How long to leave light on?

[Brad123]

Hi All;
New to planted tank the tanks is 50cm x 34cm x 49cm. It has 2x 11watt PL light just above the water line. This is what I got in the tank so far Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' Hygrophila corymbosa 'Siamensis' Vallisneria americana 'mini twister' Marsilea hirsuta.
At the moment the light is on for 10 hours.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[ian_m]

When I started my 180l with 2 x 25W T8 tubes I had the light on for only 4 hours. I suspect your 10 hours is an invite for Mr Algae to come and take up residence. Over couple of months I slowly upped the light time, till a year later now on 11 hours a day and no algae. Might reduce the time to slow the plants down as they seem to grow a centimetre or two a day which makes weekly pruning a longer task.

 

[Arana]

If the tank is newly set up keep the photoperiod to 6 hours until things get established then you can slowly increase it, are you adding CO2?

 

[Brad123]

At the moment running diy yeast co2. Into the filter inlet. Working on a fire extinguisher co2.
Ok will set the timer for 6 hours. Dose it matter what 6 hours? (eg 15:30 to 21:30)

 

[jack-rythm]

At the moment running diy yeast co2. Into the filter inlet. Working on a fire extinguisher co2.
Ok will set the timer for 6 hours. Dose it matter what 6 hours? (eg 15:30 to 21:30)

No makes no difference Mate. Could have it on midnight till 6am if u wanted

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