Juwel led dimming and algae

[mort]

My brother recently got a juwel lido with the new led lighting. It's been setup 5 months or so, mass planted and properly maintained since. Apart from a few diatoms to begin with it hasn't suffered from any algae apart from stringy hair algae that is just thriving. He strips it out but it comes back and I'm convinced it's the lighting which is too bright for this low tech setup.
The area where the back bulb is blocked out by the filter is fine but the brighter half really suffers. So I'm thinking reducing the light is the best solution. Floating plants won't hang about where they are needed due to the flow so I planted a lily which helps but it's still bright.

Don't want to buy an expensive controller simply because when the tank becomes a jungle as planned it will probably need the full light again. So does anyone have any solutions? Would a simple dimmer plug work?

 

[tam]

Does it have a cover you could add some window frosting to? Same idea as people use on the back of the tank - you can get them in various % light blocking/patterns.

 

[mort]

Hi Tam. The tanks have a lid with the lights underneath that sit just above the waters surface. So unfortunately he can't just raise them up a bit or use any shading. Floating plants get sucked under the surface by the flow (needs strong flow for his gobie) or pulled towards the filter where the light isn't as bright.
I added some hygrophila, najas guadalupensis and a red nymphaea which are all growing strongly adding cover but he's still getting string algae amongst them so need to reduce the light.

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

Thia is a plant suggestion... possibly not what you were really after but... vallis would do a great job of shading the tank if allowed to grow tall enough and therefore across the surface.

 

[mort]

Hanks for the suggestion. He's got some twisted vallis but in our hard water jungle vallis can really take over quickly and become a thug. I added five aponogeton crispis to do the same job and will thin then to one or two in time.

 

[Nubias]

I have a rio 180 that I would also like to have dimming options more so to enable sunrise sunset simulation or at least a graduated on and off as I really dislike the instant on off of the current lighting.

I’m pretty sure the standard ballast in the standard light units is not dim-able. You can look at the Juwel helialux light and controller as a straight plug and play replacement but I know for me it’s pushing upwards of $550-650 Australian which is almost as much as the full tank and stand package.

I have a feeling there are some 3rd party options out there that are straight replacements that may have dimming functions. Hopefully someone can point us in the right direction.

 

[tam]

I have a rio 180 that I would also like to have dimming options more so to enable sunrise sunset simulation or at least a graduated on and off as I really dislike the instant on off of the current lighting.

You could use a low powered LED from the side/back (if there is no room in the hood) set with a timer that comes on before the main light. Not quite the gradual on/off but a very cheap option.

 

[Nubias]

Thanks Tam had thought of this as an option, any product suggestions?

 

[tam]

I'd just go for something like: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LZBVUM4/ no need for anything expensive and they give you colour options and brightness - just watch the brand variations as the reviews for some say they lose the settings when switched off. I brought my brother one at Christmas for his viv and it worked fine on a timer.

Where you want to place it is probably the biggest factor just so it fits neatly.

 

[mort]

I've used the cheap sealed leds strips before and they do an ok job. In my case it was on a marine tank so had moonlights.

On the algae filled juwel we are lucky to have the new leds so I'm going to order a dimmer plug and see what it does. Will report back.