# Opinions on Finnex Stringray for low light tanks?



## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

There is an on-line video showing a Stingray producing 30 PAR at the substrate in a 20 gallon tall tank. You can see it at the Finnex page for the Stingray http://www.finnex.net/index.php/stingray/?___store=default Has anyone used one of these fixtures on a low tech or Walstad tank?


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## Silvering (Jun 10, 2011)

I have one, but my tank has CO2 and inert substrate so I think I'm disqualified from the question. :'( :lol:


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## iceblue (Dec 2, 2005)

Using one on a 20 gallon long tank. It is pretty much a low tech shrimp tank. Plants are doing great. Ferns, anubias, mosses & buces. Before I upgraded to the 20 and had these same plants in a 10 gallon with a Finnex Fugeray they appeared bleached like it was too much light. Now lush and green.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Thanks!

Silvering, I would still like to know how the fixture is performing for you. What types of plants are you growing?


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## Silvering (Jun 10, 2011)

No problem! I have a stock lighting T8 fixture that's been running a year-old Floramax bulb on that tank, too, but it's shoved all the way to the front over glass and the LEDs are directly in the middle with nothing between them and the water. 

Here's the plant list, to the best of my knowledge!

bolbitis
pogostemon helferi
staurogyne repens
crypt: wendtii, spiralis, possibly balansae (not sure on IDs for the crypts)
anubias: nana, narrow leaf, coffeefolia
hygrophila: pinnatifida, difformis
java fern, windelov
Eleocharis acicularis
Hemianthus callitrichoides, but not on the substrate - it's on driftwood halfway up
Various mosses: Christmas, java, spiky moss and "weeping" moss 
duckweed

The HC grows nicely on the driftwood but doesn't seem to get enough light at the bottom of the tank - but that may be compounded by all the other stuff casting too much shade. I should go update my journal thread... XD


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Thanks! Several of your species need higher light than the plants currently in my 40 gallon, so the Stingray might work. If it turns out to be too weak, I could get another one and put it on a midday burst schedule.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

The PAR meter has spoken!

I ordered the Stingray and put it over my heavily planted 40 breeder. I like the color of the light and the fixture is elegantly thin. But at our club meeting last Saturday we tested it with our PAR meter (same brand as used in the video). The brightest PAR at the substrate was 19-20. I don't know how the guy in the video got 30 in a tank of the same depth. The old T5 NO fixture mounted 6" above the water surface gave me 30. This was my goal for the tank, as it has been very stable for years with light of this intensity.

So I am going to buy another Stringray for that tank. The light spread of the Stingray was very good for the 18" wide tank, unlike the old T5 NO which was too narrow. So I hope that 2 Stingrays will bring the PAR up to where I want it.

Conclusion: for a 17" tall tank a single Stingray is inadequate except for species with the very lowest light requirement, and only if you can tolerate very slow growth.


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