How to contain light in the tank

ShadowR55 · Oct 20, 2018

i have the Aquatic Life T5 hybrid fixture which replaced my hanging LED only fixture from Red Sea. The problem is that I have sooo much spillover of light from the new fixture when the T5’s are on. Does anyone have a good way of containing the light more? I’m thinking of a stick on white plastic strip that can hang down from the fixture but I have no idea what to search for, maybe weatherstripping? I already move the light down to 6” above the water surface.

Flippers4pups · Oct 20, 2018

ShadowR55 said:
i have the Aquatic Life T5 hybrid fixture which replaced my hanging LED only fixture from Red Sea. The problem is that I have sooo much spillover of light from the new fixture when the T5’s are on. Does anyone have a good way of containing the light more? I’m thinking of a stick on white plastic strip that can hang down from the fixture but I have no idea what to search for, maybe weatherstripping? I already move the light down to 6” above the water surface.

Post a picture.

ShadowR55 · Oct 20, 2018

You can see how the light is flooding the formal living room, I can’t sit down and watch the tank from the sofa because the T5 lights are blaring into your eyes.

ShadowR55 · Oct 20, 2018

i_declare_bankruptcy · Oct 20, 2018

FWIW I had a 6 bulb T5 fixture over my 525xl (yours looks similar size) and I couldn't stand the spillover. I switched to Kessil A360we's and it was much better, even 6" off the surface, but it still drove me crazy. I experimented with adding a "skirt" around the fixture to no avail. My dad built me a canopy and the spillover is significantly improved but there is still a small strip of spillover where the waterline, glass, and canopy meet.

IMO you're not going to get a good enough reduction in spillover unless the skirt you make comes down to the glass -- and at that point why not make a canopy. T5's do too good of a job diffusing the light lol. Nice tank!

I'd suggest trying a skirt though because your lights do look low enough to the water that even a thinner skirt may make a big impact.

Flippers4pups · Oct 20, 2018

ShadowR55 said:
You can see how the light is flooding the formal living room, ilI can’t sit down and watch the tank from the sofa because the T5 lights are blaring into your eyes.

Permanent solution would be to build a floating canopy box around it. Hang it as you did your light fixture.

Temporary, stips of plastic, cardboard attached to the light fixture.

Your call.

Daniel Waters · Oct 21, 2018

Floating canopy. Raise the fixture and use a long skirt on the canopy (long being as long as you need to stop the spillover and block the light if you're looking up into the tank when your viewing the tank from sitting down on the couch for instance)

ShadowR55 · Oct 21, 2018

Bought some 9.5” PVC board to attach a canopy to the fixture.

drtrash · Oct 21, 2018

drtrash · Oct 21, 2018

Canopy has aquahybrid with kessil, 4" skirt cuts majority of skatter

jda · Oct 21, 2018

I use a piece of aluminum over the front with a lip to attach to the front glass and then leans up against my fixture. This keeps the ends open for air relief which I need to not have any heat issues. I have used plastic before and it always ends up warping... check out aluminum.

Bos · Oct 21, 2018

Well that just completely put me off AL T5. I thought the 'reflector' inside were adjustable so that you could direct the light.
I remember my freshwater Juwel tank with T5, I had to buy this accessory to reflect the light and it was fully adjustable.

https://www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/Products/Lighting/Reflectors-clips/HiFlex-reflectors/

You could try this, inexpensive.

ShadowR55 · Oct 21, 2018

drtrash said:

Very nice

ShadowR55 · Oct 21, 2018

Bos said:
Well that just completely put me off AL T5. I thought the 'reflector' inside were adjustable so that you could direct the light.
I remember my freshwater Juwel tank with T5, I had to buy this accessory to reflect the light and it was fully adjustable.

https://www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/Products/Lighting/Reflectors-clips/HiFlex-reflectors/

You could try this, inexpensive.

It has reflectors but because my tank is on a taller stand(Red Sea Reefer 650) the light is above eye level and not great to view. Dont get me wrong though, the fixture is great but I did have to do some rewiring so I can get the two outermost bulbs to be controlled together and the two inner bulbs together instead of the front set and back set.

I had 4 AI Hydra 26HD’s and after adding the T5 lights, I’ve had to increase my alk and calc dosing and can see faster growth.

hart24601 · Oct 24, 2018

Am curious what you come up with. I don't like canopy on my tank and it's why I don't run any T5, my tanks are all near my sitting areas, as like 1ft away, and the last T5 I had got sold very quickly after trying it!

i_declare_bankruptcy · Oct 24, 2018

I just installed a couple T5 strips on either side of my Kessil's in my canopy. The canopy matches the stand where the wood is flush with the glass (so the canopy meets the top of the glass flush instead of going over it; thus you can see the water line). In that little 1" gap from the water line to the canopy you can see a good bit of spillover. I'd say it translates to like 5-6" strip of diffuse light across the floor. FYI.

However your fixture is inset from the glass so I don't think you'd need to come all the way down to the water line with the skirt because the area outside of the skirt may be able to catch the rest of the light if it's at the correct angle. Not sure.

ShadowR55 · Oct 24, 2018

I purchased the boards to build the canopy which I just plan on installing hinges on the Aquatic life fixture to hold the boards up. Now I’m looking for hinges that can hold the door open when I flip the canopy side up for working on the tank.

i_declare_bankruptcy · Oct 24, 2018

Here's a pic of what I'm talking about in the previous posts. Right strip is the LED and rear T5 left is the T5 in front

20181024_171902 by Andrew English, on Flickr

BoSalman · Oct 24, 2018

That is what worries me the most when i started looking at AL T5 hybrids/ATI hybrids.. my DT is located next to my seating area in the living room and i don't want to get this much spillage..

If a canopy is a must for those units/hybrids i'm calling this off...

ShadowR55 · Oct 24, 2018

i_declare_bankruptcy said:
Here's a pic of what I'm talking about in the previous posts. Right strip is the LED and rear T5 left is the T5 in front

20181024_171902 by Andrew English, on Flickr

I see what you mean, I’m ok with the light on the ground, just don’t want the T5 bulb directly visible to my eyes when I’m in the living room. The T5 lights are only on for about 4 hours a day so night time isn’t an issue for me.