? light upgrade - need advice

[rkrk]

I have a 20 Long that I am trying to grown some low to mid light plants in. I am not looking to do CO2 at this point.

I am running a single Florasun 24inch bulb on for 8 hours/day which is ok but I am thinking I want to make a jump to a better light if a jump is worth making.

Would the Finnex Planted+ be a decent way to go?

Thanks in advance,
Rich

 

[azmodan]

The Planted+ is a very good fixture but on a tank that shallow you'd be looking at something around the high end of medium light or low end of high light. This could be a problem without pressurized co2 unless you're dosing a very high amount of glut/Excel daily and run a good fert regiment. However, I do like the idea of getting a Planted+ in the sense that it would give you good options in the future if you do decide to go high tech, and in the meantime you could look into doing a shortened photoperiod, suspending the light a bit higher above the tank to decrease par, or diffusing the light with something like window screen. If you're a little new to planted tanks I might recommend going with a weaker light though. Just an FYI too but Finnex is releasing their 24/7 light in May, which is essentially a Planted+ with a slew of features.

A few other fixtures you could look into are the Finnex Stingray, Finnex Fugeray, and Current Satellite+. Each of these are very good options for shallow, low tech tanks.


Sent from my iPad using science

 

[Pickles12807]

I recently got a Finnex FugeRay for my 20 long. A lot of people recommended the Planted+, but I was afraid of it being too much light since I'm not doing co2 and this is my first tank so I don't have much experience.

So far I've really been liking my FugeRay. All of my plants seem to be doing well, but it's not too much light so I haven't had any issues with algae yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fresh2o]

I recently got a Finnex FugeRay for my 20 long. A lot of people recommended the Planted+, but I was afraid of it being too much light since I'm not doing co2 and this is my first tank so I don't have much experience.

So far I've really been liking my FugeRay. All of my plants seem to be doing well, but it's not too much light so I haven't had any issues with algae yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

I ran a FugeRay on a 20 long for over a year and had success with it. The addition of DIY CO2 helped out greatly. The FugeRay is at the lower end of medium light and IMO you can get away with not adding CO2.
Later I started growing more demanding plants so I added a planted+. The planted+ is in the middle range of medium light. Not sure if you could get away without using CO2; but light duration will be important.



Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[rkrk]

Great info and really appreciate the responses so far!

I am running a 8 hour photo-period now and am getting a small amount of algae.

If I went to a planted + (or similar) do people have a sense of how long i would have to decrease the photo-period to to minimize expected problems?

This tank does get a very small amount of natural light as well.

I know this may seem silly but I have a couple of small kids and they like to look at the tank - so I am motivated to keep it lit - to keep them interested...

thanks
rich

 

[Pickles12807]

I currently run my FugeRay for 10 hours without problems.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice