a lighting question

[Tbox]

The fluval edge tank comes stock with a centerpiece led light fixture. It's just enough par to basically grow anubias and java fern. That's if they're placed right in the middle of the tank.
I bought a couple led strip lights to increase the periphery lighting. The lights I got were on eBay and seemed like a good fit. They're capable of 3 settings; all white, just blue, and white with blue. The control of these is a touch sensitive switch ( I'll take a pic). My question is, when the light timer that they are plugged in to goes off, the light won't be consistent with the white and blue that I need. How do I Jerry rig these to come on everyday with the white and blue feature?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I don't think you'll need the blue to come on with the white, if the light doesn't turn on from the last setting it was on before it turned off via the timer. For one, this function cannot be altered or Jerry-rigged (to my assumption/understanding) if the manufacturer didn't design the option in there from the start. And secondly, white LEDs have a lot of blue spectrum inherently already. The extra blue isn't going to make that much of a difference in terms of benefit to your plants, other than if it "looks" better to you.

I know one upgrade fluval edge owners do to increase the lighting is change the stock LED that comes with that 6g version to the light bar that's meant for the 12g edge. They're the same size but the 12g has double the LEDs, I believe. Only problem is that it's hard to find sometimes.

 

[Tbox]

Thanks for the reply and info Brian. Do you have the 12g light on your edge? Could you post a pic of your edge setup?

It's somewhat of a frustrating endeavor right now after 4 months being setup. I've been bitten by the planted aquarium kingdom.
The edge will need to be planted in the center 2/3 of the tank to thrive. IMO the replacement light needs to be modified with angled bulbs and a more divergent spectrum.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Sure... I have the first gen edge that came with halogen bulbs. I just replaced them with plug in LED replacement lights. At one point I considered converting it to high tech, but it required a good amount of DIY Jerry-rigging. Plus the challenge of having to work with a tight opening would require more work than I wanted to invest. Higher light = more frequent trimming and maintenance. At that point, since I have other tanks, I was quite content with leaving this tank low tech / low light.

But if you're up to the challenge with high light inside the confinements of an edge, more power to you! There's a ton of threads of pretty creative ways hobbyists achieve that. I've seen a good amount in the Planted Tank forum and some on YouTube.

Here's my edge:

 

[Tbox]

I like what you've done there. A very simple clean look with cool shadow casting. Agreed, I think the edge will be better off as a low tech tank.
I will keep an eye out for the 12g light though.