Light & Lid advice for 29g planted tank

[Maeve]

I've had my 29gal planted low tech tank up for 2 years now. I just updated my scape and added several more plants. I'm considering upgrading my lighting but I am confused by all the different types and specs on them. I'm using a LED finnex stingray as of now. I was considering the Aquarium Co-op light or a Fluval light. I'd like to be able to get a little more color out of my red plants. 

I'm also using a glass hinged Aqueon lid on my tank but the black hinging blocks light and I think that is also hindering some of my plants. I was looking for a better option or a screen maybe? I dont think going lidless is an option for me d/t small kids (my daughter loves to splash in my tank when Im cleaning *eyeroll* but also I have some fish/shrimp that might be jumpers.

Any guidance would definitely be appreciated. 

Thanks! 

[PonyPlantedTanks]

I love my co op light! And they’re being discontinued so if you want it - get one while you still can 😉

Yes the Aqueon lids are definitely annoying in that sense. You just have to scoot the light to the back or diy something. I think I’ve heard most people use greenhouse panels or polycarbonate stuff from the hardware store to make lids. I’d probably just look up some YouTube videos on how to do it if you’re interested. I think the co op may even have a video on it.

[Maeve]

On 9/27/2024 at 11:27 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

I love my co op light! And they’re being discontinued so if you want it - get one while you still can 😉

Yes the Aqueon lids are definitely annoying in that sense. You just have to scoot the light to the back or diy something. I think I’ve heard most people use greenhouse panels or polycarbonate stuff from the hardware store to make lids. I’d probably just look up some YouTube videos on how to do it if you’re interested. I think the co op may even have a video on it.

Thanks! Because the finnex stingray doesn't have any functions other than on/off I'm a little overwhelmed with figuring out % brightness, daylight vs moonlight, blue light. Any advice? What are the last three for and what % brightness would be good to start? 

[PonyPlantedTanks]

The Co Op light is so easy! The moonlight is essentially just using blue LEDs. And it’s just a personal preference thing - plants don’t necessarily benefit from it, so if you like having it on at night you can just manually switch it on.
Otherwise, the daylight is the “normal” setting. If you have easy - medium or low light plants, I would start with 30% for 6-8 hrs a day (or more, depending on how long your light is on for right now).

[Pepere]

You might like reading this thread I posted a while back comparing a pair of Finnex planted plus ALC lights to a pair of Fluval 3.0s and to a Chihiros WRGB 2Pro.

 

 

 

I am sold on a true RGB light where the Red, Green, Blue color channels have sufficient power to get the PAR you are looking for without having to bring the white channels in to play for driving the power.  
 

The Chihiros fills that bill as does several other less expensive lights…

The Finnex planted plus does not.  The majority of power comes from the whites and the rgb simply allows you to tune it “sort of” but nowheres near enough.

 

The Fluval 3.0 is highly regarded by many, but I do not share the opinion and am flummoxed as to why it is so popular.  In my estimation it is the crappiest color rendering of any I have used… Great App. Crapppy light diode choices…   But lots of people sing its praises as great…   
 

Fluval 3.0 for a 29 gallon around $200.00. puts out 32 watts, a Chihiros WRGB 2 about $250.00 puts out 67 watts.    Chihiros also is wider front to back giving better light spread and bridges over the aqueon lid divider much nicer.

 

 

The Co Op light has just a single color channel for day use and blue for moonlight at night.  The color rendering is decidedly yellowish.  Cory likes that as it is similar to natural direct sunlight and what he sees when he collects in the wild…  if you like that color, great.  You would be happy with it.  It is a quality built light sold by agreat company.    The color rendering is not to my liking personally…

 

If a true RGB light is out of your budget,  you might want to look at the following light.

 

https://www.amazon.com/MagTool-Aquarium-App-Controlled-Extendable-Supports/dp/B0DCP6NB2S/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1D10ALHTU5Q2L&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WZgWT4iAGQLjQauz0QRc_tZK1Oy6jMTX8yuROa8iGgoAooWXGFaYKBEYumXDFFXw7sgzK5CxmTkTu2OAReGM3uylyI6jwO6LVGj4SufL2nvdxTxMwU6ncz6rkblXApe820_vAvhBut-KwleaR6Q2dCkbovseD4RwDzddlkUNmg0pniVf4-zytDQ9iPJUGiGzu6PUkGbZ4Fxwdf1vyTXymzLuD6twrVprIsVfNgscu2mxNuV366gl28_2MeUOjAakAutqlfnd8Mnt9Q1I8UtyjLEoVjTsPyOyadkTqK56o3A.2sDd-uVsyyYKIBTg_Pg5Nq3OQgvglzpu1TIoFR41e_s&dib_tag=se&keywords=Brite%2Baquarium%2Blight&qid=1727560134&sprefix=brite%2Baquarium%2Blight%2Caps%2C434&sr=8-6&th=1

 

It is not a true RGB as the red, green, Blue channels are not powerful enough to drive the PAR one wants by itself, but the are plenty powerful enough to tune the light for pleasing color rendering..  far superior to the Hyggers and the Finnex Planted Plus series.    And the price is easily within most peoples budget.  It is a screaming value at this price point.

 

I bought one for a 20 high and have been very pleased with it.  A single fixture replaced a Finnex planted plus ALC and A finnex Stngray 2.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 28 by Pepere

[Maeve]

On 9/28/2024 at 11:40 AM, EricksonAquatics said:

The Co Op light is so easy! The moonlight is essentially just using blue LEDs. And it’s just a personal preference thing - plants don’t necessarily benefit from it, so if you like having it on at night you can just manually switch it on.
Otherwise, the daylight is the “normal” setting. If you have easy - medium or low light plants, I would start with 30% for 6-8 hrs a day (or more, depending on how long your light is on for right now).

So would the moonlight or blue light setting cause more algae growth by having more "light" in the tank. Does that make sense? 

[Lynaea]

On 9/28/2024 at 8:07 PM, Maeve said:

So would the moonlight or blue light setting cause more algae growth by having more "light" in the tank.

Yes it could, plants can only photosynthesize (haha, is that a word?) for so long, after that they rest whether their is light or not. Also I don’t think blue is their preferred spectrum. 

[Maeve]

On 9/28/2024 at 4:53 PM, Pepere said:

You might like reading this thread I posted a while back comparing a pair of Finnex planted plus ALC lights to a pair of Fluval 3.0s and to a Chihiros WRGB 2Pro.

 

 

 

I am sold on a true RGB light where the Red, Green, Blue color channels have sufficient power to get the PAR you are looking for without having to bring the white channels in to play for driving the power.  
 

The Chihiros fills that bill as does several other less expensive lights…

The Finnex planted plus does not.  The majority of power comes from the whites and the rgb simply allows you to tune it “sort of” but nowheres near enough.

 

The Fluval 3.0 is highly regarded by many, but I do not share the opinion and am flummoxed as to why it is so popular.  In my estimation it is the crappiest color rendering of any I have used… Great App. Crapppy light diode choices…   But lots of people sing its praises as great…   
 

Fluval 3.0 for a 29 gallon around $200.00. puts out 32 watts, a Chihiros WRGB 2 about $250.00 puts out 67 watts.    Chihiros also is wider front to back giving better light spread and bridges over the aqueon lid divider much nicer.

 

 

The Co Op light has just a single color channel for day use and blue for moonlight at night.  The color rendering is decidedly yellowish.  Cory likes that as it is similar to natural direct sunlight and what he sees when he collects in the wild…  if you like that color, great.  You would be happy with it.  It is a quality built light sold by agreat company.    The color rendering is not to my liking personally…

 

If a true RGB light is out of your budget,  you might want to look at the following light.

 

https://www.amazon.com/MagTool-Aquarium-App-Controlled-Extendable-Supports/dp/B0DCP6NB2S/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1D10ALHTU5Q2L&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WZgWT4iAGQLjQauz0QRc_tZK1Oy6jMTX8yuROa8iGgoAooWXGFaYKBEYumXDFFXw7sgzK5CxmTkTu2OAReGM3uylyI6jwO6LVGj4SufL2nvdxTxMwU6ncz6rkblXApe820_vAvhBut-KwleaR6Q2dCkbovseD4RwDzddlkUNmg0pniVf4-zytDQ9iPJUGiGzu6PUkGbZ4Fxwdf1vyTXymzLuD6twrVprIsVfNgscu2mxNuV366gl28_2MeUOjAakAutqlfnd8Mnt9Q1I8UtyjLEoVjTsPyOyadkTqK56o3A.2sDd-uVsyyYKIBTg_Pg5Nq3OQgvglzpu1TIoFR41e_s&dib_tag=se&keywords=Brite%2Baquarium%2Blight&qid=1727560134&sprefix=brite%2Baquarium%2Blight%2Caps%2C434&sr=8-6&th=1

 

It is not a true RGB as the red, green, Blue channels are not powerful enough to drive the PAR one wants by itself, but the are plenty powerful enough to tune the light for pleasing color rendering..  far superior to the Hyggers and the Finnex Planted Plus series.    And the price is easily within most peoples budget.  It is a screaming value at this price point.

 

I bought one for a 20 high and have been very pleased with it.  A single fixture replaced a Finnex planted plus ALC and A finnex Stngray 2.

 

 

 

 

Thank you! This is a great guide and advice! I'm wanting to transition my tank to dark water. I've only been in the hobby 2 years with plants. Does that change your recommendations at all or put one over the other in your opinion? 

[Pepere]

On 9/28/2024 at 8:20 PM, Maeve said:

This is a great guide and advice! I'm wanting to transition my tank to dark water. I've only been in the hobby 2 years with plants. Does that change your recommendations at all or put one over the other in your opinion? 

I am not a fan of the dark water look myself.  I could see in a black water tank that the yellow cast light wouldnt be nearly the issue as the tannins are going to make all light tend to the yellowish side…. That being said, personally I would still opt for the RGB lighting..  you can fine tune your color rendering with the RGB light to whatever pleases your eyes… Red, Green, Blue are chosen because it just so happens we only have Red, Green, and Blue color receptors in our eyes…. We only see other colors because our Brain processes the varying amounts of red blue and green to indicate all of the other colors…. Pretty wild isnt it?

 

On 9/28/2024 at 8:07 PM, Maeve said:

So would the moonlight or blue light setting cause more algae growth by having more "light" in the tank. Does that make sense? 

Yes, insofar that algae grows well even in low light levels.  Plants on the other hand tend to need a certain threshold of light that is higher than algaes needs.  Also plants are limited in the hours of light they can use per day.  Exceed their capacity and they dont do any better or more.  Simple algae is opportunistic as heck.

 

leave the blue light on all night and the algae will be happy…

 

This has led people to think they need to dial down blue light spectrum to nearly nothing in RGB lighting.  Blue light spectrum does not cause extra algae growth by itself and turning your blue diodes is not going to stop it.  If you are running white lights in addition to your red and Green diodes and no blue diodes, there is a heck of a lot of blue light in those white diodes…

the setting in this tank is 90 red 70 green 105 blue and 0 white. I have no visible algae growing on any of the plants.  I do have to clean the glass of green dust algae twice a week.  

plants have receptors for red light and blue light which is why led terrestrial grow lights have red and blue leds.  Plants look green because they absorb the red and the blue light and reflect most of the green,. Running just red and blue in the tank and it would not be all that appealing to look at…

 

If you can swing the cost ofca quality RGB light, I highly doubt you will ever regret the purchase..the colors pop more there is increased contrast, things just look more vivid… and you can alter it to suit..