# Help configuring Fluval Plant 3.0 LED



## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

Hi everyone,

I just upgraded my 55-gallon low-tech planted tank (I use Seachem Flourish tabs but no CO2) by getting a Fluval Plant 3.0 LED fixture. I have no idea, however, how to configure the percentages of pink, blue, cold white, pure white, and warm white (see picture below). What percentages do I need to use for each color to maximize heathy plant growth and minimize algae booms? Also, how many hours/day are recommended? In the setting shown in the picture below, that tank looks too bright.

Thank you in advance.


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## evil8 (Aug 7, 2018)

Check out Bentley Pasco on YouTube. He has a few videos on using and setting up this light.


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

The setting they are showing in your screen shot is a crazy amount of light for a tank without CO2 injection. I barely crack 75% (for only an hour a day) on my tanks with CO2. I'd screen shot my own settings but am not near the tanks and the app won't show them unless I am. And I use these on high tech tanks anyway, so you'd need a lower level. I wouldn't let it peak past 50% on any color at first, and tinker from there. These lights are too bright for most any application other than algae farming at 100%.


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## jake21 (Aug 11, 2019)

I'm not sure where you reached that conclusion:









Two 1/2 year old aquarium with no scraping. Sure it has a little algae but .....
---
Op what i did was to use the profile plants because i was lazy. i might have tweaked it later on a little.



Blue Ridge Reef said:


> The setting they are showing in your screen shot is a crazy amount of light for a tank without CO2 injection. I barely crack 75% (for only an hour a day) on my tanks with CO2. I'd screen shot my own settings but am not near the tanks and the app won't show them unless I am. And I use these on high tech tanks anyway, so you'd need a lower level. I wouldn't let it peak past 50% on any color at first, and tinker from there. These lights are too bright for most any application other than algae farming at 100%.


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

I'm reffering to OP's screenshot of the Fluval settings.


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## jake21 (Aug 11, 2019)

Blue Ridge Reef said:


> I'm reffering to OP's screenshot of the Fluval settings.


Yes and i provided a picture of my quarium that has a fluval plant 3.0 with settings not that much dimmer than op. From your statement you would expect my aquarium to be full of algae as this is a low tech aquarium.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

evil8 said:


> Check out Bentley Pasco on YouTube. He has a few videos on using and setting up this light.



I did, thanks. He suggests starting with 50% for each color, with the exception of blue, and go from there. I was hoping to get more feedback on users’ experiences with the different settings.





Blue Ridge Reef said:


> The setting they are showing in your screen shot is a crazy amount of light for a tank without CO2 injection. I barely crack 75% (for only an hour a day) on my tanks with CO2. I'd screen shot my own settings but am not near the tanks and the app won't show them unless I am. And I use these on high tech tanks anyway, so you'd need a lower level. I wouldn't let it peak past 50% on any color at first, and tinker from there. These lights are too bright for most any application other than algae farming at 100%.



Thanks. This is exactly what Bently Pasco suggests.





jake21 said:


> I'm not sure where you reached that conclusion:
> Two 1/2 year old aquarium with no scraping. Sure it has a little algae but .....
> 
> ---
> Op what i did was to use the profile plants because i was lazy. i might have tweaked it later on a little.


Nice tank, thanks for sharing your experience.


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## evil8 (Aug 7, 2018)

FishBR said:


> I was hoping to get more feedback on users’ experiences with the different settings.


I use this setting for my nano tanks with CO2. It's 9 hours from noon to 9pm. 









I may tweak my new 20g a bit to make the "sunrise" a little bit slower for my blue eyed rainbows.


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## Aaronious (Oct 20, 2020)

evil8 said:


> I use this setting for my nano tanks with CO2. It's 9 hours from noon to 9pm.


So I use a Fluval 2.0 and 3.0. But this is a new way to approach it. I like this, have never seen this until now but makes a lot of sense for a tank with co2. Definitely trying this out on one of my co2 tanks.

I generally run lighting schemes that have the two plateaus, but this makes more sense than the afternoon dip, to just have more light when the co2 has been built up for it and have it decrease as there is less and less co2.


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## Maple Leaf (Sep 21, 2021)

I started using the following setting to try to keep algae from creeping up. I don't currently have much algae. Most of the plants I have require low lighting. I am planning on slowly increasing the light intensity over the next couple of months.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

evil8 said:


> I use this setting for my nano tanks with CO2. It's 9 hours from noon to 9pm.
> I may tweak my new 20g a bit to make the "sunrise" a little bit slower for my blue eyed rainbows.


Wow, 100%. Do you get any algae?



Maple Leaf said:


> I started using the following setting to try to keep algae from creeping up. I don't currently have much algae. Most of the plants I have require low lighting. I am planning on slowly increasing the light intensity over the next couple of months.



Thanks, this is actually similar to the setting I have adopted for now (see pic below). Some light in the morning so that I can enjoy the tank and feed the fish, with stronger lighter later. Will see how it goes.














If anyone has any feedback about these settings I appreciate. I have a low-tech 55g (ferts, but no CO2). Pic below. I still want to add more plants.


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## evil8 (Aug 7, 2018)

FishBR said:


> Wow, 100%. Do you get any algae?


Some minor algae until I threw in a handful of cherry shrimp. They made short work of that. But now I need to realign the whole works because the new fish in there need less flow, which means less CO2, which means less light... Yeah. It never ends.

My non-CO2 tanks don't get above 50% light.


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