New Finnex Leds

[Percilus]

As for warranties, Oliver Knott(google him) mentioned that leds are here to stay but the main concern is how long the light is good for. As this is new technology, most of the lights have not been running for 5 years so hence the shorter warranty. I'm sure as they streamline the lights, the warranties will improve and the prices will drop. My suggestion is to visit some of the AA members tanks with leds to see how well they grow plants rather than getting info off the internet. Seeing is believing!!

TMC is confident at least 5 years I'd love to check out some tanks !

[jumpsmasher]

Better check with where you buy your lights to make sure that will warranty your lights for the full five years. I know with my Aquaray, J&L covered it for the first year, than after that I had with deal with TMC directly (UK)

The second time my power supply died with them I was cheaper to buy the replacement power supply myself than to ship the light back for RMA.

IMHO there is not point in planning too far ahead with LED lighting - it is changing so quickly at this point. Chances are in 2-3 years the LED will be so much advance than you probably want to upgrade even if your fixture is still working. And of course costs are coming down all the time as well.

Best to buy something that will do what you need it to do now and than some. Pay extra for all the bells and whistles if you like.

[Percilus]

Better check with where you buy your lights to make sure that will warranty your lights for the full five years. I know with my Aquaray, J&L covered it for the first year, than after that I had with deal with TMC directly (UK)

The second time my power supply died with them I was cheaper to buy the replacement power supply myself than to ship the light back for RMA.

IMHO there is not point in planning too far ahead with LED lighting - it is changing so quickly at this point. Chances are in 2-3 years the LED will be so much advance than you probably want to upgrade even if your fixture is still working. And of course costs are coming down all the time as well.

Best to buy something that will do what you need it to do now and than some. Pay extra for all the bells and whistles if you like.

Yea I was aware of this. How is the light doing for you? Salt or fresh? I kinda bit the bullet and bought some T5HO set ups second hand I couldn't beat the price and I wont need to replace any equipment for quite some time. Thx for the reply.

[blink]

I'm not really sure why you have such a vendetta against Finnex but I bought one of their Ray II lights used at the fall auction and it's doing just fine even though it's at least a year old. It also has no problem growing plants even in my jungle tank.

Finnex is very obtainable in Canada as long as you don't mind shipping it to Montana and picking it up lol, sure it's a pain in the butt but it's not like the border patrol is going to search your car and throw you in jail for trying to import a Finnex light. They don't have CSA certification so they can't sell them here and they are FAR from the only product that is in the same situation, many companies don't bother spending the money to certify something that won't sell in high enough volume to recoup the investment.

I'd politely suggest you get some real world experience and stop believing everything you read, you might just surprise yourself with what you like or don't like once you've tried it.

[jumpsmasher]

Better check with where you buy your lights to make sure that will warranty your lights for the full five years. I know with my Aquaray, J&L covered it for the first year, than after that I had with deal with TMC directly (UK)

The second time my power supply died with them I was cheaper to buy the replacement power supply myself than to ship the light back for RMA.

IMHO there is not point in planning too far ahead with LED lighting - it is changing so quickly at this point. Chances are in 2-3 years the LED will be so much advance than you probably want to upgrade even if your fixture is still working. And of course costs are coming down all the time as well.

Best to buy something that will do what you need it to do now and than some. Pay extra for all the bells and whistles if you like.

Yea I was aware of this. How is the light doing for you? Salt or fresh? I kinda bit the bullet and bought some T5HO set ups second hand I couldn't beat the price and I wont need to replace any equipment for quite some time. Thx for the reply.

The aquaray is alright, when when down for the second time I replaced it with an extra Finnex FugeRay I had lying around. Plants grew much faster with the fugeray but the AquaRay is still going now that I have a new power supply. Since i have rack setup I am experimenting with DIY LED strips - still in the process of cycling my tanks so still too early to tell how effective they are for their intended purpose.

For my standalone tanks i have switched all of them to Finnex now and I don;t think you can really beat them for the prices i paid for them.

T5HO can get pricey in the long run due to the cost of replacing the bulbs, and they also generate a decent amount of heat (big issue with my tanks as most require active cooling). I still got some tanks with T5HO but I notice if you don't replace the bulbs regularly (~ approx. yearly) my some higher demand plants just melt or crash. I guess you can stockpile a bunch but even at $10 a bulb, it can get pricey for a small fish room set up.

If i ever did a show tank i would probably go for one of those new Hydra units that Ron has or maybe a nice set of pedestal LED lights

[Percilus]

I'm not really sure why you have such a vendetta against Finnex but I bought one of their Ray II lights used at the fall auction and it's doing just fine even though it's at least a year old. It also has no problem growing plants even in my jungle tank.

Finnex is very obtainable in Canada as long as you don't mind shipping it to Montana and picking it up lol, sure it's a pain in the butt but it's not like the border patrol is going to search your car and throw you in jail for trying to import a Finnex light. They don't have CSA certification so they can't sell them here and they are FAR from the only product that is in the same situation, many companies don't bother spending the money to certify something that won't sell in high enough volume to recoup the investment.

I'd politely suggest you get some real world experience and stop believing everything you read, you might just surprise yourself with what you like or don't like once you've tried it.

No vendetta. Just the professionals I talked to all over North America and Europe don't seem to agree with the average forum posters on line about finnex lights. A lot of my information came straight from the people who set this stuff up for a living. I fibbed a lot and had them quote me set ups I never intended to go through with. Picked their brains about lighting among other things. Plus the science on line etc. I never stated I was correct. I don't like to pay $350 for something I know won't do what I want it to do later and than have to upgrade. Wasting time and money is stupid in my opinion and I'm not rich. I overwhelmingly was told to go with T5HO lighting by almost every source in planted tanks I spoke with. For price and for results. So I've decided to go T5HO for now second hand due to a deal presenting itself and the fact that in 5 years LED's might be a hell of a lot farther along and cheaper. About that time I probably will have the skill and know how to do what I want with the equipment I purchase along the way.

I do care about carbon footprint but I'm not going to spend $1000 to get the LED that "may" (that's a strong maybe in most people's opinion) perform as well as a quad T5HO. I intend to one day have a carpet of baby tears a lot deeper than 16 inches and every professional immediately recommended to stay away from LED. Most experienced hobbyist's have told me the same. A couple recommended aquaray for price and for possibly being able to do a high tech set up like say

does. Don't get me wrong that guy has 25 years experience and the best equipment money can buy. But he is one of the main inspirations I have for even pursuing this hobby.

I'm not the type of guy that sits at home and watches tv all night. I don't have a bucket load of money to throw at this hobby I have other goals and aspirations that I work on daily in my life that drain my resources as well. So I won't just drop $150-$350 to try something out. If the equipment can't be put to use later with my end goals I wont purchase it.

I'm happy the Finnex lights work. Talk to a European forum They despise Finnex and love TMC. Come back over here and it's the other way around majorities speaking. I honestly personally don't know the answer like I said earlier. I was trying to find the answer. So basically I said screw LED because no one argues about the capabilities of a T5HO set up haha. So I won't be wasting my money at least. Piece of mind wins out over energy costs this time I would so go LED if I knew for sure.

On a personal note. If a company can't be bothered to get CSA approval for the Canadian market place it not only sends up red flags but also I personally won't give them my business just on general principle. I don't care how good their product is I refuse to jump through hoops for a company who won't provide a warranty for their product in my country and doesn't care about providing good service to my country. Almost everyone else is represented here? Your telling me there isn't a big enough market to give bigals a cut and stock in Canada? I call bullshit. That's just my personal opinion. I would never drive to Montana for a light lol. I'd be the biggest hypocrite ever doing something like that my wife would cuff me in the head haha. I don't expect you to understand. I'm just being honest. I never believe everything I read. I go with my gut on most things and the law of averages. No ones right all the time but it's served me well in the past.

I'd like everyone to know I was not offended in this debate at all and did not intend to offend anyone either. Lighting brings out some strong opinions in the hobby I find and I learned a lot of things from speaking with you guys/gals. Thank you.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Percilus

[Ron]

So if that goes through I will have first hand experience with Finnex lights and my mini 400 aquaray is in the mail so we shall see!

So you've bought used T5HO fixtures even though you have an Aquaray on its way?

[Percilus]

So if that goes through I will have first hand experience with Finnex lights and my mini 400 aquaray is in the mail so we shall see!

So you've bought used T5HO fixtures even though you have an Aquaray on its way?

I only bought 1 mini 400. I'll try it on a used chi I bought for $25. Will be a good experiment to because it's the 6.6 chi and it's 16 " high. If i see a cheap Finnex fixture I'll grab that used and try it as well if I can and than I can make a judgement from experience as Blink said you never know for sure until you do it yourself and know for sure. There was a guy selling a 30 " Finnex planted + but he wanted more than I wanted to pay for that experiment. The t5's are fully functional set ups not just lights. Perfect for me to learn with. Mcturtles tanks you probably know her.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Percilus

[Percilus]

Hey Ron on that note would a Amano or Cherry shrimp do well in a heavily planted chi 6.6? I know the footprint is pretty terrible for stalking fish. Shrimp/snails is what I was thinking or just a single betta or something. Since your a shrimp guy let me know what yea think. Novice here as well. I've heard cherry shrimp are probably my best bet for hardiness? How many could I do?

Edited December 18, 2014 by Percilus

[Ron]

Hey Ron on that note would a Amano or Cherry shrimp do well in a heavily planted chi 6.6? I know the footprint is pretty terrible for stalking fish. Shrimp/snails is what I was thinking or just a single betta or something. Since your a shrimp guy let me know what yea think. Novice here as well. I've heard cherry shrimp are probably my best bet for hardiness? How many could I do?

Either would do fine but depends on what purpose you'd like them for. If it's for algae control, go with Amanos. In my personal experience, Amanos are hardier shrimp.

[Percilus]

Yea to help out with

Hey Ron on that note would a Amano or Cherry shrimp do well in a heavily planted chi 6.6? I know the footprint is pretty terrible for stalking fish. Shrimp/snails is what I was thinking or just a single betta or something. Since your a shrimp guy let me know what yea think. Novice here as well. I've heard cherry shrimp are probably my best bet for hardiness? How many could I do?

Either would do fine but depends on what purpose you'd like them for. If it's for algae control, go with Amanos. In my personal experience, Amanos are hardier shrimp.

I was leaning towards Amano for a clean up crew plus sometimes I hear they have interesting behaviour and are fun to watch. Probably some MTS and was contemplating maybe a couple Dario Dario. Anyone that owns Scarlet Badis let me know if you think they would be happy in a 10x10x16 foot print heavily planted.

[cjerrom]

I run Finnex on all my tanks with plants and have great results for 2.5yrs and have not had an issue yet! I find that if you keep the transformer in an area where it can get some air current it does well. I installed a little micro fan under my stand to circulate air. It's amazing to see how much heat differential there is in an enclosed system. 5-6C.

I grow a lot of plants in tall 120g 4ft tanks - from red Ludwigia to tenellus and Echinodorus with CO2 and fertilizers with a garbage bag of clippings being disposed of weekly.

I don't see anyone bashing Finnex but if you want to see an article on comparing outputs in the aquarium magazine there was one done in Amazonas I believe in the past 12-18 months.

I have had T5HO and Compact Four Pin flourescents as well and prefer the lack of noise and less heat created with LED's. Now I have boughten many generations of LED from Finnex I am most happy with the Planted + lighting system and my only complaint is the chords need to be much longer due to the large tank heights. As well the other issue with the older models is that would heat sink the boards to the aluminum housing but they also had some shielding issues with the internal power wires creating a direct ground to the housing as well. When you were working on the tank and touched the light you could get a good shock!

The point being is that the technology is catching up but the LED's vary and I don't think that they are nearly refined to the point that the current T5HO or Halogen systems have become so the future should be positive. We use LED's in our downhole oilfield equipment (cameras) that can withstand temps of 150C and pressures of 20K psi! So I deal with single point LED's (one bulb of the same size we have in our lights) that puts out 1850 lumens per bulb. It's lifetime is 750-1000 hrs at best but it shows you the extreme side of technology when you are willing to pay 1500.00/bulb.

You are correct in that

[Percilus]

I run Finnex on all my tanks with plants and have great results for 2.5yrs and have not had an issue yet! I find that if you keep the transformer in an area where it can get some air current it does well. I installed a little micro fan under my stand to circulate air. It's amazing to see how much heat differential there is in an enclosed system. 5-6C.

I grow a lot of plants in tall 120g 4ft tanks - from red Ludwigia to tenellus and Echinodorus with CO2 and fertilizers with a garbage bag of clippings being disposed of weekly.

I don't see anyone bashing Finnex but if you want to see an article on comparing outputs in the aquarium magazine there was one done in Amazonas I believe in the past 12-18 months.

I have had T5HO and Compact Four Pin flourescents as well and prefer the lack of noise and less heat created with LED's. Now I have boughten many generations of LED from Finnex I am most happy with the Planted + lighting system and my only complaint is the chords need to be much longer due to the large tank heights. As well the other issue with the older models is that would heat sink the boards to the aluminum housing but they also had some shielding issues with the internal power wires creating a direct ground to the housing as well. When you were working on the tank and touched the light you could get a good shock!

The point being is that the technology is catching up but the LED's vary and I don't think that they are nearly refined to the point that the current T5HO or Halogen systems have become so the future should be positive. We use LED's in our downhole oilfield equipment (cameras) that can withstand temps of 150C and pressures of 20K psi! So I deal with single point LED's (one bulb of the same size we have in our lights) that puts out 1850 lumens per bulb. It's lifetime is 750-1000 hrs at best but it shows you the extreme side of technology when you are willing to pay 1500.00/bulb.

You are correct in that

Thanks for the info

[BearBarry1]

I have seen cjerrom's tanks and he is not bs'ing.

[kikomonster]

Percilus,

I bought the 2x TMC Grobeam Ultima 1500 Tile and 1x GroBeam 600 dual light strip and have been using it well over a year in my 90 Gallon tank and it works great. I too based my purchase for the same points you pointed out and was following more with the european forums (UKAPS).