I have a 55 gallon tank that is "semi-planted". I want to be able see my fish in the morning before I go to work at 8am and also at night until 10 or 11 pm. Is there a problem having the lights on for 14-15 hours? Would it be better to have them shut off for 3 hours in the afternoon?
Too Much Light?
- Thread starter mikekomm
- Start date
Yea thats way too long of a photo period. Try and keep it 7-8hrs. I actually had same issue where i wanted to enjoy the tank before going off to classes and at night while im hanging out in my room. My simple fix was to have the timer on 4:30pm-11:30pm and in the morning when i wanted to see the fish i would just flip the switch.
yeah, you will have an algae farm with the lights on that long. Run them for a couple hours in the morning and for 5 or 6 at night. Consider getting some moonlights if you want to see whats going on past that.
Just have the timer kick on before work and when you get home. Max is at 10 hours. Dr Diana Walstad actually studied the siesta method. In nature there is often cloud cover of plants which results in a resting period for plants.
In your aquarium if you're not injecting co2. Which a "semi-planted" tank usually is not on co2. It allows your plants to use your co2 you have accrued overnight. Then about the time it's running out, lights go out and the plants create more co2, for the "second burn" of the plants later that night.
