Light On Hood Broken

[Pacificarage]

I've been growing plants successfully under artificial lights now for years. I believe you're making it sound a lot harder than it actually is. 6500k lights can give plants all they need all year round. LEDs usually have this on the package, but not always.

 

[Aquascaper]

Some LED's can have a Kelvin rating of 6500k but still not produce the correct spectrum requirements or not enough, yes you could just go out and buy a 6500k LED set and your plants would grow fine....the point being made is if you're spending money on a decent LED set you may as well get exactly what is needed and that needs a little research.

 

[DrRob]

It is indeed a confusing mess. Plants aren't anywhere near as fickle as corals, and the chlorophyll may not vary all that much but the responses of different plants to different lights certainly do.

There are various answers given about what Kelvin rating is best for plants, but it's not really that amazing a piece of information. Most of the tubes you get will quote things like 80% colour rendition (LEDs usually quote >90) which basically means that the light is 80% the quoted colour and 20% other stuff, however it doesn't specify what exactly. Some bulbs will give you pretty pictures that help out, but most tubes peak in the red and blue anyway as it's actually pretty easy to do that and it looks good to humans.

What it does mean is that most florescent tubes will do the job so long as they're somewhere between 5000K and 10000K and I use cheap ones from DIY stores very effectively. LED's are different beasts, with narrower spectrums, which is what aquascaper is talking about. Means you'll be doing more homework.

 

[slimeneo]

Thanks for all the replies. Since I don't necessarily /need/ LEDs now, I think I'll just go with fluorescent until I get a bigger tank and possibly a lot more plants Until I get the new hood, I'm just using a desk lamp (which is not that bad actually).

 

[raptorrex]

^^^Very true, not sure about US/abroad but in the UK the fitting will need to be IP38 compliant.

I'm member of what used to be a "hacking forum".
many of us keep fish.
I saw one guy fit an unsealed household ballast unit, into a busted juwel hood/light.
he even left the juwel casing open!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
he seemed surprise i thought it was dangerous.

he was even less impressed when i challenged his intelligence, for doing so.

I should point out the reason i found out about the "bodge" was he was asking if it was safe to replace an RCD, that kept tripping.

 

[slimeneo]

^^^Very true, not sure about US/abroad but in the UK the fitting will need to be IP38 compliant.

I'm member of what used to be a "hacking forum".
many of us keep fish.
I saw one guy fit an unsealed household ballast unit, into a busted juwel hood/light.
he even left the juwel casing open!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
he seemed surprise i thought it was dangerous.

he was even less impressed when i challenged his intelligence, for doing so.

I should point out the reason i found out about the "bodge" was he was asking if it was safe to replace an RCD, that kept tripping.

Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean >.< the sockets in the picture was attached to the hood, only I unscrewed them from the hood and am only using the hood to prevent evaporation (if that's what you mean by unsealed household unit)

However I have been worrying about the metals in the hood, there's some discoloring on some metal parts and some of my fish have been flashing.. So I've done a water change and am not putting the hood on for now. Does anyone know if its harmful? I'll take a picture tomorrow thank you!

 

[raptorrex]

^^^Very true, not sure about US/abroad but in the UK the fitting will need to be IP38 compliant.

I'm member of what used to be a "hacking forum".
many of us keep fish.
I saw one guy fit an unsealed household ballast unit, into a busted juwel hood/light.
he even left the juwel casing open!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
he seemed surprise i thought it was dangerous.

he was even less impressed when i challenged his intelligence, for doing so.

I should point out the reason i found out about the "bodge" was he was asking if it was safe to replace an RCD, that kept tripping.

Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean >.< the sockets in the picture was attached to the hood, only I unscrewed them from the hood and am only using the hood to prevent evaporation (if that's what you mean by unsealed household unit)

However I have been worrying about the metals in the hood, there's some discoloring on some metal parts and some of my fish have been flashing.. So I've done a water change and am not putting the hood on for now. Does anyone know if its harmful? I'll take a picture tomorrow thank you!

ahh, sorry.
the unit used by your tank makers, was not designed to be used in a damp environment.
so damp can corrode the bulb contacts. and ultimately leads to failure of the fitting.
its "unfit fore purpose", in truth.

as for the "bodge" i mentioned in the "ballast" comment.
as the unit was 240v, it could well have killed someone!

an "RCD" is an isolator used in home Consumer units (fuse boards) as a safety cut off.

hope that clears it up.

 

[slimeneo]

^^^Very true, not sure about US/abroad but in the UK the fitting will need to be IP38 compliant.

I'm member of what used to be a "hacking forum".
many of us keep fish.
I saw one guy fit an unsealed household ballast unit, into a busted juwel hood/light.
he even left the juwel casing open!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
he seemed surprise i thought it was dangerous.

he was even less impressed when i challenged his intelligence, for doing so.

I should point out the reason i found out about the "bodge" was he was asking if it was safe to replace an RCD, that kept tripping.

Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean >.< the sockets in the picture was attached to the hood, only I unscrewed them from the hood and am only using the hood to prevent evaporation (if that's what you mean by unsealed household unit)

However I have been worrying about the metals in the hood, there's some discoloring on some metal parts and some of my fish have been flashing.. So I've done a water change and am not putting the hood on for now. Does anyone know if its harmful? I'll take a picture tomorrow thank you!

ahh, sorry.
the unit used by your tank makers, was not designed to be used in a damp environment.
so damp can corrode the bulb contacts. and ultimately leads to failure of the fitting.
its "unfit fore purpose", in truth.

as for the "bodge" i mentioned in the "ballast" comment.
as the unit was 240v, it could well have killed someone!

an "RCD" is an isolator used in home Consumer units (fuse boards) as a safety cut off.

hope that clears it up.

Oh ok. Yeah, I agree. The whole thing would be wet whenever I used it. I've taken all the metal off and now it's just a plastic hood thanks for the clarification!