[MeCasa]

My aquarium is predominately a fish aquarium, however after looking at all the beautiful aquascapes on this board my grandaughter and myself decided that we needed live plants Because of the type of fish we raise I decided to keep the plants in one section and make special provisions to try and insure their survival and health. However this thread is not a debate on the fish I raise nor the survivability of my plants.

This is about my lighting. The main aquarium has three full lengths of RGBW but I don't leave it on most days and I use it for moonlight at night.

I want to add some more lights on a different channels (separately controlled) for the plants. This system will consisted of two flex strips of SMD LED's and they will be the length of the plant section which is roughly 21" X 6" and will be mounted directly above the plants. One strip is SMD RGB 5050 and the other is SMD 3528 White, both leads controlled separately.

I am running both leads through separate timers with the idea of leaving the Whites on 8 hours a day and the RGB's being on?????

That's the question, would it help to have the RGB's pour out an hour or so of red or another color, would it help my plants? Would it hurt the rest of the aquarium. I realize trial and error will determine the final decisions but I'd like to start off intelligently

Thanks
MeCasa

PS: Aquarium is 28" deep 150

 

[Raymond S.]

Other than a slight possibility of increasing the chances of having algae show up
but mostly directly under the new lights, it won't "hurt" the tank.
But how much good those will do for the plants...in a 28" tank...I would send a PM to Hoppy on that one because he made a top for one of his tanks from LED strip lights
and will likely know something more about that than other members...possibly.
Bring up this site again and clic "Forum"/then clic "members list" then far right you
will see member search. When you put in Hoppy...on there you will get a "contact".
Of course I have no idea if your lights are the same ones he used. But keep your
fingers crossed.

 

[MeCasa]

Thank you for direction Raymond. I touched bases with Hopper and read his thread. I can truthfully say that I'm amazed at the amount of lighting everybody is adding to their tanks.

I will continue building using all the information I can digest but the first real lesson will be when I start testing lights to see just how much I need. If everybody else is correct I need to keep my wallet handy.

I also made the unusual move in joining a Christmas Decoration forum, those guys have taken LED's to a level that only true insanity can comprehend but they'll be a big help.

However, if I'm whining now about how much my aquarium is costing me then I better be careful about those guys getting me hooked on Christmas lights, I think a cocaine habit is cheaper :icon_mrgr

Thank you sir!