Advice needed about my LED lighting

I bought a "kit" from a very respected LED lamp supplier. He advises which (waterproof) LED strips to purchase and has online instructions about how to glue them inside the hood of your aquarium. I bought everything needed and also a time controller (that also determines daylight, dim light, evening, etc.) His instructions look very clear, but he couldn't answer one of my questions. So I'm asking here.

I have the option of removing the existing tl lights or keeping them (but I don't plan to use them). The model small aquarium (55 liter) I have is no longer made. The hood has a transparent, screw-in (acrylic?) panel that protects the lights from the water. My question: Do I just leave that off, or do I use it? It would be between the strip lighting and the water. He said it should cause no problem to leave it off. However, if I do that, I will never have the option, should I want it in the future, to revert to using the original lamps, as the fixture will have been exposed to water and I find that risky.

So for clarity: If I glue in the LED strips, should I continue to have the transparent panel between the lighting and the water? Would that make the LED lighting less effective? If I have to get rid of the original lamps and the panel, that is not a problem. I just wanted to keep all my options open.

Editing to add: The distance from the inside of the hood to the water surface is 8 cm. The transparent panel is 3 1/2 cm from the inside of the hood and 4 1/2 cm from the water surface.

 

I bought a "kit" from a very respected LED lamp supplier. He advises which (waterproof) LED strips to purchase and has online instructions about how to glue them inside the hood of your aquarium. I bought everything needed and also a time controller (that also determines daylight, dim light, evening, etc.) His instructions look very clear, but he couldn't answer one of my questions. So I'm asking here.

I have the option of removing the existing tl lights or keeping them (but I don't plan to use them). The model small aquarium (55 liter) I have is no longer made. The hood has a transparent, screw-in (acrylic?) panel that protects the lights from the water. My question: Do I just leave that off, or do I use it? It would be between the strip lighting and the water. He said it should cause no problem to leave it off. However, if I do that, I will never have the option, should I want it in the future, to revert to using the original lamps, as the fixture will have been exposed to water and I find that risky.

So for clarity: If I glue in the LED strips, should I continue to have the transparent panel between the lighting and the water? Would that make the LED lighting less effective? If I have to get rid of the original lamps and the panel, that is not a problem. I just wanted to keep all my options open.

Editing to add: The distance from the inside of the hood to the water surface is 8 cm. The transparent panel is 3 1/2 cm from the inside of the hood and 4 1/2 cm from the water surface.

I would say it depends on the plants you are looking to grow. What plants are you thinking about—are they demanding, high light plants? If you are only looking for moderate or low light plants, you can definitely leave the panel. Most likely either way though you can leave the panel and it won’t be detrimental given the strips are quality.

 

I would say it depends on the plants you are looking to grow. What plants are you thinking about—are they demanding, high light plants? If you are only looking for moderate or low light plants, you can definitely leave the panel. Most likely either way though you can leave the panel and it won’t be detrimental given the strips are quality.

I do have some high light plants, but the controller can be set bright/dim, etc. so that shouldn't be a difference. I appreciate your answer. I was worried that maybe the panel would affect the light in a negative way.

 

I do have some high light plants, but the controller can be set bright/dim, etc. so that shouldn't be a difference. I appreciate your answer. I was worried that maybe the panel would affect the light in a negative way.

Of course! I’d say the only issue you could have is with really demanding carpeting plants like baby tears in which case PAR is really important and doing everything to have maximum light penetration is important and you’d potentially want to consider getting rid of the panel but even then it probably wouldn’t be necessary.

 

What is PAR? I do have carpeting plants.

 

What is PAR? I do have carpeting plants.

PAR is the best way of judging if your light is sufficient for a plant; stands for photosynthetic active radiation. It refers to the amount of light that your light will give plants at different distances from the light. Different plants differ on how demanding their light needs and thus need a higher PAR. Any fully legit aquascaper knows the PAR of their light. For a lot of brand name lights you can find it by googling, but otherwise if you can’t find your light’s PAR online, the only way you can know your light’s PAR is by buying and installing a PAR meter on your tank. To be clear, you can still get great results without knowing your PAR, but really legitimate aquascapers that have masterful and almost perfect tanks know their PAR. What carpet plants do you have and are you injecting CO2?