One or two planted + lights

[Ryan87500]

I wanted to get the planted+ 30 inch light for my 36 gallon bow. I was wondering if I should get two of them or one?

Right now I am running a modified hood with 4 - 18 watt cfl bulbs. Will I get a lot better growth with these planted + lights?


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[Fresh2o]

What is the height of the tank? There is an awesome sale going on right now with that fixture. It will definitely put you at medium to medium high and possibly high light. Are you injecting CO2 btw?


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[Ryan87500]

It is a about16-18 inches.

Yea was hoping to get in on the lighting deal.

I am injecting co2. Would 1 light be enough?




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[Fresh2o]

For low medium lighting would think one fixture would provide that. Depends on what your goals are and what plants you want to grow.


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[Ryan87500]

I ordered one! Will start off with that for now.




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[Ryan87500]

Would I have been better off getting the ray2. Obviously not as good of a deal but for 25 more maybe it is worth it for a little higher par on my setup.

I have co2 and fertilizers.


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[Fresh2o]

Would I have been better off getting the ray2. Obviously not as good of a deal but for 25 more maybe it is worth it for a little higher par on my setup.

I have co2 and fertilizers.


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Yeah, it would provide more PAR than the planted+. But the lack of reds may produce a color tone that you may not like. Hopefully Ray2 users will chime in on this...


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[Brookster123]

Lot of ray 2 haters as of late.. too white they say.. to bright they say... i think the combo would be good but as a stand alone? Planted plus..

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[Ryan87500]

I am thinking I should have gotten the two planted+ then I wouldn't have to worry about PAR much. I did some measuring and because of the bow front I am not sure I can keep my cfl hood and the planted on the glass at the same time and still access the tank via the hinged glass.




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[Fresh2o]

With two fixtures, I initially abandoned the glass top (well, the rubber hinge split). I now only use the front piece with the handle. I also prop up some heavy black blotter board at 45 degrees to block the reflecting glare.


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[Ryan87500]

Do you by chance have a picture?

I might wait to see what the planted+ II looks like and costs and maybe use that as a second fixture depending on size.


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[Fresh2o]

I'm at work so I had to troll through one of my posts. Here is a pic of a 30" Finnex FugeRay in front of a 30" Finnex Planted+ on a 20g long. I can get a side view later if you want. The fixture design is slim and low profile. However, I did not like the way the legs fit the tank rim. The thumb screws were partially contacting the rim. So I built rails on the tank rim to raise the fixture slightly (3/4") and to get the mounting screw more rim to bite into (if that makes sense).

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[Ryan87500]

Thanks. That makes sense.


Beautiful tank. I assume you have a very high par.

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[Fresh2o]

Thanks. Here are a few more pics:

Regarding PAR, in certain areas it is high (over 100 PAR at the bottom of the tank with both fixtures on). Some areas have lower PAR...depending on how far away from the center of the tank. Since these do not have dimmers, I run these off separate timers to help control the amount of light. Even with proper ferts and CO2, algae in its various forms is always something to contend with.


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[Ryan87500]

I received the light today and put it directly on the glass instead of using the brackets The tank definitely doesn't look as bright has the 4 cfl bulbs I had in my retrofit hood.

We will see how it works out.


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[Fresh2o]

I received the light today and put it directly on the glass instead of using the brackets The tank definitely doesn't look as bright has the 4 cfl bulbs I had in my retrofit hood.

We will see how it works out.


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See how the plants respond to the new light. The Planted+ may not appear as bright as the CFLs but IMO there is more to proper lighting than brightness. I have a FugeRay and Planted+ on the same tank and I cannot tell which is brighter and when only one is on it appears dim (compared to both of them on). When taking pics, though, the colors stand out more when only one fixture is on.


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[Ryan87500]

It will be interesting to see how the plants respond.

I am also switching my hob filter and ceramic diffuser out for a canister with cerger reactor. So I am sure that will help too.




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[Fresh2o]

It will be interesting to see how the plants respond.

I am also switching my hob filter and ceramic diffuser out for a canister with cerger reactor. So I am sure that will help too.




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Yes on the canister and reactor! Would you post pics and details about the reactor? I may be going down that route soon.


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[Ryan87500]

Sure will take some pictures later on. Right now it is setup in a test tank area to make sure I have no leaks before bringing it to my wood floors!

Which canister do you have?


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[Fresh2o]

Sure will take some pictures later on. Right now it is setup in a test tank area to make sure I have no leaks before bringing it to my wood floors!

Which canister do you have?


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Yes, protect the wood floors.
Planning on getting either the sunsun 304B or maybe the 302. For a 20g long that currently has two AC50s.


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