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Are Finnex Stingray Lights Waterproof?


Daniel
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After @Cory discussed the water tightness of various lighting options in yesterday's live stream I had no intention of running an experiment. My cats were in the room during the live stream and must have heard the discussion because they ran a humidity torture test on one of my 36" Finnex Stringray lights (the one over the 'Nerm' tank in the dirted tank project).

Here was their experimental setup:

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And from the top:

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I am not sure how long the cats had the experiment running as I was out for a couple of hours this morning getting cinder blocks and 2 x 12's for the aquarium stand for my two new 75 gallon aquariums.

As far as I can tell being completely submerged and running for some period of time had little effect on the functionality of the light. I am pretty sure this voids the warranty, but given the durability of the lights my concerns about the warranty are reduced.

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3 minutes ago, Maggie said:

Hi Daniel, do you have any experience with the Aqueon Opti-bright light? I hope I don't regret buying them as they are not cheap, more like mid-price, but still...

I don't have experience with the Aqueon Opti-bright light. In the last 10 years I have owned either fluorescent shop lights, ultra expensive LED pendent lights, and now Finnex Stingray lights. I have liked all three kinds of lights, but each has its place.

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  • 2 months later...
53 minutes ago, quirkylemon103 said:

so my finnex stingray 30 inch just fell in my tank the red lights stay on while the power switch is set to off should I do something I've already unplugged it and took it out of the tank

As with any electronic. Unplug it and disassemble it as much as possible to allow it to dry completely in a warm well ventilated area (I'm assuming you don't have a bag of rice that big.) The Finnex has a separate power supply so it should be safe to handle the light bar (disconnected from the power brick) without risk of shock. Since it was filled with unclean water you're going to want to rinse it with clean water, ideally distilled or RO (DI water if you can get your hands on it) I can't recommend cleaning with alcohol as some of the plastic parts may be made of acrylic and will crack flake and generally look like trash afterwards. 

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5 minutes ago, Ryan F said:

As with any electronic. Unplug it and disassemble it as much as possible to allow it to dry completely in a warm well ventilated area (I'm assuming you don't have a bag of rice that big.) The Finnex has a separate power supply so it should be safe to handle the light bar (disconnected from the power brick) without risk of shock. Since it was filled with unclean water you're going to want to rinse it with clean water, ideally distilled or RO (DI water if you can get your hands on it) I can't recommend cleaning with alcohol as some of the plastic parts may be made of acrylic and will crack flake and generally look like trash afterwards. 

why would you rinse in rodi water?

 

it wasn't filled with water I took it out almost immediately after seeing it fall 

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RO or DI water is going to dry cleaner than aquarium water. The idea is to flush away any contaminates, leaving just clean water to evaporate without leaving any deposits behind. Normally I would say use alcohol as it will displace water and evaporate much faster at room temp, but in this case it can damage acrylic. RO or DI or distilled water is your next best bet. 

Any contaminates that are left behind could potentially be a current path that would make the device not function properly or unsafe.  

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That's really up to you to figure out. I'm pretty sure submersion in tank water has already voided your warranty. You're just looking to flush the system with very clean water. 

At this point though residues left from the dried tank water will be very hard to wash off without scrubbing.

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6 hours ago, Ryan F said:

That's really up to you to figure out. I'm pretty sure submersion in tank water has already voided your warranty. You're just looking to flush the system with very clean water. 

At this point though residues left from the dried tank water will be very hard to wash off without scrubbing.

i checked the warranty and your right :(

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