Finnex Monster Ray LED Light Fixture...Review...sortof

It's more of a comparison video, where I turn the Finnex Monster Ray light on and off, so that you can see the difference in colors.

I s'pose I could do a written review on here, and just have the video as a "bonus" hahaha...
The Finnex Monster Ray LED light, is known for its color enhancing features that bring out the colors of your fish and plants. There's a huge bump in colors, specifically reds, greenns, and blues (even yellows!). I have noticed, however, that there are some shades of "green" that don't really "pop out", this is the darker green, anything that's dark green (such as pelia, or subwassertang) ends up looking even darker, for some odd reason. However, that doesn't really deter me from this light.

The LEDs are composed of three different colors, Red, Blue, and Green, which is why it prominently enhances those colors in your tank. Neon Tetras are a great example to see the difference, as you can see in the video I created.

Now, one "drawback" I have with this light, is that it doesn't do really well with growing plants, unless they're REALLY low light plants. But the great thing about LED lights is that they're so compact, you can mix and match/add additional light fixtures to really take advantage of LED technology.

With a Monster Ray + Fuge Ray, you'll be good to go for planted tanks with the color enhancing benefits.
With a Monster Ray + Ray 2, you'll be just as good, but this is meant for taller tanks, shallower tanks should stick with the Fuge Ray, unless you want to deal with algae problems.
Witha Monster Ray + Fuge Ray Planted Plus, you'll get the best of both worlds. The color enhancing benefits from the monster ray, and red/blue/white LEDs from the Fuge Ray Planted Plus!

I would give this light a 10/10, simply because all the other LED lights I've tried just don't cut it, even though they "claim" to enhance colors... Price-wise, it is a bit pricey, BUT...it will definitely save you money in the long run. You'll never have to buy replacement bulbs, and your electricity bills will definitely be lower in the long run, it basically pays itself off within a couple years.

And now, the video!!!

I forgot to mention, that the light does heat up considerably, compared to the Finnex Fuge Ray and Finnex Ray 2, HOWEVER... they're still much more efficient than fluorescent lights, that's for sure!

Most LED strips that I've seen are not narrow & compact like FENNEX. To me this is a bonus if you wish to mix match spectrums. Also, this small compact design makes it so I can easily open Versa Tops on all my tanks.

fishNAbowl: VERY true! With that said, these compact LED light fixtures will definitely allow you to add more lights than you can normally add with other brand models. That's definitely a plus for some of the other high-tech planted tanks out there, that's for sure!

You like it Poke? To me everything looks worse when you kick it on. I dunno maybe its a preferance. The plants look pale when you kick it on and not as lush. The tetras definately stand out more, I will give that. The shrimp you can see the color better with the LED but with the flourescent I can actually make out its eyes ect. Maybe I need to dive on up to see an in person demo. So far "color enhancing" lights usually feel like they are dimming the light. I dont know maybe thats how you get colors to "pop" but It would seem to be that just adjusting the lighting from the infared to the ultraviolet might help? Maybe vice versa? Just my thoughts.

That's why you can mix them with other LED lights, such as the Fuge Ray, to balance out the "red" tint/hue it gives off, or, you could go with the Fuge Ray Planted+ because it has the best of both worlds, kinda like if the fuge ray, and a monster ray were put together.

We, as humans, don't see infared light, so, if the LED fixtures had infared light, then our tanks would be pitch black =P as for ultraviolet, are you talking about the "sun" fluorescent lights that are meant for reptiles? I haven't tried those before...

But if you're talking about Ultraviolet (UV) lights, from...say... a UV sterilizer, you definitely wouldn't want that directly above your tank. That stuff is bad for your eyes, =P

Hi All,

An interesting thread but I am concerned about the accuracy of one of the comments; that the MonsterRay saves electricity and that 'it basically pays itself off within a couple years'.  First the electricity savings; the MonsterRay 48" draws 37 watts and provides at PAR=25 @ 18" depth.  In comparison a 48" T8 fixture will provide almost the identical PAR = 25 @ 18" depth using a 32 watt bulb.  Figuring in the efficiency of the T8 ballast there is no significant savings in electricity.

The 48" MonsterRay sells for about $150; a 48" T8 fixture costs $65.  I replace my lamps once a year when the output has typically dropped to 80% of the original PAR rating.  Replacement bulbs cost about $8 at Home Depot.

Based upon the above I calculate that the payback period for converting to a 48" MonsterRay is:  (150-65)/8 = 10.625 years.

That said other higher output applications seem to provide quicker paybacks, typically 3 to 5 years, but each situation requires it's own evaluation and calculation.  My experience has been that the electrical savings are minimal when converting from florescent to LED; typically less than $12 per year in high output situations.  The majority of the savings in conversion comes from not having to purchase replacement lamps on an annual basis.

I have been using Beamswork LED's in a fish only setting but have been less than impressed with how they make the fish look. They wash out the color in my opinion. I cant remember the brand but I saw a full spectrum LED on a tank at The Wet Spot in Portland and knew I needed to switch. I looked at the MonsterRay reviews and I saw one where the comment was made that it alone made things look 'a bit odd'. They felt a need to add another fixture with a white spectrum to help balance out the effect. This made me look at some other brands. The one I ended up ordering was the Currant USA Satellite + LED. I actually hate the gimmicky light show idea because I will just set it and forget it. I will post a review when I get it in and set up.

As much as I wanted the MonsterRay, when I added the cost of having to add an additional fixture to balance out the color, it was way too expensive for me.

PokeSephiroth wrote:

We, as humans, don't see infared light, so, if the LED fixtures had infared light, then our tanks would be pitch black =P as for ultraviolet, are you talking about the "sun" fluorescent lights that are meant for reptiles? I haven't tried those before...

But if you're talking about Ultraviolet (UV) lights, from...say... a UV sterilizer, you definitely wouldn't want that directly above your tank. That stuff is bad for your eyes, =P

Everything you see is based on your perception of light. The colors and shades we see range from infared to the ultraviolet. Going 100% either way would be stupid I agree since we cant see ultraviolet 100% either. So let me correct my previous statement and suggest getting a light that ranges from 350 to 700 trillion hertz respectively. Does that make sense? Like going from a Incancdecent to a 10,000kelvin bulb?

Buying LEDs to save electricity is ridicules unless switching from metal halide.   You would be hard pressed to find a real discrepancy in your electric bill with tube vs LED.. I am not saying they are bad and do save energy  and you might notice a slight difference with multiple tanks like in Corys store but the average home with one or two tanks prolly not.   I have the beamworks brand and am happy with them and if they die eventually I will look for something else..  I liked the satellite brand, I tried one but it didn't jive well with the beamworks I already had so I sent it back.     I also found I would have never used all it's features so kind of a waste, the Finnex looks nice, what is the lumen output of it, any ideas??

From my perspective I like the look of more natural lighting. Color enhancement is definitely a plus, we all love colorful fish. For me the lighting of the FENNEX RAY2 gives a nice bright white light mimicking day light. FENNEX for planted so far has given me the best balance of a natural mid day daylight look + a nice settle color enhancement in fish. I haven't used this fixture long enough to give a rating for plant growth but the over all look of my aquarium is HD!

LED lighting will pay for itself quickly for me. I am replacing multi T5HO fixtures, and a couple compacts. As we all know specialized lighting for planted tanks can not be found at WalMart nor the hardware store. You can get certain spectrums at hardware stores but not all Spectrums or lengths. I dont even think you can find them in T5HO? So, a yearly bulb exchange for compacts alone can run in the low hundreds.

So , from this perspective instead of purchasing $500 in bulbs this year i can spend that.... Perhaps another $200 and pick up the latest in tech & then not worry about changing bulbs EVER.

Different strokes for different folks, I s'pose. LED lights aren't for everyone. Some people still prefer fluorescents over LED, and that's fine. Not everyone is going to like a certain product, someone else is totally raving about. With that said, I'm still happy with my Monster Ray lights, and plan on getting a Fuge Ray Planted Plus, to help even out the lights so that my plants will benefit from it.

There still aren't many LED lights out there that are doing well for plants, sure there's Current's Satelite + led lights, but even those are rather lack-luster, with gimmiky features such as "cloudy" and "thunderstorm" . . . why would I want to see my lights flicker at night? beats me. =P Not only that, but if you lose the remote control, you're pretty much stuck with just one setting, unless there's a control panel built into the light itself, which, if I remember correctly, there isn't.

There are some people out there who do have fish rooms, and require a lot of lights, and having tubes can add up in wattage, as opposed to low wattage LED lights, that's where these lights truly shine.

Having to replace a tube once a year is tedious, call me lazy, I am. =P but I also don't want to keep track of when I bought the tube, and when I need to replace it. LEDs will save me the time and effort of doing that, as fishNAbowl, mentioned.