# Current USA LED+ vs Finnex Fugeray Planted+



## Rush3737 (Jan 15, 2013)

This is just a guess, but I'd think thanks to the height of your tank, you could get away with a planted+ and still be in a nice medium range. I've read very good things about the color of the planted+, and so if that works it's what I'd go with.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

How many inches of substrate are you adding? Knowing the height of substrate would help in determining lighting needs and what plants.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

Not sure how many inches. I have two bags of Ada Amazonia and a bag of Eco complete fine. Soo 2-3?

Plants... Not sure. Recommendations?


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## trawilson01 (Mar 19, 2014)

glad you posted this... i am interested in the exact same two fixtures.
i have a 125 gallon 6 foot long, about the same depth. so i am very interested in the comparison and recommendations of one or the other...
the current led+ is really neat but may be annoying as it has no timer that i know of. my local store has one and i am going to toy with it today.
i currently run a timer for my lights and will never go back to not using one:icon_neut

allen


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

The Planted+ will be noticibly brighter over the same height above the substrate


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## chinabelle (May 1, 2011)

I was just coming here to post this same thing. I have been doing research the last 4 days trying to gather a ton of info/reviews on both lights. I have a 60" long 75 gallon that is 24" deep. I'm not finding any good options for this depth tank. I do have a quad T5 HO now but it's huge and I can't easily get into the top of the tank. Please keep the info coming on these lights!


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## trawilson01 (Mar 19, 2014)

depth seems to be a major issue when trying to find any info on lighting.


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## trawilson01 (Mar 19, 2014)

would the planted+ be better due to the distinct 660nm red?
what is better as far as what to look for... the specific blue or red? i read red does not penetrate as deep...


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## sowNreap (Jun 10, 2012)

If you have (or had) one of these fixtures .. what are the Pros & cons of it? Would you buy it again? What would change if you could? Thanks!


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## sowNreap (Jun 10, 2012)

For everyone looking for more info & comparision between these two I found another thread with some useful info here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=570858

I'd still like my questions posted above answered though if anyone can help out. Thanks!


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

I personally own a Sat+ and to me, after seeing both now...The colors are better on the Sat+ IMO anyways. If you're going to be low light planted tank/lo-tech though, either would work. If you wanted plants that have more color and high light needs/co2 injection, I wouldn't recommend either of these alone. I would go with a different fixture, or buy two of them, or even mix match. 

I'm assuming your tank is 22in deepish. With substrate I'm imagining 19in(ish). That's really deep for either of those fixtures to reach on their own.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

My bowfront is 20 inches deep. 3 inches of sand bed... 17 inches plus I kinda wanted to suspend it... crud.

So I might be looking at the Planted + and the Ultra slim? Or maybe just two planted ++?

Any other feeback? Who has these lights?!


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

Two would def be recommended. Especially if you're trying to suspend them. I feel like there's better options out there, but at a different, more expensive, price point.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

Understood. I think for now I'll start out with one. Keep it simple while I don't know what I'm doing (KISS principle) and either upgrade or get another fixture later on along with some additional equipment (CO2, ferts, etc).


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Chris_Produces said:


> Two would def be recommended. Especially if you're trying to suspend them. I feel like there's better options out there, but at a different, more expensive, price point.


Be ware 2 planted plus put off a good amount of light. I have 2 on my 48.8 mr aqua tank and with both on with 4" of substrate I am getting high end of med light. So,once I stopped injecting co2 and dosing fertz, algae explode on my moss. Had to cut down to one light.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

sbarbee54 said:


> Be ware 2 planted plus put off a good amount of light. I have 2 on my 48.8 mr aqua tank and with both on with 4" of substrate I am getting high end of med light. So,once I stopped injecting co2 and dosing fertz, algae explode on my moss. Had to cut down to one light.


That's why I think the sat+ would be better


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

Why? Is it less PAR?


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

~rush~ said:


> Why? Is it less PAR?


Not just that, It has the ability to turn down any of the RGB+White color spectrum helps you dial it down if need be without having to change heights. So that way if you have 2 units later on, and you have too much light, you just dial it down via the controller.


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## zackariah (Jan 17, 2013)

I have one sat+ on a low tech tank. It works just fine. I have two sat+ on a high tech. On the high tech I am still wishing I had more light. The features are cool but you will find your self rarely using them unless you invest in the current timer then you can do some cool programmed sunset/sunrise stuff. I now am planning another low tech tank and I plan to give the planted+ a shot .


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## starfire12 (Aug 13, 2009)

I also have a 46 gallon bow front tank, I purchased a finnex rayll ds. I really like it for low to med light plants, my plants are growing kind of slowly so I added a satellite freshwater led as additional lighting. I will be purchasing another finnex rayll ds here soon. I do not like the light out put on the satelite fixture.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

There's always this option :biggrin:

http://www.marineandreef.com/Kessil...RKE09810.htm?gclid=CLfIz9SnsL0CFewRMwodXEIAFg

http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/MIC-MINI-COLOR.html

http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/MIC-PRO-COLOR.html


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## zackariah (Jan 17, 2013)

^ not quite the same price point but everyone should have dreams!


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

Well I pulled the trigger on the Finnex planted+. I'll let you guys know what I think once it gets here. 

Thanks for all the feedback.


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## aquarist (Aug 29, 2012)

I am interested to see your results, will you be posting them here or on other topic? I am looking to replace my T5HOs on my 75 gallon.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

I'll post pics right here.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

Awesome! Looking forward to it.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

zackariah said:


> ^ not quite the same price point but everyone should have dreams!


Lol of course :smile:


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## Aurie (Jun 3, 2013)

I also have a 46bow and I put my 48" on it (to test it out since my 55 isn't up yet) and I liked the brightness of it, but I didn't like the spread. Since the tank is not only deep top to bottom it's deep front to back as well. I think 1 would be a good place to start, and maybe in the future you could get a shorter one to sit in the front over the bow portion. Maybe a nice 20 incher (suspended obviously)


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

Aurie said:


> I also have a 46bow and I put my 48" on it (to test it out since my 55 isn't up yet) and I liked the brightness of it, but I didn't like the spread. Since the tank is not only deep top to bottom it's deep front to back as well. I think 1 would be a good place to start, and maybe in the future you could get a shorter one to sit in the front over the bow portion. Maybe a nice 20 incher (suspended obviously)


That's a good point. I was thinking of going with a 30 inch, RayII... we'll see what happens.

I see from my tracking# that the light has arrived! But I'm still stuck at work...


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## Hjgpoole (Feb 6, 2014)

I run a Sat. Plus and the Fluval Aqualife on my 75 gallon. I have taken each off and run the other one just to compare and the plants like the Fluval better however they still did pretty good with the Sat. Plus. The Finnex is the reason I was reading this thread because I would like to see how the Fluval compares to it.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

The new lights have arrived! I bought a Finnex Planted+ (36inch) and put it on the tank last night. It looks great. Very nice sleek fixture. I also got the 48 inch MonsterRay for my 125g.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

Nice. It's looking good.


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## BillV (Aug 27, 2011)

I have a 48 inch Current Satellite Plus on a 55, and its not enough light to grow anything but low light plants. I have an 18 inch one on a Fluval Spec. Its PAR at 13 inches per Current is 36. I have S Repens adn Downoi growing in that tank. The downoi is not growing very compactly, but is kind of spindly. The S Repens looks good. Both are not growing very quickly, but they look healthy.

I have 20 gallon long that has a 24 inch Fugeray on it, and had a cheap Coralife t5. I grow Downoi beautifully under the Fugeray, nice and compact and bushy. I upgraded the Coralife to a Fugeray Planted+ tonight. I am running both lights on the take as 1 doesnt have a wide enough spread. 

I think running the two you go will light your tank very nicely.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

I've got plants coming tomorrow! I'll update with pics after they are planted and things settle a bit.


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## sowNreap (Jun 10, 2012)

Yea!! Can't wait to see it. And for you to post your review of the lights.


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## aquarist (Aug 29, 2012)

Awesome, glad your lights made it in safely, will be checking back often to see the progress.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

Chris_Produces said:


> Nice. It's looking good.


Thanks!


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

BillV said:


> I have a 48 inch Current Satellite Plus on a 55, and its not enough light to grow anything but low light plants. I have an 18 inch one on a Fluval Spec. Its PAR at 13 inches per Current is 36. I have S Repens adn Downoi growing in that tank. The downoi is not growing very compactly, but is kind of spindly. The S Repens looks good. Both are not growing very quickly, but they look healthy.
> 
> I have 20 gallon long that has a 24 inch Fugeray on it, and had a cheap Coralife t5. I grow Downoi beautifully under the Fugeray, nice and compact and bushy. I upgraded the Coralife to a Fugeray Planted+ tonight. I am running both lights on the take as 1 doesnt have a wide enough spread.
> 
> I think running the two you go will light your tank very nicely.


I actually got the monster ray for a different tank, but once I am confident enough, I do plan on getting another fixture so I can do more demanding plants (carpeting).


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

sowNreap said:


> Yea!! Can't wait to see it. And for you to post your review of the lights.


 
Will do!


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

Got my order of plants from Live aquaria yesterday. 2 Melon swords, 1 red flame sword, 1 wendtii red, 3 java fern, 2 anubias nana, 3 temple narrow leaf, 2 moneywort.


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## sowNreap (Jun 10, 2012)

Looking good! That fixture is so slim I hardly saw it. LOL Hard for me to tell from pic but that does look like a decent amount of light.

Seeing your photo made me realize the my Red Flame Sword used to look like yours until I realized it likes higher light than other swords. Mine didn't have enough light so it didn't grow or make the red "flame" leaves. Now it's under higher light and doing much better. My leaves are still really narrow compared to yours and how mine used to look. Beautiful plant, just wish I'd done more research since it's not in the tank I wanted it to be in.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

sowNreap said:


> Looking good! That fixture is so slim I hardly saw it. LOL Hard for me to tell from pic but that does look like a decent amount of light.
> 
> Seeing your photo made me realize the my Red Flame Sword used to look like yours until I realized it likes higher light than other swords. Mine didn't have enough light so it didn't grow or make the red "flame" leaves. Now it's under higher light and doing much better. My leaves are still really narrow compared to yours and how mine used to look. Beautiful plant, just wish I'd done more research since it's not in the tank I wanted it to be in.


 
Thank you for the feedback. I had thought that swords didn't really need high lighting, but I'm finding out some do. I do plan to add another fixture, maybe a RayII or a Satellite fixture... I just hope it does ok until I can upgrade.


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## sowNreap (Jun 10, 2012)

That's what I thought about swords too & why I ended up ordering wrong one. Not sure how much light it really needs. I have mine in a 20 long with a 13 watt CFL in 8" clamp on fixture hanging about about 4" above the top of tank. The plant is probably about 7"-8" tall right & centered under the fixture. Not sure what the PAR is but plant is definitely coloring up now so that light level appears to be good. I'll have to watch to make sure it's not too much light that I start getting algae. 

I'd wait to see how things do before adding another fixture .. it might be enough light. That sword will tell you .. at least from my experience.

edit: That sword used to be in my 75 gal .. it was 15" tall. Once I had to trim off shredded leaves it never did as good so I moved it.


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## ~rush~ (Mar 15, 2014)

*Review-*
I only recently bought this fixture so I can't say much about it's longevity yet. I bought the 36 inch fixture for my 46g bowfront. I like the slim design. It has a sleek look and is very light weight. The color of light it gives off is very pleasing. Not too warm, which I was worried about - being that Finnex emphasizes the use of 'true 660nm reds', I thought it might look awkward, but it doesn't. As for growing plants, again I can't say too much as my tank is still pretty new. 1 week exactly. The plants have shown growth though. I have a Red flame sword, two Melon swords, two Moneywort and a Cryptocorne wendtii that all have shown new growth. I also have some Temple narrow leaf, Java fern, and some Anubias nana that have not shown signs of growth yet, but it is still pretty early. I do have plans to buy a lux meter to measure approximate PAR levels, but haven't done so yet.

Overall I'd say I'm pleased with the product. I'll give a few more updates once I've put some miles on this baby.


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## sowNreap (Jun 10, 2012)

Thanks for the review, especially about the color. 

Looking forward to seeing more pics of plant growth.


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## nwr2339 (Jan 8, 2013)

I recently purchased the Satellite+ and it will be here tomorrow. I will post pictures soon as I can. 
There will actually be two 36"-48" fixtures for my 65 gallon low-medium light low tech tank. 

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk


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## nwr2339 (Jan 8, 2013)

I got my two 36"-48" Current Satellite Freshwater + today and I am both impressed and disappointed. 

To start, let me say this is a very nice and sleek looking fixture. I do enjoy it the features and the remote as well. The problem i'm having comes in two forms;
1. One of the fixtures flickered and died after being on for a total of 20 seconds. 
2. My tank is so deep (65gallon 24") the change is color is sometimes unnoticeable. 

I am not sure what to do. I didn't even get to see the tank with both lights on because the fixture that died was the first one I plugged in. Part of me wants to just return both and get 2 Fugeray Planted Plus and not worry about the fancy features....Another part of me wants to exchange the broken fixture and see what it looks like with both. Specially since i'm only going to attempt med-low light plants with no co2...just excel and fert tabs. 

What do you guys think?


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

nwr2339 said:


> I got my two 36"-48" Current Satellite Freshwater + today and I am both impressed and disappointed.
> 
> To start, let me say this is a very nice and sleek looking fixture. I do enjoy it the features and the remote as well. The problem i'm having comes in two forms;
> 1. One of the fixtures flickered and died after being on for a total of 20 seconds.
> ...


I just setup a second Sat+ on my 40B. Couldn't be happier. Plants are pearling far better. However, if you decide to move in high light plants, neither of the lights you're debating would be a good choice IMO.

Also, Current USA customer service IME, has been wonderful. There should be no problem exchanging for a new one.


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## llayz (Feb 21, 2014)

I currently have a planted plus 30'' and my sub to light is about 18'' I believe im at about 30ish par?? So I ordered a ray 2 so i can go into mid light


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

Hi nwr2339, 
Sorry to hear of your current situation. Hopefully customer service will have this sorted soon. 

Regarding point 2, generally speaking, and not exclusive to LEDs, light is greatly diminished when tank heights increase by mere inches.

Higher kelvin color temperature light (e.g. 10k)  penetrate water more deeply than 6500k as commonly seen in saltwater aquariums, however there are NO no red PAR spikes under these conditions. Hence your account on the negligible color settings with the SAT+. People who swear by 10k lamps alone don't often know what they're missing  

With such a deep and wide (greater than 14") tank, my inclination would be to plan for 2 fixtures without a doubt as you have. 
As i commented earlier, the Planted+ is visibly brighter than the SAT+ at equal lamp lengths so a combination of 2 Planted+ may be a better option for medium light in this aquarium.

If you want a price quote on a pair of NEW Planted+ shipped, PM me. 




nwr2339 said:


> I got my two 36"-48" Current Satellite Freshwater + today and I am both impressed and disappointed.
> 
> To start, let me say this is a very nice and sleek looking fixture. I do enjoy it the features and the remote as well. The problem i'm having comes in two forms;
> 1. One of the fixtures flickered and died after being on for a total of 20 seconds.
> ...


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## nwr2339 (Jan 8, 2013)

acitydweller said:


> Hi nwr2339,
> Sorry to hear of your current situation. Hopefully customer service will have this sorted soon.
> 
> Regarding point 2, generally speaking, and not exclusive to LEDs, light is greatly diminished when tank heights increase by mere inches.
> ...


Thank you for the info. I purchased the fixtures via Amazon.com and they have already sent a replacement fixture with overnight shipping so my replacement will be here tomorrow (4/17/14). 

As for the performance of the fixture, I have decided that two will be sufficient. I had more time to play with the lighting effects as well as use my 3 24" 12000k Tru Lumen Pros for supplement light. When only the planted + is on I can see the potential with two fixtures, especially considering the increased swath compared to my previous setup. 

I'll post some pictures either Friday or Saturday once I have both fixtures and have cleaned out all the dead leaves and trimmings.


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## nwr2339 (Jan 8, 2013)

Here she is! All cleaned up and looking good again. I do love the lights now that there is two of them. I have a duel bulb t5 in the middle of them as backup if they dont do well but they seem to be doing just fine. Some of the plants have already started evening out instead of trying to point toward a light source. 

We will see how it goes in future but as of now I'm betting the two Current Satellite Freshwater+ will work great for this low-medium low-tech tank.


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## Calbears (Mar 1, 2014)

sowNreap said:


> If you have (or had) one of these fixtures .. what are the Pros & cons of it? Would you buy it again? What would change if you could? Thanks!


I have a planted plus.

Cons:

Power cord too short
Ac adapter hard wired to fixture
Moonlight and red/white LEDs on two separate switches but same power cord (impossible to put each channel on separate timer)


Pros:

Everything else (good amount of light, compact, light and cool, good value)

Note I can only compare it to the el cheapo 20" t8 that came with my Aqueon 36 gal bow front)


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## sowNreap (Jun 10, 2012)

Calbears said:


> I have a planted plus.
> 
> Cons:
> 
> ...


Those cons are some of the things that don't get mentioned but could be a problem for me or others. Very helpful. Thanks!!


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## jpezz333 (May 12, 2010)

*46 bow with SAT +*

I have the current Satellite + on my 46 bow and I am disappointed. It is not enough light and my plants are not doing well. I replaced a dual lamp t5 and am surprised that this light is not as bright. I have added a single lamp t5 to the tank and that helps a lot but is still not adequate.


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