# Light Hours: PEAK VIEWING TIME



## MlDukes (Nov 24, 2009)

I'm new to the planted world so bare with me..

Heres my question.

So I wanna tweek the timing of my lights, 8 hrs 9:00-5:00 seem to be working very well on my 55g with 2x54 HO t5. I wanna move this schedule forward to like 2:00-10:00, peak viewing time!! 

I dont see this being a problem as the plants wouldnt know a difference in the timeing as long as their getting the right amount but heres my snag... I am lucky enough to rent a loft apartment with 6 huge skylights, but... during the day they COMPLETELY light up my entire living area (where the tank is). With this being said....

Can I start moving the schedule forward to my peak viewing time 2:00-10:00 without any issues? 

-or-

Will this mess with the plants giving them:
8 hrs sunlight ambient/direct 6:00am-2:00pm
8 hrs HO T5 light 2:00pm-10:00pm 
and only 8 hrs of darkness 10:00pm-6:00am.



Considering the sunlight, currently it hasnt seemed to have any effect on any kind of algae bloom or algae issues period. My 3 Oto's and 2 farlowella cats do a great job of keeping any algae thats there in check. This is a fairly heavily planted, low tech tank with mostly lowlight plants, no co2, and minimal ferts. All is well 3 months in.

If you think moving my schedule forward WILL cause issues, what would you recommend doing to compensate to achive that "peak viewing time". I am just about willing to do anything to get my tank on a 2-10 schedule EXCEPT move it to a diff room. I've even considered rigging up a black curtain to go around it during the day... Maybe im stressin over nothin. thats why im here

Gimme your thoughts


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## Powchekny (Jan 25, 2010)

My 2 cents,

You aren't adding to the amount of light the tank receives, just time-shifting it. For various reasons, that might affect the amount of light actually usable by your plants (and algae).

If I were you, I'd start your schedule change by turning on your lights for only 4 or 5 hours per day (in their new time period), then inching it up from there if all goes well.
This way if there are unintended consequences, or unanticipated factors, you can catch the problem before any real harm is caused.


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## MoonFish (Feb 12, 2006)

I run mine in the evening. Any ambient light I get is indirect and through curtains but still, I've got green water in the summer a few times. If I where you, I'd buy some extra nice moonlights.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

It all depends on how much light the skylights let in. If it is direct sunlight, right on the tank, you will have problems when you change to a night time lighting period. But, you might have problems anyway, with direct sunlight on the tank. If the light coming in is just bright daylight, no direct sunlight, it isn't likely to be enough light to be significant, so your change should work ok. If you have doubts, you can always reduce the lights on period to 6 hours, which is enough to keep the plants going even if the daylight doesn't add anything.

Off subject a bit: doesn't it get terribly hot in the summer with those skylights? I grew up in that general area of Missouri, and I remember the heat very well.


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## MlDukes (Nov 24, 2009)

Hoppy said:


> It all depends on how much light the skylights let in. If it is direct sunlight, right on the tank, you will have problems when you change to a night time lighting period. But, you might have problems anyway, with direct sunlight on the tank. If the light coming in is just bright daylight, no direct sunlight, it isn't likely to be enough light to be significant, so your change should work ok. If you have doubts, you can always reduce the lights on period to 6 hours, which is enough to keep the plants going even if the daylight doesn't add anything.


 
Thank for the replys!! This one is especially helpful, thanks Guru Hoppy!

I guess there really is only a short period of each day that the sunlight passes through the skylights and directly onto the tank. Mostly just bright daylight through out the day. 

Final assumption: With the direct sunlight minimal and only bright daylight, is it safe to start moving the lighting time forward and maybe compensate by cutting back the total lighting time? 

Good or bad assumption?

I've never heard this discussed before but do plants require a certain amout of darkness?

Thanks to everyone reading!! Please leave your experiences/opinions


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

A lot of people use a split lights on time when they want to have the lights on both in the morning and during the evening hours. They set their timer to turn on the lights at 8 am, for example, then off at noon, and back on at 6 pm and off at 10 pm. I haven't tried this, but I can't recall anyone solving a problem by stopping this practice, so it is likely not to be harmful to the plants or fish. In your situation, I think this is what I would do.


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## MlDukes (Nov 24, 2009)

Hoppy said:


> A lot of people use a split lights on time when they want to have the lights on both in the morning and during the evening hours. They set their timer to turn on the lights at 8 am, for example, then off at noon, and back on at 6 pm and off at 10 pm. I haven't tried this, but I can't recall anyone solving a problem by stopping this practice, so it is likely not to be harmful to the plants or fish. In your situation, I think this is what I would do.


I've never even heard of doing split lighting, very interesting! Thanks again!


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## NJAquaBarren (Sep 16, 2009)

Skies go dark during a storm, trees cast shadows in different places as the Sun moves across the sky. I'd doubt that alternating light sequence does any harm to plants. Might freek fish out a little


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## thrak76 (Aug 3, 2009)

Hoppy said:


> A lot of people use a split lights on time when they want to have the lights on both in the morning and during the evening hours. They set their timer to turn on the lights at 8 am, for example, then off at noon, and back on at 6 pm and off at 10 pm. I haven't tried this, but I can't recall anyone solving a problem by stopping this practice, so it is likely not to be harmful to the plants or fish. In your situation, I think this is what I would do.


I do this as well. Been working out great so far. Lights are on when i'm around, and lights are off when i'm not. I do have some BBA in one tank, but i feel that is unrelated to the split photoperiod. 

On a related note : does anyone know of a digital timer that will allow the split photo periods? I'm using analog timers (which work fine), but i also really like those "coralife-type" digital timer power strips.


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## MlDukes (Nov 24, 2009)

thrak76 said:


> I do this as well. Been working out great so far. Lights are on when i'm around, and lights are off when i'm not. I do have some BBA in one tank, but i feel that is unrelated to the split photoperiod.
> 
> On a related note : does anyone know of a digital timer that will allow the split photo periods? I'm using analog timers (which work fine), but i also really like those "coralife-type" digital timer power strips.


 
I actually have an exact timer like what your looking for, got it from my dad, no tellin how old it is they used it for chrsitmas lights. Its round and numbered like a clock along the edge and has tiny buttens around the outside edge, each button represents 15 mins. you push in the buttons representing the time you want it on. very cool, you could set this thing to go on and off every 15 mins. doesnt help you out much but atleast it better describes what your looking for. good luck


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I have my tank lights on from 5pm till 1am and my tank gets decent light from a window in the same room. I do not have any issues.


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## ravenmyth (Dec 22, 2008)

*Split Light Timers*

I, too, use split light timing for mornings then back on again in the evening. That way I can enjoy the tanks when I'm home. I haven't had any problems and I use the rotary type analog timers as well.


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## MlDukes (Nov 24, 2009)

UPDATE: 

So I've had my lights on an evening schedule now for about 2 months and I LOVE IT! One of the best decision's I've made!! My plants are doing very well and my fish i think could care less... I'm a night owl and work fulltime so being able so enjoy my tank when im home is awesome!! My lights run from 5pm-11pm, at 11pm my Moonlights kick on and run til 2am "im usually asleep by then" lol.. most the time. Thanks for the advice everyone!!

PEACE


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

I use Grasslin timers, which are sold at my local LFS. They have the kind of buttons all around the outer edge that MlDukes describes so they can go on and off every 15 minutes all thru the day if you want (might not be a bad idea for a fan sometimes). They also are oriented in a way that makes them fit my power strips better than most timers from the hardware store.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

MlDukes said:


> UPDATE:
> 
> So I've had my lights on an evening schedule now for about 2 months and I LOVE IT! One of the best decision's I've made!! My plants are doing very well and my fish i think could care less... I'm a night owl and work fulltime so being able so enjoy my tank when im home is awesome!! My lights run from 5pm-11pm, at 11pm my Moonlights kick on and run til 2am "im usually asleep by then" lol.. most the time. Thanks for the advice everyone!!
> 
> PEACE


Excellent! Glad to hear all is working and you are enjoying the fruits of your labor.


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## msawdey (Apr 6, 2009)

what about excess algae, i live in san diego and have problems with sunlight and algae growth. I literally have the keep the room shut all day long because my light schedule is lik the one you are going to


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## MlDukes (Nov 24, 2009)

msawdey said:


> what about excess algae, i live in san diego and have problems with sunlight and algae growth. I literally have the keep the room shut all day long because my light schedule is lik the one you are going to


Ive been running my lights from 5pm -11pm for a couple months now and have only seen issues with what i think is BGA "blue green algae" (not even a true algae and i dont believe sunlight played a role in it-- Kinda neglected water changes for a month - whoops) got it under control now. Little to no brown algae. Either way ive NOT seen any kind of increase in algae growth since changing my lighting schedule. As for the sunlight.... I have absolutly no way to block off my light... take 6 steps from my aquarium look straight up and you see 6 HUGE skylights - 3 on each side of the peak. Ive always had aquariums and honestly, algae hasnt been much of a problem.....?????.... 

In my experience this is what ive noticed pertaining to sunlight and algae. When weekly maintenance and water changes are being done and water parameters are good -- No algae problems. Neglect those WC and let your parameters get out of control and algae will take over!!! but i guess that applies to aquariums in general whether their getting sunlight or not.

Once I let a non-planted tank go for like 6 months, NO water changes, no vaccuuming, didnt clean the glass, literally did nothing but top offs. I had some very cool rocks that i found in my creek (never boiled or cleaned them in anyway). Black beard algae completely took over, literally covering the rocks. It actually looked kinda cool, alot of friends commented on it "purple furry rocks". Yet still... only minor algae growth on the glass.... Dont know how i do it???

Good luck to you and I guess my only advice is to keep up on those WC's and keep your parameters consistant. 

PEACE


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