Removing or Blocking Specific LED bulbs in a LED Fixture

I have 10 tanks up and running now ranging in size from a 40 long down to a 2.5 gallon. The 40 gallon long, 38 gallon, 29 gallon and a 15 gallon all have Aqueon LED lights controlled with a remote control. Those lights now are programed to go on and off with a timer and they get about 12 hours of light per day. The light is programed in all somewhat below the brightest setting. The LED bulbs in these light are a combination of white and blue, mostly white. It seems that when you have 4 lights with remote controls one will become the dominant controller. In fact I have the batteries out of 3 of the controllers as the "alpha controller" handles all of them. 4 other tanks have LED fixtures (3 Aqueon and 1 Marineland that also have just white and blue LED bulbs. These tanks are on a timer.

2 tanks however have LifeGard Aquatics led fixtures which have in addition to the white and blue LED bulbs, some that are green and some that are red. In fact a few of the red bulbs have somewhat of a purple emission. The tanks that have these fixtures, a 16 gallon Aqueon Wide Screen (which is basically like a 20 high but instead of being 12.5 inches wide, it is 8.5 inches wide. The other tank with a LifeGard fixture is a standard 10 gallon. In these tanks the algae growth is crazy. Way, way too much. I do not have this problem in the tanks with just white and blue lights so I am thinking that I should block or remove the green and red LED bulbs. Any thoughts on this?

The LED bulbs do not look like they would pull out at all or at least easily without risking breakage. I am thinking the easiest fix would be to block the light using tape on the clear shield between the LED bulbs and the aquarium top glass, or on the top glass itself. Any thoughts about this? Would doing this create a heat build up harming the light?

Note - the 16 gallon tank has a few Bristlenose Plecos and one Oto left. It had some Siamese Algae Eaters but they got too large and have been removed. I would like to get some more Otos and some small Siamese Algae Eaters but those are unavailable in my area right now.

I know I could and should cut down on the light, but that impacts the other tanks which are on the same timer. Any other suggested solutions? See photos.

Barry Simon

 

I use black electric/duct tape cut to size to dim the lighting - works absolutely fine and no heat issues. Get decent tape and it doesnt come unstuck either.

 

Any suggestions on just what lights you would block? Obviously I will be targeting the red and green as my anubias plants seem to do just fine without red and green in my tanks with Aqueon lights that are just white and blue. I guess I can experiment and maybe start with blocking most of the red and leaving maybe about half of the 4 green bulbs to do their thing whatever that might be.

Barry Simon

 

Any suggestions on just what lights you would block? Obviously I will be targeting the red and green as my anubias plants seem to do just fine without red and green in my tanks with Aqueon lights that are just white and blue. I guess I can experiment and maybe start with blocking most of the red and leaving maybe about half of the 4 green bulbs to do their thing whatever that might be.

Barry Simon

Thats all i did - block some out until i got to the lighting level i was after. I didnt have programmable coloured leds to deal with though - they were all white but far too bright. Made the fish look awful.

Same tape still going strong two years on, hasnt come unstuck.

 

I dont think the red and green LEDs are the issue. You can always cover the light with wax paper to reduce the intensity.

 

.......so too much light (hours per day) coupled with too much food (my nitrates run about 40 to 60) but health is good, regular weekly water changes, good ammonia and nitrite levels. Need some more young Siamese Algae Eaters as the young ones really did a number on this type of algae as shown in the pictures. Cannot find them in my area right now.

Barry