes uncontrollably and then on and off. Now it completely stopped working and emits no light, suffice it to say that this is a terribly made light as I've come to expect from finnex. Now comes all of the fun hassle of dealing with returning this light and likely having to buy an entirely new fixture for the mean time so that I dont kill off all of my buce.. I will never buy another finnex product again after this, and am rather upset that I let myself believe that they actually addressed the issues that they said they fixed from the previous 2 models of this light. Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully the return process isnt a hassle. Maybe a beamswork would be a good fit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinB Posted September 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2018 22 hours ago, AdvancedAquaculture said: Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully the return process isnt a hassle. Maybe a beamswork would be a good fit? Yeah, I contacted the store I purchased the light from and am still waiting to hear back, although my receipt says I have until November 7 to return it so hoping that it isn't an issue. I was looking at the beamswork 6500k da as was suggested above but the smallest unit I could find was 24 inches and it is a 20 inch tank so that would have 4 inches of overhang. Do you know of any models that they sell that are 18-20 inches? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcuellart Posted September 6, 2018 Report Share Posted September 6, 2018 For 32-33 bucks at Amazon there is a light made by Nicrew and I've had one for almost a year now with no problems. I don't have a fancy ramp up timer, just a cheap rotary on/off timer. Apparently there is one that states its 20-27" extendable you might want to try that one, it also has quite a few good reviews... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinB Posted September 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2018 I ended up ordering the 20"-24" nicrew deluxeLED for 26.99. I actually have 2 of the 11 inch nicrew orignalLED that I use on 5 gallons and kind of forgot about that company haha. Will update with how it works out for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted October 30, 2018 Report Share Posted October 30, 2018 sorry to hear about the bad luck with the finnex. I have always had good luck with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.