Lighting Systems Suggestion for Aquaponics Product Development

I am developing a new aquaponics product and I would like to use your lighting systems in it.

Would a diffuser reduce the growth potential of the lights within? And are you able to have these made and finished to custom lengths?

At the moment, we do not offer any customized services, so we would recommend working with the standardized offerings that we have. Our aluminum channels will certainly reduce the amount of light due to the transmissivity loss of the diffuser cover. While I understand these may be preferred for aesthetics purposes, they will likely hinder light output by 10-15%.

We don't have any specific "light recipes" for different species, as this will also depend on the light intensity, distance, temperature, and grow medium/nutrient supply. In general, however, we believe that full spectrum lighting that mimics natural daylight (i.e. 95 CRI or higher) is a great starting point given that plants generally thrive under natural daylight.

We would perhaps recommend experimenting with several of our LED strip lights to determine which colors and wavelengths work best for your device. Please see below:

https://store.waveformlighting.com/collections/led-strips

Can you tell me what the process would be to cut long reels down into 30cm lengths that can then be wired into a plug socket? 

How would it be best to cut down the length of the diffusers if we decided to use them?

If the diffuser reduces the light by <15%, would it work to simply use a stronger light to counter this effect or does it not really work like that?

Which of those products do you think may be best as a general grow light?

Also, do you provide products that can be used with a light strip to control cycle lengths and to turn up and down the intensity of the light?

The LED strips can be cut into shorter lengths as needed, generally in 2.5 or 5.0 cm intervals using a pair of scissors. They would then need to be connected to a power supply using a layout similar to the one shown below:

https://www.waveformlighting.com/layoutmaps/3002_2C

The diffusers are not designed to be cut into shorter lengths, but our customers have reported success using a hacksaw. A stronger light would indeed mitigate the effect of the lower light output. For example, a 100-lumen output reduced to 85 lumens could be counteracted with 115 lumens of light output being reduced to 100 lumens.

It does sound like you are in the initial conceptual design phase for your product, for which we unfortunately are not equipped to provide extensive assistance. We would suggest working with a product design specialist or determining the lighting requirements for your system after which we would be more than happy to suggest the best products that would meet your needs. 

Can you point out one specific product that mimics natural light most closely as well as the necessary strength that we have discussed?

Here is our ABSOLUTE SERIES product line which has a 99 CRI rating, indicating that this is as close of a match to natural daylight as possible:

https://www.waveformlighting.com/absolute-series

The strength of the light would depend on a variety of factors such as quantity, placement, and distance away. We would perhaps recommend starting with a target lux or PPFD requirement and we can assist from there.

Question posted under:

LED strip lightsHorticultural lighting (grow lights, vertical farms, indoor growing)

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