How long is too long for lights?

[PJFISH]

I've been keeping my lights on 12 hrs as per a book on planted aquariums, is this too long?

 

[phishiephishie]

Yes that is too long. What type of lights do you have? What kind of tank and plants? At 12 hours you will most likely run into algae problems. I would recommend 6 hours and getting a timer would make running your lights much easier.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello again PJ...

Aquarium plants are tropical and used to long hours of daylight. You can run tank lights up to 14 hours a day. I'd say that would be the maximum for good growth.

B

 

[jwh0818]

Hello again PJ...

Aquarium plants are tropical and used to long hours of daylight. You can run tank lights up to 14 hours a day. I'd say that would be the maximum for good growth.

B

Ummm no. Don't do this at all or you will for sure be making a thread about why tou have algae in every inch of your tank. 6 hours is perfect or you can try 8 hours

 

[Brookster123]

Ummm no. Don't do this at all or you will for sure be making a thread about why tou have algae in every inch of your tank. 6 hours is perfect or you can try 8 hours

+1 in this, I've found there is a fine balance with lights, ferts and plants, one does not simply leave lights on for 14 hrs problem free. Not saying it can't be done but it would require much trial and error to get there..

 

[phishiephishie]

Lol yeah 14 hours is definitely way too long you'll have algae everywhere. I run my planted tank at 5 hours of light and get great growth. The minimum you'll need to light the tank is 4 hours in order for the plants to have a substantial amount of time to photosynthesize. Although every tank is different, there really is no need to go over 8 hours of light

 

[PJFISH]

Thanks guys! I have water sprite, java fern and swords, they're all getting algae on their leaves!

 

[phishiephishie]

Just turn the light down to 8 hours and if you continue to have problems with algae, try 7 hours and so on until you find the right amount of light that your tank needs

 

[jwh0818]

Thanks guys! I have water sprite, java fern and swords, they're all getting algae on their leaves!

Since the leaves are getting algae I would start at 6 hours a day and work around that.

 

[Brookster123]

I'm still battling off bba, down to 5.5 hours a day while dosing excel..

 

[eeconstable]

BBA always has two things in common. Too much phosphate and wrong or worn out wavelength lighting. What kind of bulb? How old is it? Until you get the BBA taken care of, you can forget the plants. That stuff is horribly parasitic.

 

[dzyatfz]

get some algae eater

 

[eeconstable]

Algae eaters will not eat BBA. Otocinclus catfish will, until they discover your plants taste better, after which they will suck the tissue right out of the leaves. Honestly, myself and another friend got BBA in our aquariums and the only way we killed it was to remove everything and heavily shock the tank with chlorine. We both lost everything. I'm not saying it's the only option, but light and phosphates play a role, start there. Catfish are fine for other types of algae, but not BBA.

 

[jwh0818]

Algae eaters will not eat BBA. Otocinclus catfish will, until they discover your plants taste better, after which they will suck the tissue right out of the leaves. Honestly, myself and another friend got BBA in our aquariums and the only way we killed it was to remove everything and heavily shock the tank with chlorine. We both lost everything. I'm not saying it's the only option, but light and phosphates play a role, start there. Catfish are fine for other types of algae, but not BBA.

Peroxide is a way better and safer route then chlorine

 

[Mebbid]

Hello again PJ...

Aquarium plants are tropical and used to long hours of daylight. You can run tank lights up to 14 hours a day. I'd say that would be the maximum for good growth.

B

No... Just no.

BBA always has two things in common. Too much phosphate and wrong or worn out wavelength lighting. What kind of bulb? How old is it? Until you get the BBA taken care of, you can forget the plants. That stuff is horribly parasitic.

Worn out bulbs has little to do with algae growth. It's an imbalance between the light, ferts, and carbon that causes BBA to flourish. I do agree about the horrendous spreading nature of it. Stopping the addition of plants might be wise in certain circumstances until the issue is fixed. Other times it can be that there just aren't enough plants in the tank.

Algae eaters will not eat BBA. Otocinclus catfish will, until they discover your plants taste better, after which they will suck the tissue right out of the leaves. Honestly, myself and another friend got BBA in our aquariums and the only way we killed it was to remove everything and heavily shock the tank with chlorine. We both lost everything. I'm not saying it's the only option, but light and phosphates play a role, start there. Catfish are fine for other types of algae, but not BBA.

Oto cats feed primarily on bio film in the tank and will eat some algae. But bba is not among those altars that they will eat. They also don't make a habit of eating healthy plant leaves, but again are eating the bio film off the leaves.

One fish that does eat bba is a Siamese algae eater at a young age before they get fat and lazy.

 

[Brookster123]

Amano shrimp chow down on bba too, atleast mine used too, now they just hide all the time..

 

[eeconstable]

This is why I don't join forums. Fifteen years of aquarium keeping experience lost to argument. Fluorescent bulbs are only good for between six months to a year. After that they wear out and the strength and wavelength of light is not conducive to good plant growth. It is, however, just what BBA needs to grow. BBA is actually a red algae and as such needs red wavelengths of light so the phycoerythrin proteins In them can photo synthesize light. That is why LED technology has grown so popular. With an LED light you can control those spectrums and wavelengths. As for oto cats, they too we're recommended to me as a possible solution to a BBA problem. They decimated what was left of my Jungle Val and sword plants. They would suck on the leaves, leaving huge transparent holes In them. I watched them with my own eyes. They like broad leaved plants. I assure you they weren't just eating the film off of them. They got big and fat chowing down on Jungle Val. They left holes in the plants similar to Potassium deficiency, but far more clear. As the plants began dying that created new issues with excess nutrients that the BBA exploited in growth. Excess phosphate and inconsistent CO2 levels can exacerbate the situation greatly. Too frequent water changes can contribute to a heavily fluctuating CO2 level and phosphate levels rising. Test the phosphate in your source water. It may be high. Cutting back on water changes may help if they are frequent. I made the mistake of "combatting" my BBA problem. I wasted tons of money and time on it. Finally I started over and went to a seminar at my local fish supplier on algae and how to AVOID them. Avoiding it is the key to BBA. Once you have it, any microscopic amount will cause a regrowth. It is just about impossible to beat. Clean out the tank. Shock the decorations and gravel with a chlorine solution and total darkness for two weeks. Refill the tank with water and start your nitrogen cycle over using a few new fish and bacteria you can purchase at most pet stores. Then you can put your fish back in from their temporary tank. Make sure to start over with new plants and by all means do not put any of the "temporary" tank's water in the recycled tank. Make sure that you look at the new plants you purchase very, very closely when you go to get them. Make sure they don't have anything that resembles BBA growing on them! BBA is impossible to clean from plants because it is parasitic and grows into the structure of the leaves making it impossible to "wipe" off. So again, check the plants and AVOID the problem. Hope all this helps.

 

[eeconstable]

Some in the industry are spot treating BBA with hydrogen peroxide and having documented success. I am not familiar with the method enough to speak to it. Research may be in order.

 

[jwh0818]

This is why I don't join forums.

You could have kept that to yourself. You will always find different things work differently for different tanks. Just because yours has a long explanation doesn't mean its gonna work for the next Joe. All tanks are different and all water chemistry is different. No one is trying to say your wrong or say no that's bad advice because most here will say "no don't do that its bad" if there really is a problem. 3 post and your already getting mad? That's not really a great start

 

[jwh0818]

Some in the industry are spot treating BBA with hydrogen peroxide and having documented success. I am not familiar with the method enough to speak to it. Research may be in order.

Yes this works very very well