[frankiefire]

I'm looking to upgrade the lighting on my 5 gallon fluval chi. I'm torn between the fluval power compact light or the finnex ray 10". Anyone have experience with either light on a 5 gallon tank? I should add that this tank has all live plants.

 

[sandybottom]

what are you trying to grow? i recommend finnex fugeray. it will grow low-med light plants and has 40,000 hour life expectancy.that gives you 10+ years with no lightbulb changing.it is very light and stylish imo.it gives off no heat. have you looked at the finnex fugeray r?it is a gooseneck style planted tank light.it has 16 600 nm red lights for plant growth.you can find them on ebay.the nice thing about the gooseneck style,is that you can control the light intensity by moving the light closer or further away.works on hoods with 16mm glass thickness or less.the regular fugeray will fit most standard tanks.i have the finnex fugeray on a 4 gallon heavily planted shrimp tank. will only be using the finnex line from here on out. i think the fluval is overkill unless you are doing a co2 systen.

 

[avraptorhal]

I have all 3 of the fixtures mentioned except the Finnex Fuge ray 10"The fuge ray is 16". I got the Finnex gooseneck because it would fit a framed tank. It is entirely unsatisfactory. Like all gooseneck lamps it is very difficult to maintain a precise position. I would almost offer it for the shipping cost except I wouldn't want to accused of palming off something unsatisfactory.

Just by observation the Fluval produces more light. The Fugeray produced sufficient light to grow my Crypts, wisteria enough to require monthly trimmimg so the plants don't over run the tank. It also maintained an anubia w/ minimal if any growth. The Fluval tank is new and it produced diatom growth on the glass when the photo period was the same as the Finnex. I just got a timer for the Fluval and I will install it tomorrow so I can shorten the photo period. IMO the Finnex legs are too short for the illumination angle of the LEDs. There isn't a wide enough dispersion of the light so the light appears in a narrow band and doesn't light the tank evenly. I wonder if the legs were kept short to help with a low light output.

I hope this helps, if you have any more questions feel free.

 

[sandybottom]

that is strange,my finnex has 120 degree spread on the lights.

 

[frankiefire]

Thanks for the opinions. I was at my lfs and they sold me the fluval compact for $25. Cheaper than I found online. I have crypts, anubius, swords, banana plants, and floating wisteria. I'm dosing flourish comp and excel but no co2. If I notice an algea problem arising I'll add more floaters.