Lighting idea

[Jack sort]

I am having issues with algae in my tank because the lights are on to long. I know what the sweet spot is but when I set the timer for that length of time it seems like my tank is dark most of the time. I was thinking about making a custom hood with 4 T-5 bulbs in it and have 2 of them a low output bulb that I can run just to keep it light in my tank. The other two would be what I'm using now only I would run them for a shorter period of time. Does anyone out there see any potential problems with this?

 

[Ian086]

I'm no plant expert but what about adding some RGB LED's strips from ebay. They are not expensive and you could run them when not using the T5's. They are dimmable using the remote, so they shouldn't cause any issues with algae.

 

[Jack sort]

I'll have to check those out.

 

[Ian086]

I'll have to check those out.

This is them. Tons of sellers on Ebay. You need 5050 RGB, IP65/68(splashproof), 60/m(60 LED's per meter)....
5M 5050 RGB SMD LED Waterproof Flexible Strip 300 LEDs 44 Key IR Remote | eBay