My LEDs are way too bright, need help

[plancton]

Hi, I have an 8 gal nano and all my corals are browning out, I performed every test possible and my water parameters are surprisingly excellent, so we came to the conclusion that the problem is the lights.

It has 16 x 3 watt bridgelux LEDs as follows:

8 Royal blue
1 purple
1 red

6 whites

The only problem is that the driver is non-dimmable that's why I can't reduce the intensity, placing the lamp higher does help a bit but can be uncomfortable for human eyes.

First question is: What if I buy a dimmable ballast only for the whites?

I'm asking this, because if I buy a refurbished mean well ballast for the whites, it will only be $20, easy to setup.

But if I buy a dimmable ballast for the rest as well, then the whole thing will be about $100.

Since whites are normally the problem the most intense then I figured perhaps only dimming the whites would solve the intensity problem, am I correct or no?


Second question, another option that was suggested is to use shading, my lamp came with a acrylic splash guard, it came with a light blue protective sticker which I unfortunately removed, but can something like that help reduce the intensity without messing with the appropriate spectrum for the corals?, that would be a solution that would require little investment.

If so, where can I buy one of those shading stickers?

 

[Dmoody]

If your corals are browning out that usually means you are not getting enough light/spectrum.

 

[plancton]

Yes but it can also be a way of protection against too much light, it's like getting sun burned. This makes sense since it's an 8 gal and not very deep. I knew the intensity of the lights would represent a problem. A few weeks ago I removed a glass splash guard in order to avoid heat problems (temp is 78 right now), that's when corals browned out even more and polyps retracted. Since all parameters are right, then this further confirms too much light (the splashguard is glass and even though not very thick you can see the classical greenish on the size which was probably helping reduce intensity a bit)

So the problem is too much light, please stick to the original question. Thanks.

 

[Dmoody]

Well since you have the problem figured out the smartest thing IMO is being able to dim the entire fixture. Corals can be more sensitive to the colored leds's (ie..you have one red LED) 100$ is a small price to pay to be able to properly acclimate the corals. If you only dim the whites, you may not be able to get the color that you want(pleasing to the eye) or even the color that you need(all colored LED's running at 100% + shallow tank= dead corals) Or you can roll the dice and see what happens with the dimmable ballast for white LED's only. At the end of the day its your choice. Splash guards will always filter some of the intensity but as for the colored shading film..never heard of it. Someone else might want to chime in. Hopefully that person doesnt try to think outside the box for the purpose of trying to help you out though.

 

[jwoyshnar]

Too much light would bleach. My best guess is you have higher nutrients than you are saying

 

[plancton]

We already performed tests, Nitrates are 0, phos 0, Calcium 430, DKH 10 PH 8.3 Silicates 0, I'm doing large water changes. one tiny fish, little feeding, where would nutrients be coming from?

Plus like I said, removing the glass splashguard caused polyps to retract

 

[Khemul]

The dimmable ballasts are probably the best solution.

Maybe putting a layer or two of window screening over the tank or under the light could work. The dimming would give you more precision though.

Or remove half the LEDs.

 

[Mike Ordner]

You state your corals are now browning out. Did you have a different light on this tank before the led's and the corals looked good? Or are these corals new to the tank and are now browning when put into the tank? Just trying to put a finger on what changed to make the corals react this way.

 

[plancton]

Guess what? I placed 2 pieces of glass on the top of the tank, raised the lamp and things are improving, which is a sign that lots of light can brown out corals. LEDs are bright, I'm going to try adding a layer of dark vinyl sheet to reduce the intensity before deciding to go for the ballasts.

 

[dartier]

Another thing you could do (that is quite affordable) is to go get a piece of plastic diffuser sheet from HD (or Lowes). You can by a 2x2 piece for a few bucks and cut a new splash guard from it. It is the stuff they put into overhead fluorescent fixtures. It will cut about 20% off you light and also blend the colours together.

Dennis

 

[plancton]

Thanks that's the sort of stuff that I'm thinking on, what kind of diffuser would work?, the only problem is the size, I need a 5x5 " square, quite small.

The other option I was thinkin was to use some dark vinyl sheet on top, that would be way cheaper and more trimmable, although I don't know how well it would work as diffuser.

Another thing you could do (that is quite affordable) is to go get a piece of plastic diffuser sheet from HD (or Lowes). You can by a 2x2 piece for a few bucks and cut a new splash guard from it. It is the stuff they put into overhead fluorescent fixtures. It will cut about 20% off you light and also blend the colours together.

Dennis

 

[dartier]

Thanks that's the sort of stuff that I'm thinking on, what kind of diffuser would work?, the only problem is the size, I need a 5x5 " square, quite small.

The other option I was thinkin was to use some dark vinyl sheet on top, that would be way cheaper and more trimmable, although I don't know how well it would work as diffuser.

The diffusers that I used where the diamond pattern ones. One side pointy plastic diamonds, the other side flat. The smallest size is 24"x24, so you will need to cut it down to 5"x5". Not too hard to cut. I used an Exacto knife (box cutter). You will have plenty of extra so you can make a few attempts to get it right.

Dennis

 

[dartier]

Oh, and they are in the isle with the ceiling tiles at the home improvement stores.

Dennis

 

[Sazerac81]

If the diffuser doesn't work, then you know your nutrients are probably high.

Worth a try to decrease the light though to see what happens.

Cheers,
John