Finnex 24/7 planted plus HLC and co2 injection

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IceH2O

Bazinga
Nov 26, 2005
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Rock Hill,South Carolina
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Ice
I know I’ve been searching high and low for advice on light setup and when to turn the injection on.
Most say an hr before lights on and off.
But this light has custom settings so I like to mimic sunrise and sunset so the light starts off very red and ramps up to max light then back down.
These are my settings, they make you do 3 hr blocks.
Also I offset everything by 1.5 hrs so midnight is really 130 am.

Numbers are in 10% increments w white r red
b blue g green

12-3 am 0
3-6 am 0
6-9 am 0
9 am- 12pm w 1 r 4 bg 0
12pm-3 max all 10
3-6 max
6-9 w 1 r 4 bg 0
9-12 0

this means my lights turn on at 730 real low and increase slowly to max at about 130pm
From 130 to 730 it’s max light, all colors 10
Then from 730 to 1030 it slowly lowers back to dark.

I turn on my co2 on at 1230 pm and it turns off at 730 pm

this is day 1 so not saying this is the correct sequence yet.
will update as needed.
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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I'm no expert on this, but to me the custom light settings are all for the human eye and won't necessarily benefit the plants any. I'd go full on with the lights when using CO2.
 

IceH2O

Bazinga
Nov 26, 2005
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Rock Hill,South Carolina
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Ice
I would recommend getting a desk lamp with bulb that meets this reauirements:

6500k
500 (or more for better result) lumens
15 watt

u will see best results IMO :)
Lol 15 watts over a 45 gallon tank?
 

IceH2O

Bazinga
Nov 26, 2005
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Rock Hill,South Carolina
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Ice
I'm no expert on this, but to me the custom light settings are all for the human eye and won't necessarily benefit the plants any. I'd go full on with the lights when using CO2.
The co2 comes on 1 hr before max light and off when max light ends.

but at some point in time it’s ramping up to the max so it has to be 50 and 75 percent at some time during the sessions. Just like in nature it’s not dark to high noon in the snap of a finger.
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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Joel
I get that, but nothing about your lighting or CO2 injection works like nature. It can give the appearance is all.


Lol 15 watts over a 45 gallon tank?
Watts has very little to do with it when you are talking LED. Lumens is the more important factor with them. 500 lumens likely wouldn't be enough.
 

IceH2O

Bazinga
Nov 26, 2005
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Rock Hill,South Carolina
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Ice
Just about everyone says co2 should start 1 hr before lights on and 1 hr before lights off. But they are doing max on timers.
Only thing I’m doing differently is having low light levels for the other hours. Co2 still comes on the same as those doing max on a timer.
 

IceH2O

Bazinga
Nov 26, 2005
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Rock Hill,South Carolina
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Ice
I’m still playing with this light trying to figure out the 3 hr cycles. I’m going to try something this week and see how and when the lights come on.
 
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dougall

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Mar 29, 2005
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Even though watts per gallon and lumens were mentioned.

The best thing you can do is test your pH and work out CO2 levels from there.

Plants will respire CO2 when they are not photosynthesizing, and use it when they are..

If you test pH every 15 mins or so from 30 mins before lights come on (maybe more) there will be an obvious dipin pH as plants start to use it.

Turn on CO2 30-60 mins before that.

Remember that you will likely be tweaking your light levels too. You will likely want to change CO2 amount at that point too
 

IceH2O

Bazinga
Nov 26, 2005
1,681
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51
Rock Hill,South Carolina
Real Name
Ice
Even though watts per gallon and lumens were mentioned.

The best thing you can do is test your pH and work out CO2 levels from there.

Plants will respire CO2 when they are not photosynthesizing, and use it when they are..

If you test pH every 15 mins or so from 30 mins before lights come on (maybe more) there will be an obvious dipin pH as plants start to use it.

Turn on CO2 30-60 mins before that.

Remember that you will likely be tweaking your light levels too. You will likely want to change CO2 amount at that point too
I just figured out why they came on earlier then I thought they should and fixed that. I had been checking after having the co2 running for an hr and gotten my point drop. Tomorrow I will see what time it actually comes on now and will start it an hr earlier starting Tuesday. Lights should now start 3 hrs later so about 1030. So I will have the co2 start about 930
 
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