LED's on a 10 gallon

[Trout11B]

I'm looking to upgrade my lighting on my 10 gallon tank. I'm interested in the finnex line. It came to my attention the other day that both the fugeray and ray2 might be too much. I hadn't really thought about the light fixtures causing much of an issue until recently. I'm only running homemade co2 right now. I'll be starting a PPS pro fert regimen shortly.

I'd like to use LEDs but I'm open to suggestions.

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

In my 10g it has a Ray 2 on it and I dose PPS-Pro daily as well, here is the tank. No algae issues so far!

 

[Trout11B]

So, in your experiences you've arrived to the conclusion that the Ray2 is essentially okay to run on a ten gallon. That's interesting.

Would you see similar results with the fugeray? Or do you not really have an opinion on that.

Great looking tank by the way.

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Well the Ray 2 I have on mine is 72 PAR which is considered high light, and since I have high light plants it grows well with no algae...the fuge ray has like 25 PAR on a 12" fixture, and a 10g is 20" long so it would be really low light on it, not growing me plants well, so this is just my experiences. What plants are you going to do?

 

[Trout11B]

I'm currently running a range of plants, alernatithia reineckii, golden nesaea, ludwigia repens, HM, narrow leaf java fern, A few stems of P. stellatus, two anubias spp., and some frogbit.

 

[Trout11B]

Replace the java fern with a crypt.

 

[MyanRan]

I think you could have an awesome looking 10G with a Ray 2.

 

[Trout11B]

I'll look into it more. I'm still worried it might be too much without a pressurized system.

 

[Fresh2o]

I'll look into it more. I'm still worried it might be too much without a pressurized system.

If intensity is an issue, then you can reduce it by raising the fixture up higher or adding one or more screens (as in window screens) to cut down on the light.

I just switched from a single T-8 to a Dual T-5 NO a few months ago to a Finnex FugeRay a few days ago. It's definitely brighter than the T-5s. Kind of early to report on any other differences at the moment. Here are some things to keep in mind with the either the FugeRay or ray2. I currently have the fugeray sitting on the glass canopy and there is quite a bit of light that reflects off the glass (annoying). Also, the FugeRay is a bit wider than the glass top so it does not sit quite level (one side is propped up slightly by the rim). So, why not just mount it onto the tank rim with its legs? What I have found is that most standard tanks have a ledge upon which the glass canopy rests. This ledge IMO interferes with the mounting area. I just did not feel like the clamp was mounted securely. I can do one of two things:

1.Trim off a part of the ledge where the legs will be mounted. I'd have to be careful and not trim off too much in case I want to use the glass canopy again on this tank.

2. Add to the height of the rim in the area where the legs will be. I recently had a project involving 1" x 3" PVC boards and was thinking of cutting two 1 cm strips (rim is 1 cm wide) and gluing them to the rim. This way the clamp has more area to clamp onto: the PVC strip plus the tank rim.

I might try the 2nd option.
As for the FugeRay vs ray2, with good water management you should be able to keep the algae in check. You could supplement to the DIY CO2 with Excel (cannot remember if you were already using it).

 

[Trout11B]

Thanks for all the good input fresh. What size is your tank again? I can see where having the lip might interfere with the mounting brackets.

I'll most likely end up suspending these lights if I get it.

It's funny that you mentioned supplemental dosing. I just started using excel yesterday as a supplement.

 

[Fresh2o]

It's a 20g long. I like this size because its shallow and lots of surface area for plants/fish. Actually I have two of them now. I wanted a thriving colony of shrimp in my planted tank but the danios and tetras in there might think otherwise. So I setup another 20g with the same filter (AC50) different light (Coralife dual T5 NO vs FugeRay).

 

[Trout11B]

Hey Dan,

What size is that Ray2 on you're tank, 16 or 18?