Review on Finnex Planted Aquarium Automated Spectrum Fish & Aquatic Pets for Aquarium Lights by Mary Gardner

If you are looking for aquarium lights for your planted freshwater aquarium, I assume you have done some basic research and have a reasonable understanding of what you are looking for. This is my second Finnex 24/7 light - unfortunately my previous model's remote sensor got stuck in the water in the tank and no longer works - and I bought it as a replacement. What an amazing upgrade and great value! I loved the previous model and my positive experience with it immediately made me contact Finnex when I started looking for a replacement. this light in recent weeks, and its older brother - the previous model - almost all year round. My goal when designing my aquarium was to make it as easy and automated as possible, so the built-in 24/7 lighting feature was a huge benefit for me, and I generally manage my aquarium with the built-in 24/7 lighting . once. I also wanted something powerful enough to feed a heavily planted "high tech" (CO2 injected) tank with nutrient supplements, although I also use a different LED light to run the Finnex light for 6 hours to complete. Day. For my purposes this light has worked very well so far and I'm not concerned that the lighting is the limiting factor for the growth of my plants. Some general notes and observations: Compared to the previous 24/7 model, this version is a SIGNIFICANT improvement for two reasons: first, the IR sensor is now built into the body, making it neater, and second, there's actually some feedback inside Form of an LED in the housing with each change. Those were two of my least favorite usability aspects of the previous model, and both have been fixed in this release. Thanks! You have the option to create custom lighting profiles if you wish, although as mentioned above I just use the default 24/7 profile built into the light as it's "good enough" for my purposes. What is new about this model, however, is the creation of its own lighting cycle 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I haven't used this feature, but if you want even more control over your lighting then you have this option - another nice upgrade over the previous model. The included instructions will walk you through the entire process. Note, however, that you can only adjust the lighting in 3-hour intervals. The light WILL cycle smoothly between the settings you set, but you have no way to tweak the lighting interval beyond 3 hours. I don't have a PAR meter so I couldn't check the brightness myself. . Both Finnex's own documentation and online reviews list PAR 60 at maximum brightness at a depth of 12 inches. This is more than enough to illuminate almost all plants. My tank is 18 inches deep so I'm guessing my effective PAR is a bit lower (so I add a second bulb). So far I haven't had any problems with the baby dwarf's tears running down the bottom of my aquarium. take it how you want This light is not magic and will not make your aquarium thrive if there are other issues with your setup. You still need to do the basic stuff: make sure you're metering your nutrients (if needed), do regular water changes and maintenance, and so on. However, if you have any idea what you're doing and otherwise take good care of your tank, I don't think this light will hold you back. The build quality of the flashlight itself is solid. with a beautiful aluminum body. The included brackets are also an improvement over the previous model and allow for a bit more headroom over the tank, which I personally prefer. These mounts also give you the ability to "pivot" the light forward and backward if that's your thing. There's a lot more to say about this flashlight - and if you're interested in learning more about it, I'd suggest reading the reviews. and discussions on the Internet in various aquarium forums - but I'm quite satisfied, especially compared to the previous model. Even if you have a working previous version of this model, you should consider upgrading to this version as I think the changes made make the flashlight a lot more user friendly. If you don't currently have a flashlight and/or are considering setting up a planted aquarium, I think this is an excellent flashlight to start with. The 24/7 capability makes it easy to implement a basic lighting setup and unless you have a very deep tank this light will do for almost all applications. If you really get into this hobby, you'll most likely outgrow this light and want something more specialized (and expensive) in the future, but for your first light tank, you can't go wrong with this choice. Great job Finnex!