Can I do FW with a Finnex 24/7?

[Jacky12]

This light strip came to me from a guy who got in & out of SW quickly. I was mainly after his 75G tank, but got a nice canister filter, the 48" Finnex LED & a box of stuff i can't identify.


Can the light strip be easily programmed for FW? i would need to keep the light level on the low side as i do for my other tanks. I would love to be able to have pink/red/orange color options for the Oscar & Clown fish.

 

[Caliban07]

Pretty sure this was the light of choice for planted tanks 4 years or so ago.

If you want to accentuate a particular colour. Choose a light fixture with spectral peaks in that part of the visible light spectrum. They usually tell you on the side of the box.

 

[Jacky12]

Seller says sold to him by local SW shop and used on his tank for nearly a year. His tank was outstanding. I can’t remember if he had plants, all I recall is a purple sea urchin because I did research on a similar appearing species during graduate school. Appears brand new. This same LED (so far as I can tell) is still sold on Amazon & at several reefer shops.

I’ll dig deeper for FW applications. I have zero interest in planted tanks. And will give it away to someone who likes such tanks if it’s of no use to me.

 

[Colin_T]

Marine lights usually have more blue, actinic and sometimes UV light in them. Having said that, many of the new LED light units can be programmed to have different colour spectrum and intensities. If that unit can be programmed, just reduce the blue so it's the same level as red, and remove the actinic and any UV it might have (just set them on 0).

Lights are kind of interesting. Plant tank people say they need special lights for their plants. Marine tank people say they need different light for their corals. News Flash, the sun does not change its colour spectrum when above fresh or salt water. The sun produces the same wave lengths of light regardless of if you are on the equator in the Pacific Ocean or in the Amazon rainforest.

Plants and algae (in fresh or salt water) use red, blue and green light. Corals have symbiotic algae that use this colour light.

 

[Jacky12]

Wonderful post. Well said.

 

[Jacky12]

As far as I can determine, this Finnex is a clunky version of my Fluval Aquaskys. Both have adjustable R,B,G & W LEDs. It has the same sunrise, sunset and special effects like clouds & thunderstorms etc. I don’t use the special effects.
I say clunky because the Fluval app has nice Bluetooth connectivity whereas the Finnex uses a remote controller. Oddly, both are on the pricey side, but the Finnex costs more. It is indeed widely promoted for planted tanks & presently I think that’s simply a marketing ploy.

This guy had fish in there and a purple sea urchin. I mistakenly thought all SW tanks had super high intensity lighting, but appears that’s for coral & anemones. Looking more and more like this light strip would work on any FW tank and some SW tanks, depending. yay!