# How long to leave LED lights on?



## tylergvolk (Jun 17, 2012)

In nature the light is never always sunny or always cloudy in places where our plants grow. Therefore, it's okay to change the setting a little bit. 

I wouldn't change it more than 1 hour per day. But if you do just monitor your plants.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Totally up to you. Depends on a lot of factors. Some people run their lights for 6 hours, some run them for 12.

In general I think around 6-8 hours is best based on my tanks. Again - it is subjective. As the above poster stated just make sure that you change things slowly. A sudden big change in light cycle duration and/or intensity is a great way to have an algae bloom (I've been there lol).

Where did you see that the yellow spectrum is the best? I would not guess that that was the case.


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## djb7880 (Jan 21, 2014)

klibs said:


> Totally up to you. Depends on a lot of factors. Some people run their lights for 6 hours, some run them for 12.
> 
> In general I think around 6-8 hours is best based on my tanks. Again - it is subjective. As the above poster stated just make sure that you change things slowly. A sudden big change in light cycle duration and/or intensity is a great way to have an algae bloom (I've been there lol).
> 
> Where did you see that the yellow spectrum is the best? I would not guess that that was the case.


Good to know that the hours isn't a strict rule thing, I really like the cloud cover settings on the Sat+ which mimics changes in sunlight, slowly but constantly... I hope that doesn't create an algae bloom like you mentioned!

I saw that the yellow setting was preferred by the people at Current in a few places: http://current-usa.com/perfect-color-for-planted-tanks/
and this was from a thread here on planted tank, post by Current USA: 
"the 100% yellow isn't actually yellow, it's just all the LEDs turned up to the max (white, red blue and green) The color is perfect for planted tanks in my opinion and should be the "default FW setting." I love this light on my 16gallon bowfront and I'm gonna try one on my new 29gallon. I hope its enough light. Really interested in the "plant fixture."

JJBTEXAS hit the nail on the head for this one. "yellow setting" is actually the default setting and when you turn your light on for the first time, that should be the setting it's on. We designed it so that setting would be perfect for the planted tank. :smile:


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