Led Lighting....the Worst Invention In History?

OK.....I know LED lighting is better for the environment and its cheaper on the electic bill...I get that

But my fish absolutely HATE the LED lighting....seriously they cannot abide it, they despise it

Turn off the LED's and just have normal daylight and they all come out to play and explore their aquariums, its a sort of brackish effect without adding anything to make it so. When the sun shines they dance & play for hours in the dappled sunlight...the only issue is that they can be barely seen due to the shadowed effect

Turn on the LED's and they all hide away, they scurry off behind the plants, into the swim-thoughs, behind the rocks and absolutely refuse to come out and play

Not to mention that despite LED's being cooler than standard lighting, the temperature in the aquariums goes onto the slightly high side and that makes the fish even more lethargic

My aquariums are somewhat limited on alternative lighting to what came with them. I have two 20 gallon long Ciano's and one Aqua-El 15 gallon hexagonal tall.

I have a Ciano CLA60 Plants LED but that is red/UV so washes out the colours of the fish.....but at least they do come out to play with that on

I have seen self-adhesive moonlight LED lighting that can be fixed anywhere?.......or maybe getting some stage lighting acrylic sheets that would diffuse the bright LED glare which would need to be superglued to the hood but still allow the LED bar to be removed for replacing?

Anyone got any suggestions on soften LED's to something more of the old fashioned lamp brightness so that the fish enjoy the light and not hide from it, please?

I need a happy medium tween the bright & the shadowed dark that won't wash out the colouring or make them all run away and hide

 

You could always try some floating plants to make the fish feel more secure, like salvinia or pistia. I have not really observed the kind of effect that you are describing those tanks are heavily planted, maybe your tanks are just too bare for brighter lighting?

Alternatively you could try mixing colours, I have one shallow tank in a dark space that has a red/blue led strip in the back and a warm white (~3000K) one in the front (neither very strong). It makes for very pleasant viewing and the betta in it seems happy with that, as do the plants.

What kind of wattage is on those leds and what dimension tanks do you have them on? Maybe they are just too strong for the tank depth?

 

PascalKrypt

My 3 aquariums...note...aquarium 1 has a new filter now and zero fog. They are all too bright.






The 20 gallon long are identical size...80cm x 32cm x 44cm
The 15 gallon hex is 45cm x 41cm x 60cm

 

I've never used one, but since they are LEDs, you could try using an LED Dimmer. They are cheap and might make the light more tolerable for your fish:

 

I’m guessing there not on timers. If put on timers the fish will get used to the lights coming on at a certain time. Next if not getting timers would be to feed them when the lights go on. Than they will know it’s feeding time when the lights come on. Another thing would be to but a 24/7 led light. These lights are allways on but at different intensity. So they go from night to day. Never just turning on full bright and scareing the fish .

 

"Too bright" is not a LED thing, it's a too much light thing. If you can't find a replacement light with less wattage or wire up some kind of dimmer, you can jury rig a shade of some kind. Cut some holes in aluminum foil and put that over the light so only some of the generated light escapes. Or get some floating plants. They'll provide shade for the rest of the tank.

 

Agree with the floating plants. My tank gets too dI'm unless I remove handfuls of plants every week. I swear I can see this stuff grow.

 

How much do you want to spend? Many of the newer 24/7s allow you to even customize the 24/7 cycle. My Finnex SE goes all off from midnight to 6am. Then ramps up to full bright from 9am to 3 pm, then by 6pm it's max blue (moonlight) until 9pm when it's minimum blue, and off again at midnight. Each transition is slow and gradual. No full-on to full-off. Each color and intensity is individually settable during the 24 hour cycle.