# How long per day



## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

Those are actually very low light plants, except aqua fern, as I have no idea what that is. 7 hours is probably fine. Most of us are doing something around 8-10 hours. Some may run them a little more, or a little less. 

You want to run the CO2 whenever the lights are on, and cut it off when they are not. Many of us stagger the CO2 to go on and off half an hour to an hour before the lights, but this isn't really necessary. In a tank that size, I would imagine CO2 levels can catch up to the lights very quickly. The CO2 is still very good for the plants, even with low lighting. 

I'm not familiar with the new lighting you have purchased, but if it is brighter than the T8's and you are running CO2, you can probably grow some plants that like it a little bit brighter such as cryptocorynes and stems that are not light demanding such as R. rotundifolia (If you haven't grown stems before, you will really enjoy this one. It's very easy to grow and will have wider leaves with the CO2.). Maybe you could even grow some sort of carpet such as DHG or chain swords.

If the light turns out to be very bright, or at least bright enough to hit the "medium" light level (very subjective term), then with the addition of CO2, you should be able to grow more or less anything.

Welcome to the site by the way.


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## Coursair (Apr 16, 2011)

Keep an eye on your Shrimp. AFAIK they may not like high levels of CO2


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

I've heard everything from 6 hours to 14 hours recommended by experts, so I'm certainly wondering about this myself, and if there is any more definitive an answer to be found...

Some experts recommend a few hour siesta in the middle of the day as well. I would personally prefer a longer lighting period of say 18 hours to fit in with my own daily schedule. And I haven't seen anything to demonstrate in detail what the consequences of too long a lighting period would be. Algae I presume, but I'd still like to know why.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

People usually run CO2 the same time the lights are on. 8 hours of light is a good balance to grow plant and not have too much algae. If you're new to plants and CO2, I'd recommend getting a drop checker. It's a visual way to tell how much CO2 is in your tank. You'd want something like 30ppm of CO2 in the water. It all depends on how much light you have though. 2 of those t-8 bulbs would be perfect for a planted tank.


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## Rainer (Jan 30, 2011)

The CO2 comes on 90 min before and shuts off 60 min before the lights. This ensures a high level of CO2 is available for use immediately without wasting gas on elevated levels when lights are off.


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## sidefunk (Apr 22, 2010)

I would say you could easily run your lights 8-10 hours a day with co2 coming on at the same time or an hour or two before. But as you tank matures I think you could even run your lights longer as algae becomes less of a problem. 10 or 11 hours seems to be fine on my tanks, but every tank is different.


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## Rainer (Jan 30, 2011)

Mxx said:


> IAnd I haven't seen anything to demonstrate in detail what the consequences of too long a lighting period would be. Algae I presume, but I'd still like to know why.


I haven't seen anything in detail either - just that plants can photosynthesize only for a fixed number of hours before shutting down. After that they're no longer outcompeting algae for resources.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

The plants will keep trying to photosynthesize, but can get burned out if they don't get any rest. Always give any plant at least 8 hours of dark each day.

Algae (And admittedly certain plants) don't care if they get darkness or not. They are able to grow full speed, even when photosynthesizing at a breakneck pace. The more light, the more growth. 

Even when your tank looks like it's full of algae, there's actually very little biomass there. That's why they are able to adapt and survive with very little nutrients and light. Overlighting algae is like hitting the turbo button on your algae generator. 

My growout tank sits under lighting I use for hydroponics, and when I run then 10 hrs/day theres no algae. When I am starting a new crop, and running 16 hrs/day, the glass is covered with GDA within the first week.


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## fatfei (Aug 13, 2011)

Thanks guys, you've gave me a lot of info here. Think i will give the chain swords you suggested ago too. sharkfood thanks.

I have a drop checker already to make sure co2 levels are not hazards to my shrimp.

This is some good info and i have a lot to think about in the way of more plants to get.

Cheers :icon_smil


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## rstampa (Jan 29, 2017)

*How log will co2 take*

I recently purchase a co2 injection system with a 5lb tank. It's all running good so far.
It's running on my 65 gal planted aquarium. I had it set at 3bbs for the first couple days.
However my drop check never got out of the blue. Should I increase the bubble count?
Also, how long after the co2 is turned on before it reads green on my drop check. 
Should it take 4, 6, or 8 hours or more?
Thanks for any help you can give me.


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

rstampa said:


> I recently purchase a co2 injection system with a 5lb tank. It's all running good so far.
> It's running on my 65 gal planted aquarium. I had it set at 3bbs for the first couple days.
> However my drop check never got out of the blue. Should I increase the bubble count?
> Also, how long after the co2 is turned on before it reads green on my drop check.
> ...




Should not take more than a couple hours. Should do more checks than just the co2. Do a ph/kh check before co2 comes on then a couple hours after. I am still dialing mine in on my 60 gallon. I am at 5bps right now. 

Just did 50% water change and changed out my drop checker solution. Went from blue to light green in about an hour and half. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

@rstampa, I'd heavily emphasize @clownplanted advice to do a KH test. Your carbonate hardness will determine how much CO2 must be injected to lower your pH (and maintain desired CO2 ppm). 

While bbs is not an accurate unit of measurement, 3 bbps will be too low on a 65 gal (but is a great starting point if you are watching livestock responses) 

Sent from my Nexus+6 using Tapatalk


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## rstampa (Jan 29, 2017)

Thanks, I have a KH of 3-4 and my ph is 6.8. Taking your advice I have upped my bbs between 5 or 6. Now my drop check is light green and my ph is 6.6 and KH is still around 3-4.
I am running my co2 for 9 hrs and lights around 10. Now I'll keep a watchful eye out for a few days and see what happens. I did my weekly water change of 25% yesterday and ferterilzed (tabs). I sure hope my plants start growing.
If I may ask you another question. I have Hygrophila corymbosa 'Siamensis' stem plant. I trimmed them in early January.
The old stems started to put our a few shoots but none every developed into a full leaf. They look stunted. Also the tops I planted don't seem to do much either. Would you know why this may be happening? All the other plants are doing fine. I don't know the watts for my light source, since I'm using a new LCD fixture. It has 75 white 20 red and 10 blue lights. It can be switch from all on or just blue at night.
Any suggestion would be much appreciated


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I always start with 6 hours and suggest CO2 come on a hour or half a hour prior to the lights and go off the same duration sooner. It's a good starting point. You can always add more of either, but avoiding algae is a good goal at first.


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