What Is Your Daily Light Cycle

[LondonguyJ]

I just bought some time programmable plugs and was wondering what type of light cycle I should have. Also interested in what type of daily cycle others use?

 

[Truck]

I use 8 hours at 1 WPG with a 2 hour burst of an extra 0.5 WPG on my 54 litre tank, growth is good.

 

[jpeterson]

I was wondering about this too. I have two lights on my tank a "day light" and a "night light". I was wondering if I should actually us the night light or just turn off the lights at night. Or I was thinking 8am-8pm day light, 8pm-12am night light, 12am-8am no lights.

 

[LondonguyJ]

I was thinking about having the whole thing staggered throughout the day with the programmable plugs:


9-12am - 3-9pm with the T5 daylights that came with the aquarium



And then from 9pm-12am with a low light moonlight unit that I bought from ebay

 

[Deek]

HeHe i have those same moonlights on my big tank not been able to get a pic as i need a good lowlight camera, does look awesome though. I'm currently on 10am till 10pm at 1.5WPG just added CO2 and am in the process of redoing my tank started to look a bit ugly.

So I've started redoing it just waiting on plants alot of mine have been snail abused started squishing them again

Looks a bit better now

 

[Ryefish]

ahh i really want moonlights!!
i think my timer is set from 12noon to 8pm? just to get a bit more enjoyment from the tank on a night when everyone is home. i dont really know how long the lights should be on though, LOL

 

[LondonguyJ]

That pic is not of my tank or led moonlights. I have them here but when making the post I used the ebay pic.


But I will post a pic once I install them.

 

[kaivalagi]

New 5ft tank with 2 x 54W T5's so starting lowish on the amount of time, on at midday, off at 6pm currently, might add 1-2 hours after I've seen minimal algae growth for a while first, if not I'll move the start and stop times to later on to appreciate the fish when I have finished work

The duration ought to be decided upon with a knowledge of the size and type of lighting and the size of the tank though, might be best to post some details on that?

 

[lljdma06]

The duration ought to be decided upon with a knowledge of the size and type of lighting and the size of the tank though, might be best to post some details on that?

Planting density also comes into play as does complication of setup (CO2, ferts, etc)

Me personally, my low-tech is at about 7-8 hours now, but I haven't checked the exact timing in a couple of months.

llj

 

[SuperColey1]

Moonlight 11pm - 2pm

Series 1 from 2pm to 7pm

Series 2 from 3pm to 8pm

Series 3 from 4pm to 9pm

Series 4 from 5pm to 10pm

Series 5 from 6pm to 11pm

Basically the 'sun' rises from the left and sets on the right. Each Series comprises of 3 x 3W high power LEDs which are being underpowered at 2.45W = 7.35W per series.

So the first and last hour = 7.35W and the 'peak' between 6pm and 7pm where all 5 lights are on is 36.75W

AC

 

[kaivalagi]

@SuperColey1 - so you are using purely LED's? No tubes there at all?

I thought the jury was out on LED's as they may not provide the necessary spectrum etc for decent plant growth, I assume you've proved them to work?

 

[SuperColey1]

@SuperColey1 - so you are using purely LED's? No tubes there at all?

The moonlights are 2 cold cathodes and the daylights are purely LEDs.

I thought the jury was out on LED's as they may not provide the necessary spectrum etc for decent plant growth, I assume you've proved them to work?

No such thing as the right spectrum for decent plant growth. One of the longest running myths in the hobby There are people growing fabulous tanks under low K ratings and there are people growing fabulous tanks under high K ratings proving these theories wrong. I have used 'plant' spectrum lights (4500K - pink) before but notice no difference between those and higher like 9000K.

Buy the K that makes the tank look good to you whether it be pink, yellow, white, green etc. I tend to favour white-green so always between 5500 and 8000K

Tests also show that the original 75W Solaris LED unit (now not available due to the silly lawsuits) gave 85% PAR of a 250W MH light and 110% PUR. Goes to show just how much less W you can use to light a tank to the same 'brightness' and of course save electricity and the money at the same time.

I assume you've proved them to work?

I let pictures do the talking:

2nd March 2009

12th June 2009 after 3 months

9th August 2009 after 4 months

This scape is still alive today so I think LEDs work. 14 months of survival says that

AC

 

[lljdma06]

Having seen this scape develop over the 14 months, I will concur that LEDs are quite successful. Great work, AC. I want to try them myself, one day, as I really like the look of the tanks that feature it.

llj

 

[SuperColey1]

I want to try them myself, one day, as I really like the look of the tanks that feature it.
llj

I should state that the 'lights' in the final pic above with the black background aren't LEDs. The light is provided by 2 flash guns that Saintly (Mark Evans) used when photographing the tank. No idea what K

AC

 

[lljdma06]

I want to try them myself, one day, as I really like the look of the tanks that feature it.
llj

I should state that the 'lights' in the final pic above with the black background aren't LEDs. The light is provided by 2 flash guns that Saintly (Mark Evans) used when photographing the tank. No idea what K

AC

Yeah, I know. You and Mark were experimenting with the dark background.