Aqueon "deluxe full hood" LED modification.

[EthanG]

I didn't like the color of the default "Full Spectrum" Aqueon bulb. I found that while it might be "daylight" it wasn't the color I wanted. I believe it is ALOT closer to 4000k versus the advertised 8000k. Its warmer than every 5000k LED I have ever used in projects, for house lighting, automotive bulbs. Maybe I'm confused?

With T8 "Full Spectrum" Fluorescent only:


I decided to add two strips of LED's one is a Pinkish - close to 12,000k strip of 36 .25w 5050 LEDs, and the other is a brilliant white, 5000k strip of 36 .40w 5630 LEDs. This was to both brighten the tank in general, as well as raise the color temperature in the tank.

Strips:


Side note, I was surprised to find that this was only a 24" bulb in a 30" strip - although I got this hood for only $15 after rebates and coupons...so I cannot complain.

DC Jack and two toggle switches, one for White LED and one for Purple(ish) LED:


With LED's Only:


With 12,000k LED Only:


With ALL lights (LED and T8):


Questions:
1. If I was to replace the 24" T8 bulb with an LED T8 bulb, good for plant growth, any suggestions?
2. Speaking of plants - how does this setup work with plants would you experts say? Any changes to make it better?
3. 17W T8 + ~23W of LEDs - does this equal 40W of lighting for my tank? Or is that an outdated Fluorescent-only calculation?
4. Is there any proof/testing been done to the finnex and other "cheaper" LED strips being sold on amazon, that would indicate they are more than just standard 5050SMD LEDs and are better at growing plants than someone building their own light with the same number of 5050 7000k LEDs and a few Blue and Red LEDs ? By testing, I would mean using an analyzer to test their spectrum versus a $10 roll of LED's.

 

[EthanG]

As a quick update/Question on this project.

In general, it does "grow" plants, you can see my Narrow Leaf Chain sword has filled in (enough to move to the left of the tank a bit) and Cabomba has needed to be trimmed and propagated several times. One stem of moneywart has also been clipped and propagated.

The waterproofing went fully yellow within a month, so I stripped out the two strips, and replaced with two new 5000k strips that now run the entire length without weatherproofing (it strips off quickly). Much brighter...

I also added a third strip of RGB lights, that can be any color I want - I'm just using the blue channel right now:

In the 3 days it has been running, my moneywart shot up, and the new growth is nice and dark green.


Question: Do the blue lights that many hoods/lights have that are advertized as "moon lights" not grow plants much due to the light wavelength? Or is it purely the blue is not as bright.

I am wondering because I am planning on setting the blue on a separate circuit, to have running at a lower brightness during the morning/evening hours when we are in the living room and the lights have already been on for their cycle.

 

[Cory]

The blue should be just as bright, but our eyes see it as dimmer. The far extreme blues such as 20k isn't utilized by plants much but can be utilized by corals. Algae can also use the 20k spectrum well.

 

[EthanG]

The blue should be just as bright, but our eyes see it as dimmer. The far extreme blues such as 20k isn't utilized by plants much but can be utilized by corals. Algae can also use the 20k spectrum well.

Ah okay - good to know. Algae likes it but plants don't - All the more reason to get that bit separate and on a separate timer.

 

[EthanG]

Update - Instead of spending $20 on 2 timer, I spent $15 on a wifi controller. This lets me control both RGB strip and up to two separate Single Color strips (white).

1. Wireless control from LAN or WAN (turn on and off etc from away from home).
2. Timer functionality (RGB Strip alone turns on at 25% output swampy green color earlier in the morning before 100% 5000kLED's turn on and RGB switches to Purple. The reverse happens in eve.
3. Amazon Echo connection - if/when I get an exho product, I can talk to it and tell it to turn the lights on and off (purely novelty feature...).

Controller mounted:

Wiring:

Testing

In reality, this project has cost near the cost of a Finnex Stingray (which probably is similar in light output) ($20 for 30" fixture, $15 for controller, $10 for parts, $20 for LED's. So I wouldn't recommend this modification unless you like tinkering - it's definitely not cost efficient unless you already have some of the parts (Like I did).