How long should I keep on the light?

[evil Nick]

MY plants are

Java moss
Moss ball
Wisteria (which is now about 4 of them from its constant growing lol)
Val
Anubis
Java Fern

All seem to be doing well since Ive upgraded the light but I also have the algae growth
I can see it faintly on the back wall, since its the hardest to clean during a water change and its all over the top of the driftwood.

Ive been running it about 8 hours from 11am to 7pm.

Im thinking of switching that to like 3pm to 8:30pm to reduce the lighting and get more actual viewing time out of the tank for us. Sometimes we bypass the timer because we get home around 5 or 6 and in an hour the lights off. So we end up giving an extra hour or 2 of light..... not good. I figure from like noon to 3 the ambient light would be like dusk to them.

I thought about putting a simpler LED strip on there too that would only supply light and no real UV for when were home but dont want to stress the fish with so much day and no night.

Any tips?
thanks

 

[tiger terror]

Generally most people have a photo-period of 5-6hrs.

 

[Fresh2o]

I moved my times back to come on later in the day so that I would have more time to view them. On weekends I sometimes go off schedule since I am typically home.
I have two lights and run them on two timers: one from 4-9 PM and the other from 6-11 PM. I limited the overlap time to 3 hours to help deal with the algae. I actually have a third timer for the CO2 to run between 2:30 - 9:30 PM.
The separate "fish viewing only" light sounds like a cool idea as well.
You could also try a split photo session where you can run is for 2-4 hours earlier in the day and the remaining hours (4-6) later in the day.



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[evil Nick]

I moved my times back to come on later in the day so that I would have more time to view them. On weekends I sometimes go off schedule since I am typically home.
I have two lights and run them on two timers: one from 4-9 PM and the other from 6-11 PM. I limited the overlap time to 3 hours to help deal with the algae. I actually have a third timer for the CO2 to run between 2:30 - 9:30 PM.
The separate "fish viewing only" light sounds like a cool idea as well.
You could also try a split photo session where you can run is for 2-4 hours earlier in the day and the remaining hours (4-6) later in the day.



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Yeah Ive been looking at cheap led strip lights on amazon to use.

http://www.amazon.com/Tingkam-Light...043051&sr=1-28&keywords=led+aquarium+lighting

I even thought about pulling the LEDs from my old included hood and attaching them somehow but it would have to look nice and I dont think these could.

 

[cherokeeluvr]

... Oops mine are on from 7-9 am to 9-12 pm.. :/ the plants seem good and have barely any alge! One tank is just shrimp and 3 neons and the other is a bunch of fish but has a good clean up crew!


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[fish wrangler]

I am running my T8 17W from 6am-11am and 2:30 pm-8:30. 10 hours total light and so far no new algae

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[evil Nick]

I am running my T8 17W from 6am-11am and 2:30 pm-8:30. 10 hours total light and so far no new algae

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

mine took a bit

its mostly on the drift wood.

Im debating on taking it out and scrubbing it but worried it might stress the fish since its a pretty large piece.

 

[fish wrangler]

Maybe a brittle nose pleco to help control algae??

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[evil Nick]

Maybe a brittle nose pleco to help control algae??

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I have one, hes small now and JUST found the wood top. He prefers my **** plants and the tank. My snail does a good job. Im hoping today to hit a shop that says they have nerites, horned nerites and amano shrimp.

My snails are the best algae eaters ever.

Also Have a flying fox who is a neat addition and pecks here and there. He seems to have been inducted to my Zebra Danios now they swim together and I have noticed when the larger starts screwing with the smaller he seems to chase it away. Could be my imagination but its fun to watch.