# Photo period for DSM... how long can I leave the lights on?



## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

For my two tanks that I'm undergoing a dry start with, I leave the lights on for 12-14 hours a day.

Daily misting is how you replenish the water that's evaporated. The saran wrap keeps a high humidity so that the plants don't dehydrate. This is especially important when the plants are transitioning from submerged growing conditions to emerged. Having holes in the saran wrap allows some air exchange. I remove most of the wrap when I mist the plants to get maximal air exchange at the same time.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

When growing seedlings/clones some recommend 18 on, 6 off. Usually I just do 12/12 with all my terrestial plants whether seedlings or fruiting. I don't see why DSM plants would be any different.


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## boostfed (Dec 25, 2010)

i'm going through a DSM at the moment as well, my photoperiod is for 10 hours daily and i'm also using AS1. TLE has the method down and i'm doing exactly what he's doing except i dont mist my plants everyday, maybe every 3 days or so. the temp in my tank isn't very high so theres not much evaporation, there's enough heat in the tank to keep the soil and aquarium walls moist so once i see it get low i remist, but if you mist too much i hear of fungus problems. Goodluck and post some pics!!


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks for the replies guys. So I'm aiming for 12hr photo periods then. 

Is it totally necessary to have holes on the wrapping for constant air exchange? That would defeat the purpose of not misting I suppose.


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## boostfed (Dec 25, 2010)

i have a small hole in mine, i'd rather have some evaporation instead of suffocating the plants, i'm sure it wont be a problem with a smaller hole, doubt you'd even notice the difference but the plants sure will though.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

boostfed said:


> i have a small hole in mine, i'd rather have some evaporation instead of suffocating the plants, i'm sure it wont be a problem with a smaller hole, doubt you'd even notice the difference but the plants sure will though.


Do I know you boosfed? I have a feeling I do. :icon_lol:


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## boostfed (Dec 25, 2010)

i dunno ? maybe, we do live in the same area, haha


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## slicebo123 (Jan 4, 2010)

+1 on the over-misting. I thought there was no way you could over-mist your tank. Wrong. Last dry start I did, I misted 3X a day and started getting little white fungus strings all over my HC. 

Misting frequency depends on the strength of your light and its height above the tank. The goal is humidity. I would just aim to keep your aquarium walls covered with a light fog of evaporated water. For my 20 gallon, I thoroughly mist my tank 2 times a day, while ensuring every plant looks wet. I lift the saran wrap when I do this. It's maintained a nice equilibrium the last few days--the water level has remained constant.

Regarding gas exchange, just leave a corner flap of the saran wrap open--this should be sufficient. Lifting the saran wrap when I mist also helps.

Sorry for the long-winded response. But I figure the more info/detail the better.

Edit: Don't mean to bogart the thread, but since we're dry starting and don't have water to reflect away light, could you use a lower wattage lamp over the tank when you dry start? I'd like to limit my energy consumption during the winter... 36 W over a 17 gal (60 L) tank?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I never misted my tank when I did DSM on my belem carpet, but every 2 weeks or so I would open the saran wrap and top off the water.

Do we _all_ know each other? sfbaaps?


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## boostfed (Dec 25, 2010)

i think i have some white string fungus growing in my tank, i can BARELY see it but i did notice something, it mightve been a root but who knows. OH! and dont remove the die off/melt either, supposedly the new plant will grow through it. i'm contemplating putting a CF light into my tank since it doesnt get too humid, i'm only running 2x25 T5HO lights, the sides stay misted but theres minimal heat.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

slice - thanks for your input! I've got one corner open and still manage to retain a lot of condensation on the glass. I'll leave it this way for now. 

Tu - boostfed is a new member. We don't know him... yet 

boostfed - t5ho's put out a lot of heat. Do you have it suspended pretty high?


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## boostfed (Dec 25, 2010)

yeah i'm still a newbie, hehe. i have mine about 16" above the substrate and its about 3" above the tank


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## Zareth (Dec 13, 2010)

I mist twice a day but I have a 3x3 square cut out of the middle of the saran wrap to make a convection current bringing air (and co2) in through vents i have in the corners.
I'm getting pretty quick growth - quicker than a lot of peoples journals have showed at least. And there is only one corner where the water is above the substrate line, but I also have the front of the tank raised up. 
As someone said humidity is the goal, not heat, because my tank is fairly open I do more frequent mistings, but my light is pretty close to the tank and the leaves dont stay wet for too long. (I'm growing HC) 
Also I'm misting with water from my established tank under the presumption that it has nutrients in it and that I will not be destroying bacteria that are getting established by spraying with chlorinated water.
Oh yeah, as for photo period I started off with 6 light and 18 dark and I'm now at 7 light and 17 dark, I'll continue to increase the light by 2 hours per week up till 18 light and 6 dark. I'm seeing pretty rapid acceleration with this method and the plants are rooting pretty quick


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## boostfed (Dec 25, 2010)

nice! any melting at all?


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## Zareth (Dec 13, 2010)

well I haven't flooded it yet. You can check it out if you want, link is in my signature. 
But no there's no melting, a few leaves have turned yellow but only on the bits I didn't plant stem by stem, the larger chunks don't penetrate deep enough into the substrate to get the water they need, I am assuming. 
At any rate a few leaves isn't concerning as long as I see good new growth


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## slicebo123 (Jan 4, 2010)

i am based in the bay area. I sometimes frequent the SFBAAPS for info/links. Gotta love the soft water in the 510.


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