# Finnex stingray



## fishkeeper01 (Oct 2, 2012)

If I'm looking for an accent light for my 45g tank can I use the 36" finnex stingray fixture? The only java fern and anubias. The tank dimensions are 36"×13"×21", note I'm not trying to grow plants. This is my cichlid tank and I just have a few easy plants just to add color.


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## RyRob (May 30, 2015)

The stingrays are geared more towards general lighting or low light needs anyways so I think it would work out well for general accent lighting. On a 21" tall tank, the amount of par at the substrate from the stingray wouldn't benefit much plant life so it should work well with the ferns and anubias. The price is decent too. I have 2 12" on a 30cm cube and they are great lights IMO. If you are looking for something to make your cichlids color pop better you might want to look for something geared towards color enhancement but I don't own cichlids so I'm not much help there. I'd try it and if doesn't work out you have an excuse to start a nice medium light 12g long. Or a low light 22g long


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

I was thinking about this as well purely for color enhancement


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

Stingray is perfect for accent/color enhancement. I have one over a 20l. At 12" it is my main light. I supplement it with a Razor for about 4 hours/day. After that the stingray is the only light on the tank and it really shows off the fish.

Here are some fish under the stingray on a 12" deep tank.


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## fishkeeper01 (Oct 2, 2012)

Would you guys consider the stingray too much light for a 5.5g and 10g tanks. With the appropriate sized light of course.


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

If I remember right, 10-12" above the substrate puts a stingray at the upper end of low light to the bottom of medium light par values.

The real question is what are you intending to grow-- if its just the Java ferns it will be just fine.


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## fishkeeper01 (Oct 2, 2012)

ichy said:


> If I remember right, 10-12" above the substrate puts a stingray at the upper end of low light to the bottom of medium light par values.
> 
> The real question is what are you intending to grow-- if its just the Java ferns it will be just fine.


In answer to your statement yes I intend to only grow low light plants


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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

The question of the Stingray's PAR comes up fairly often but the great color spectrum it provides does not. I think it is excellent for viewing fish and I use them on all three of my low-tech tanks. This would be a good choice as primarily an accent light but it grows a variety of plants just fine. Here's what mine looks like on my 55 and a picture of the fish in my 20 high to maybe give you an idea of how it looks. Wish I had a better photo though.


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

fishkeeper01 said:


> In answer to your statement yes I intend to only grow low light plants


You'll like the stingray for low light tanks.


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

fishkeeper01 said:


> Would you guys consider the stingray too much light for a 5.5g and 10g tanks. With the appropriate sized light of course.


I have a stingray on a 10 gallon tank, with a glass lid...

Without the lid, I'm getting close to 40 PAR at the substrate, with it I'm somewhere in the upper 30's...

I've been having some mild-moderate algae issues, where green thread/hair algae is cropping up in some of my taller stems, so I recently took a soldering iron to my stingray and hacked in a dimmer.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=905561

The algae issue depends a lot on your plant mass and growth rate, but a stingray on a 10 gallon is really pushing into the medium light range. My 10 gallon is mostly rotalas and crypts right now, with a decent sized h. corymbosa compacta in there.. I'm trying to get some faster growing plants to take solid hold in this tank (H. Polysperma, Myrio mattogrosense, pearl weed, etc), which may let me bright the light back up.. but for now the dimmer is a problem solver.


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## fishkeeper01 (Oct 2, 2012)

On my 5.5g and 10g I have jungle val, anubias nana, hygrophila difformis, and some crpts. I'll post some pics to see what you guys think. Currently on the 5.5g I have crafting mesh (what most use to make diy dividers) over it as a dimmer.


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## fishkeeper01 (Oct 2, 2012)

What type of led lighting that would give me low lighting for my 5.5g and 10g tanks?


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

Razors are very cheap and will put you well into the low light end. There color rendering is not the best. 
They have a three way switch, off, all on, 6 LEDs on.


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

Razors are just as strong as a stingray, if not a tad stronger:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=7919649

These products are both great for low light on something 16" deep.. but a tad strong on 5.5 and 10g tanks...

I'm not sure if anyone makes a good "low light at 12 inches" led fixture..

Perhaps a marineland "double bright" or similar:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=160396


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

Turn off all but 6 LEDs on the Razor.


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

And take it from a tad too strong to almost nothing??? You'd want to turn off like 10-15% of the leds.


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

dimmer, raise it up or screen?? LOL....what do I have to do to make you happy? LOL...


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## fishkeeper01 (Oct 2, 2012)

Uhm what is the razor specifically called. I can't find it on Amazon


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

Beamswork razor. Not sold on Amazon, aquatraders carries them.


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

ichy said:


> dimmer, raise it up or screen?? LOL....what do I have to do to make you happy? LOL...



Lol, just sayin you might as well use a stingray. We are looking for something weaker than that, not stronger.


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## jcmv4792 (Jul 15, 2015)

goodbytes said:


> The question of the Stingray's PAR comes up fairly often but the great color spectrum it provides does not. I think it is excellent for viewing fish and I use them on all three of my low-tech tanks. This would be a good choice as primarily an accent light but it grows a variety of plants just fine. Here's what mine looks like on my 55 and a picture of the fish in my 20 high to maybe give you an idea of how it looks. Wish I had a better photo though.


Is that just one stingray? Looks brighter than my 55g with two stingrays...though I do have a glass canopy. But even without the canopy mine are not that bright.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=909193


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

jcmv4792 said:


> Is that just one stingray? Looks brighter than my 55g with two stingrays...though I do have a glass canopy. But even without the canopy mine are not that bright.
> 
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=909193


Well, looking at the picture, there's only one stingray on the top of the tank... Just look at the sides.. only one set of legs..

As for the brightness, keep in mind this tank has a light substrate, while yours is dark.. light substrates reflect a lot of light back up, increasing effective brightness..

Also, don't look at the tops of the plants, as they are much taller, and closer to the light, than yours are... look down low at the same level.

Looking at plant leaves at the same level as the tops of your plants, the brightness doesn't seem higher...

For a final trick-of-the-eye.. you have HOB filters, forcing your tank to be several inches away from the wall.. goodbytes is using canisters, thus only has narrow tubes and wires along the back of the tank, allowing it to be closer to the wall.. thus, his ends up illuminating the wall behind better, creating a further illusion of increased brightness.


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## jcmv4792 (Jul 15, 2015)

mattinmd said:


> Well, looking at the picture, there's only one stingray on the top of the tank... Just look at the sides.. only one set of legs..
> 
> As for the brightness, keep in mind this tank has a light substrate, while yours is dark.. light substrates reflect a lot of light back up, increasing effective brightness..
> 
> ...


l see. So my tank is pretty much setup to make it look darker. In the end, does the overall "brighter" light in his tank increase the par levels? Or is it just an aesthetic thing?


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

It is mostly aesthetic... 

To some degree the light substrate will increase PAR, but this isn't a large effect.. Basically some of that light reflected off the substrate will hit the air-water boundary at the top and reflect back down...


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

Also, a few more things..
Your tank will look brighter as your plants get taller and fill in more, just because there is more green to reflect off of..

Also, don't let camera exposure fool you... I took these 3 shots right in a row, but set the exposure to meter off different parts of the tank.. The lighting is the same - a dimmed stingray in the back and a cheap led stick up front..

Set to the bit of wall behind the tank:









Set to the plants in the middle:









Set to the substrate, lower left, which makes it look like I really need to gravel vac:


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