Light leak and phone flashlight

Hi everyone, I wanted to ask you just a few questions regarding the stress caused by light during the night time period.
I have installed a tower fan that has a rather weak white led inside that expresses the temperature of the room and I'm afraid that it could harm my plants that are in their 7th week of flowering... I have had the fan inside for about a week and as soon as I noticed it I tried to fix it by dimming the led but anyway a few days passed before I noticed it.
Other than that I wanted to ask what you think about checking the plants just a few minutes (2/5 minutes) with the flash of the phone or take some pictures. I've read many such threads online but 50% of people claim it would hurt the plant and the other 50% say the opposite. Some said to use green spectrum light but I still wanted to know if it would really bother the plant. What do you guys say? Thanks in advance guys


This is the fan and if you notice you can see the led with the temperature.

Should not be that big of a problem. I think most often people blame light leaking for other problems.

I've had a bunch of red lights from extension cords and small leaks in tents as long as I can remember without any problems.

It won’t bother anything imo but if it bothers you just cover it with tape.

Blackketch said:

Hi everyone, I wanted to ask you just a few questions regarding the stress caused by light during the night time period.
I have installed a tower fan that has a rather weak white led inside that expresses the temperature of the room and I'm afraid that it could harm my plants that are in their 7th week of flowering... I have had the fan inside for about a week and as soon as I noticed it I tried to fix it by dimming the led but anyway a few days passed before I noticed it.
Other than that I wanted to ask what you think about checking the plants just a few minutes (2/5 minutes) with the flash of the phone or take some pictures. I've read many such threads online but 50% of people claim it would hurt the plant and the other 50% say the opposite. Some said to use green spectrum light but I still wanted to know if it would really bother the plant. What do you guys say? Thanks in advance guys
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This is the fan and if you notice you can see the led with the temperature.

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You can try and see if something happens or not. Most of experienced growers here on RIU claim it wont do a shit. I am on the other side of the river. I am that opinion, that it depends mainly on what plant is “used to”. So if you have that light in there whole plants life and especially during whole flowering than it should not caused major issues like herming or reveg. Question might be if the quality or yield would not be better without? Different case is when your plants have been kept in total darkness and than you add some light source which disturb their sleeping for let say 10 days in a row. That the thing you definitely do not want in 7th week of flower. As I said, you can try and see if you have balls. Honestly I hope I have balls, but I wont be risking 4 months of work and everthing around because somebody said its “okay”. It might be fine in their environment with their plants actually running, but it might be different in yours… good luck!

A piece of cardboard and a piece of tape. Possible problem solved.

Tape a cut out piece of cardboard & tape it over that section of the fan if it’s concerning you.

Wastei said:

Should not be that big of a problem. I think most often people blame light leaking for other problems.

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Alright, at the moment I don't think I have any problem and anyway I inspect my tops daily and maniacally and I don't see any bananas! I just wanted to make sure that both of these things didn't cause any problems for the plant... then I went looking online and the only thing I concluded is that I'm even more perplexed because some say you only notice it after a few days and some say it takes more days of continuous light

bam0813 said:

It won’t bother anything imo but if it bothers you just cover it with tape.

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So at first I noticed it after a day and covered it up with duct tape but then I realized I couldn't see what mode the fan was in anymore (it has multiple functions like natural breeze etc..) so I took the tape off and put a card covering it but this morning I checked and saw a reflection of light in the wall of the grow box and realized I had covered it up wrong but now I have it completely covered up. Just today I was listening to a podcast where they explained that it's all bullshit to use the green spectrum to inspect plants because the plant was able to see the light anyway (they claimed that the green light went unnoticed by the plant) but they said that the only thing that matters is the intensity and I don't think even the light from the phone is intense enough to cause problems but... I am VERY paranoid with my girls.

Bukvičák said:

You can try and see if something happens or not. Most of experienced growers here on RIU claim it wont do a shit. I am on the other side of the river. I am that opinion, that it depends mainly on what plant is “used to”. So if you have that light in there whole plants life and especially during whole flowering than it should not caused major issues like herming or reveg. Question might be if the quality or yield would not be better without? Different case is when your plants have been kept in total darkness and than you add some light source which disturb their sleeping for let say 10 days in a row. That the thing you definitely do not want in 7th week of flower. As I said, you can try and see if you have balls. Honestly I hope I have balls, but I wont be risking 4 months of work and everthing around because somebody said its “okay”. It might be fine in their environment with their plants actually running, but it might be different in yours… good luck!

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The plant has had totally dark cycles in the last few months and practically since about a week and a half I have to leave an opening in the grow box for the dehumidifier to keep everything below 50% so at first I was already paranoid about this since the exhaust pipe leaves a crack open between the door but it seems that no light comes then I had to install another fan with this led and let's say that there I started to worry. . basically the second day I noticed the light and I fixed everything but I had to remove the tape because I needed to see the display and I fixed it with a piece of paper but this morning I saw that the light passed to the sides and I had to totally plug the screen so in total over a week were only 4 days with this light that bothered! Then I put the phone light in the middle because every morning I need to check the light even if only for a minute to be quiet all day at work ... and then every day I have to turn on the light whether the phone or the room to change just a moment the tank of the dehumidifier. In fact, if someone tells me that I can be comfortable I still investigate further! Many times I have also posted in other forums just to get many more points of view and not stop in a simple "quiet nothing happens". This morning I was listening to a podcast about the quantity vs quality of light for growing and they were talking about the fact that many people believe that the green spectrum goes unnoticed by the plant so you can use green lights to work in the grow room or just to inspect it... everyone is convinced that it is true and I have read this many times in many forums but the truth is that it's all bullshit!!! They confirmed that the plant can sense that spectrum and that the only way is to make sure the intensity isn't too high.

HydroKid239 said:

Tape a cut out piece of cardboard & tape it over that section of the fan if it’s concerning you.

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Horselover fat said:

A piece of cardboard and a piece of tape. Possible problem solved.

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Yes guys I already thought about that but I had positioned it wrong and the light was coming out of the sides. Now I've covered everything and no more light comes out! As for the phone light? What do you think?

Bukvičak gave you a good advice, better safe than sorry and not risk it.. I've heard somewhere that infrared from a security camera caused a hermie lol..
You can make a flap cover over the display light, or some dark cup over it, then pull it up when you need to check something.. And it's better to take pictures during the daylight hours

So I had similar issues. What I did was fold a piece of tape over itself so it wasn't sticky. Made thick so nothing would pass through. I then taped one end of it so it would stay down but act like a flap so I could move it to see what the display said.

EDIT: I said issues but I meant to say paranoia lol

Astral22 said:

Bukvičak gave you a good advice, better safe than sorry and not risk it.. I've heard somewhere that infrared from a security camera caused a hermie lol..
You can make a flap cover over the display light, or some dark cup over it, then pull it up when you need to check something.. And it's better to take pictures during the daylight hours

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"I've heard somewhere" sounds very scientific

Blackketch said:

Yes guys I already thought about that but I had positioned it wrong and the light was coming out of the sides. Now I've covered everything and no more light comes out! As for the phone light? What do you think?

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If you’re only taking a couple pics with flash.. I don’t see you running into issues.

My room lights up like a Christmas tree at lights out with numerous different coloured lights from dehu, fans, power bars etc

I go in there during dark always to take pics too, never a issue.

Astral22 said:

Bukvičak gave you a good advice, better safe than sorry and not risk it.. I've heard somewhere that infrared from a security camera caused a hermie lol..
You can make a flap cover over the display light, or some dark cup over it, then pull it up when you need to check something.. And it's better to take pictures during the daylight hours

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I think it was a thread here on RIU from not too long ago and I remember while someone was recommending a good surveillance camera someone said that the LEDs on the camera could disrupt growth but I don't remember if they were actually talking about the infrared or just the LEDs.
Anyway I've already solved it with a piece of cardboard... the problem is that the lights go off at 4am and at 8am I wake up to go to work and I have to check them with the light of my phone and since I'll be back home at 9pm and if I don't do it it's like I'm in suspense all day....

Stuck27 said:

So I had similar issues. What I did was fold a piece of tape over itself so it wasn't sticky. Made thick so nothing would pass through. I then taped one end of it so it would stay down but act like a flap so I could move it to see what the display said.

EDIT: I said issues but I meant to say paranoia lol

View attachment 5078100View attachment 5078102

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yes I have practically done the same thing but with a piece of cardboard that as an idiot I had put directly on the tape and I stained the whole display

HydroKid239 said:

If you’re only taking a couple pics with flash.. I don’t see you running into issues.

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It's not just a few pictures...
The thing is that the lights go out at 4am and at 8am I wake up to go to work and I have to check them at that time with the phone light and, since I'll be home at 9pm, if I don't it's like I'm on hold all day... I don't know how else to do it! Anyway, we're talking about a checkup that lasts 5 minutes at most, but almost always just a minute.

Blackketch said:

It's not just a few pictures...
The thing is that the lights go out at 4am and at 8am I wake up to go to work and I have to check them at that time with the phone light and, since I'll be home at 9pm, if I don't it's like I'm on hold all day... I don't know how else to do it! Anyway, we're talking about a checkup that lasts 5 minutes at most, but almost always just a minute.

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You’re fine, stop fretting over it

bk78 said:

My room lights up like a Christmas tree at lights out with numerous different coloured lights from dehu, fans, power bars etc

I go in there during dark always to take pics too, never a issue.

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Ahahahah this makes me feel so much better! Unfortunately all these paranoia of mine are induced by all those threads I go to read both here and all the other forums....