# <$80 LED Light for 20high Low/Med light



## brmatt376 (Sep 18, 2017)

I am looking for an inexpensive led light that will allow me to grow low to medium (like an amazon sword) plants. I am dosing ferts but do not want to get into a gaseous CO2 set up. I have a nicrew LED but it is not cutting it. Is there anything anyone would suggest?


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I am liking the Beamworks LED but then it is also not hard to see tanks where it is not the light but other items as it does take something of a "balance" of ferts, Co2 and light. 
I think we hear more about the lighting as it is a good sales item??


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I have a finnex stingray on my 10g and it was too much light- 
probably sufficient for a 20H


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

I have not tried the beamswork but will speak to the finnex stingray as a decent light for the money. I have two over my 20 long and they give what I would call strong medium light with an acceptable color rendering. Hope this helps.


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## RyRob (May 30, 2015)

One cool thing about using 2 lights is that you can put them on separate timers and kind of have a "ramp up/down" feauture. Just stager the timers so one light comes on before and goes off after the other. I use to do this when I had two Finnex 24/7's on max on my 26g bowfront. I did it because it was a lot of light to be coming on and off all at once and it would startle by tiger barbs. 

It's not really a "ramping" of the light but kind of works like that. Also, to me, it kind of simulated the passing of the sun over the plants throughout the photoperiod (front light on, then both on, then front light off, then both off) so not all of light is focused everywhere all the time. I don't think the plants cared but it made me feel like I was accomplishing something lol. 

2 stingrays on a 20H could probably accomplish anything you wanted to do. if it's too much light just raise both fixtures or remove one but one may not produce enough par across the substrate. The stingrays also come with a neat flush mounting adapter so you could mount both lights on 1/4" plywood and either suspend them or use more plywood for feet. The stingrays are very versatile and severely underrated fixtures.


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## Deanna (Feb 15, 2017)

"Medium light" can be thought of as being in the range of 40-50 PAR at the substrate. So, check out lights that will hit that target for the distance between your light and the substrate. One comment on dealing with low-tech setups: I used to run them and found that using glutaraldehyde (Excel or Metricide) helped a lot with plant growth and algae control.

Here are some links to discussions on various LED brands and models:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/160396-led-lighting-compendium.html

https://aquarium-digest.com/tag/aquaray-led-review/

If you want really cheap, I came across a member using a simple LED floodlight ($20 on Amazon) successfully. I'm may try that on one of my tanks because it seems so simple that it's overlooked, but it may not be aesthetically pleasing. Take a look at what the member said:


KrypleBerry said:


> Its a 6500k 50w LED flood 120° reflector, 70 pc 5730 smd. It IS waterproof I tested that out of the blue and totally not on purpose. It was hung 3 inches above my 15 gallon columns water surface and grew a nice tight carpet of monte carlo and literally everything else Ive thrown at it. With co2 and nutrients balanced that tank needed weekly trimming. Even buce and anubias had new foliage every 5 days. On this tank as the sole lighting I would probably require 2-4 of them. That still leaves me spending up to 80 dollars as apposed to spending 280 dollars on the 2 fluvals.
> 
> Cost aside I am really more interested in whats best for my plants and their growth. As far as algae, no different than anyone using expensive lighting... mostly issues here and there with BBA and only ever a tiny bit of green spot from co2 and nutrient balance fluctuations before the pressurized system.
> The photo below is 100% tje 50w 6500k led flood only. The only low light issues I had was from over crowding (overgrowth), I think I re-defined the term in that space.


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

Beamsworks DA FSPEC...
Nice light for the money.
I add a $4.99 Ebay dimmer with mine...
I too like the two light ramp up option but choose to use second light as mid day burn for 4 hours a day...


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## brmatt376 (Sep 18, 2017)

So I have narrowed it down to the Beamswork DA 6500k or the FinnexStingray. There isn't a big price difference. Does anyone know the PAR of either (the 24" long model) at a depth of 16"? Thanks


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)




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## brmatt376 (Sep 18, 2017)

Thanks for the post on PAR. I am going to end up with the Current Satellite plus.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

brmatt376 said:


> Thanks for the post on PAR. I am going to end up with the Current Satellite plus.


If that's the light I'm thinking of I think it's pretty dim. Your better off getting the finnex 24/7 and just dimming it down. If you ever go higher light you can increase it back up.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

brmatt376 said:


> Thanks for the post on PAR. I am going to end up with the Current Satellite plus.





> A lot of hobbyists have been asking us whether the Satellite Freshwater LED Plus (SAT+) is bright enough to grow plants or light a tank that is deeper than 24 inches. The measurement Current USA use is Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) which is measured in micromoles. The more micromoles measured, the brighter it is. We measured the highest PAR readings when the SAT+ was set at yellow on the remote. PAR readings resulted in the following:
> 
> Depth in Inches	PAR Readings in Micromoles
> 12” 36
> ...


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...-satellite-freshwater-plus-bright-enough.html


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

The pictures in that thread with the HC growing is a Satellite Plus *Pro.* Is the OP talking about that one or just the Satellite Plus?


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

houseofcards said:


> The pictures in that thread with the HC growing is a Satellite Plus *Pro.* Is the OP talking about that one or just the Satellite Plus?


Pretty sure the plus.. Par numbers are for that..
Arguable plus PRO numbers:


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## brmatt376 (Sep 18, 2017)

houseofcards said:


> The pictures in that thread with the HC growing is a Satellite Plus *Pro.* Is the OP talking about that one or just the Satellite Plus?


Just the Satellite Plus


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

brmatt376 said:


> Just the Satellite Plus


Personally I think this is an over-priced weak light that isn't going to give you that much more than the two lights your currently using. I would just buy a Beamswork (less than 1/2 the price) or get the Finnex 24/7 that you can dim and use if you go to higher light.


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