Michael

My four year old Finnex Planted Plus just stopped working. It has been flickering at start-up for several months, now will not come on at all. I suspect the power supply.

I like the fixture, but am disappointed that it only lasted 4 years. Is this a typical life span? Should I buy another Finnex, or the much less expensive Beamworks DA? Any other suggestions? No, I don't want to build a fixture myself.

mistergreen

You can buy a replacement power supply. Power supplies in general can be iffy.

Michael

Thanks for the suggestion, but DIY on electric appliances is not my strength. I really want to buy something, put it on the tank, and plug it in.

Michael

I'm going to bump this. The spare T5 NO fixture I'm using right now just doesn't cut it! More info: 75 gallon Walstad tank, so I need a 48" fixture.

Thanks!

hoppycalif

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=aquarium+...b_sb_ss_i_6_14 I would look here first, just for the rapid delivery. I have been using one of the cheap dimmers from Ebay with my light, and I'm very pleased with it. I can't find the exact one I have, which has an IR control module to adjust the intensity, but I suspect they are all about the same. https://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...be-32-a-2.html

Michael

Thanks, Hoppy. As I read more reviews of all brands, no one complains about LEDs failing, it is always the power supply or connections. In other words, the easy stuff. Still considering my options, but may go with the Beamworks unless someone responds with something that changes my mind.

David_L

Would it be possible to send it back to Finnex and pay a nominal repair fee to have the light up and running again?

Etran006

Beamswork DA 6500K raised on my 20L is bright enough for me.

Michael

Sorry, I should have followed up on this sooner. My smart and skillful husband found a replacement power supply on EBay for $5, and installed it. The original power supply was 16w, but the replacement was only 12w. (He couldn't find a match.) When the fixture came back on, it was noticeably dimmer. (I haven't measured it with our club PAR meter yet.) At first I was concerned about this, but decided to let it run and see what happened.

The plants didn't seem to notice. But the persistent and annoying hair algae almost disappeared! This is a 75g Walstad tank. When the fixture was new, it gave 300 PAR at the surface, and 40 PAR at the substrate. Obviously this was actually more than I needed, since I've battled hair algae in the tank for a long time. Now after a month: no hair algae, happy plants, and healthy fish.

David_L

My 20g NPT has been having hair algae issues that i only have been able to eliminate with dosing of excel, and I run a Finnex Planted Plus as well. Very interesting that yours is better with lower power. I may try to dial back my output somehow. Thanks for the follow up post!