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Length and Time off day

mfcphil

Member
Joined
11 Feb 2009
Messages
426
Although I know how long to leave my lights on, I am wondering how many people have different ways of timing theirs lights and Co2.

Do you turn your lights on at night as you would your house to enjoy your tank or is it best to turn them on in the daytime to match the sun?
 
My tank comes on at 3:30PM and turns off at 10:30PM so that I can enjoy the tank for a few hours after work. :)

My CO2 comes on two hours before lights on and goes off two hours before lights out.
 
Im running co2 24/7, tank lights come on at 3.00 and off at 10.00, although, getting my solenoid fixed will mean i have to come up with a new reigime for the co2 timings.
 
For my main tank the lights come on at 16:00 and go off at 22:00 - two hour prior to the lights coming on the Co2 comes on and one hour prior to the lights going off the Co2 goes off, my little tank has the same lighting / Co2 periodicity but comes on / goes off an hour later.

Regards
Paul.
 
In long-term 'scapes I don't see the point in photoperiods over 8 hrs. Just have the lights come on a timer at an appropriate time of day so you get to see the tank lit up. 'Mathcing the sun' in terms of timing has no impact on plant growth.

I usually have CO2 come on a hour before lighting, and off an hour before lights off.

jonny_ftm said:
Anyone running with no algae issues and complete stability on long run for 10-12h/day?
My latest layout runs 24/7 CO2, 12 hrs photoperiod, but the light isn't high (2 x 18w T8 over 50 litres). Dosing 5ml TPN+ per day.

Plants are just submersed Riccia. No algae yet, but it's only going to be running for 3 weeks (hence the long photoperiod to maximise growth). I could use more light intensity over there but that's a sure fire way to induce algae...
 
My lights come on in two phases - 2x24w T5s on at 4.00pm (there they go now!), 1 x 150w MH on at 6.00pm. MH off again at 9.30pm, T5s off at 10.15pm. CO2 comes on one hour before lights on, goes off one hour before lights out.
 
jonny_ftm said:
Anyone running with no algae issues and complete stability on long run for 10-12h/day?

Used to run my tank with 13 hours (so that I could look at it before work and after). No algae issues at all.
 
Good to know, I had it in my head that the lights should match the sun :oops: :oops: :oops:
 
jonny_ftm said:
Thank you George and Matt for answering about photoperiod of 10-12h.

I'll try to increase photoperiod progressively if I really need it. Since I succeeded in having my aquariums completely algae free, I never tried anything above 8h

I'm with George in that there is no need to have a longer photoperiod than 8 hours. I had mine longer purely so that there were more hours in the day where I could look at the tank :)

If you have stems in the tank you might be able to observe them fold up towards the end of the photoperiod - usually happened around the 8-9 hour mark to me.
 
Hi, I got easy plants to take care off, such as Cryptos, Java Ferns, Anubias Nana, C. Demmersum, Duckweed, and three big Ruby Amazon.

I have added now some Hydrophila spp., and floating Riccia.

I add 5ml of TPN+ per day, and 10ml per week of TPN, the plants are mostly potted on JBL Substrate.

Tank is a Juwel Rekord 120L, with 30W daylight lamp, and a AquaFX led (15W).

The daylight lamp comes on at 1000 and goes off at 1600, coming again at 1800 till 2100.

The AquaFX follows the default setup:
07:00 - Fade ON to ‘Sunset’
10:00 - Fade to 100% White
18:00 - Fade to ‘Sunset’
21:00 - Fade to ‘Night time’
00:00 - Fade OFF

Haven't had any issues with algae, although I have a troop of Cherry Shrimp constantly grazing.
4308782391_2c28d77246_b.jpg
 
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