My setup currently consists of a 4x56W T5HO which are on for 7 hours per day. Unfortunately 7 hours per day leaves me with many hours on the weekends while I am home and the tank is dark. I have read that you can break up a photoperiod but still need a minimum of 4 hours for the plants to ramp up and make it worthwhile, leaving me with a single 7 hour chunk of lighting and darkness for the rest of the day. I would like some lights so I can see my fish in the mornings and during the day on the weekend without boosting algae growth or largely affecting the photoperiod of the plants. It is a 120 gallon (4x2x2) tank. I know plants like to have a stable photoperiod so I will be keeping those 7 hours constant each day.
My desired lighting is:
weekdays 6-8am lowlight, 2-9pm photoperiod*, 10-11 lowlight, 11pm-1am moonlights
weekends: lowlight 9am-2pm low light, 2-9pm photoperiod*, 10-11 lowlight, 11pm-1am moonlights
*may be extended slightly if I like the ramping effect which could be supplemented with the lowlight/moonlights for desired effect.
I have a few options of things to try but wanted to get some feedback to avoid things that are known to fail. Perhaps any light substantial enough to illuminate the tank will be detrimental to my plants and encourage algae, but I am not sure.
1) The T5 fixture has switches on it to go from 2 bulbs to 4 bulbs. I am going to replace the switches with indivudal power cords so they can be controlled individually via a timer to give me a sunrise/sunset effect. However I am concerned that this will still be too much light to leave on for much longer without encouraging algae growth.
2) I am building an aquarium controller for dimmable moonlights, so I could add a second channel of white or white/red LEDs. Would have to make sure the light is low enough not to affect the plants, but should be fine with maybe 10-15 LEDs. May also allow for some added color control during the ramping periods, but not sure if I can output enough light to significantly affect the 2 T5 bulbs.
3) Add a second T5 system with regular output, maybe just 3 2 ft bulbs. I dont think this should have enough output to grow much algae in the tank as I have one over a 10g without much growth on for the entire day.
Anyone have any experience with this?
My desired lighting is:
weekdays 6-8am lowlight, 2-9pm photoperiod*, 10-11 lowlight, 11pm-1am moonlights
weekends: lowlight 9am-2pm low light, 2-9pm photoperiod*, 10-11 lowlight, 11pm-1am moonlights
*may be extended slightly if I like the ramping effect which could be supplemented with the lowlight/moonlights for desired effect.
I have a few options of things to try but wanted to get some feedback to avoid things that are known to fail. Perhaps any light substantial enough to illuminate the tank will be detrimental to my plants and encourage algae, but I am not sure.
1) The T5 fixture has switches on it to go from 2 bulbs to 4 bulbs. I am going to replace the switches with indivudal power cords so they can be controlled individually via a timer to give me a sunrise/sunset effect. However I am concerned that this will still be too much light to leave on for much longer without encouraging algae growth.
2) I am building an aquarium controller for dimmable moonlights, so I could add a second channel of white or white/red LEDs. Would have to make sure the light is low enough not to affect the plants, but should be fine with maybe 10-15 LEDs. May also allow for some added color control during the ramping periods, but not sure if I can output enough light to significantly affect the 2 T5 bulbs.
3) Add a second T5 system with regular output, maybe just 3 2 ft bulbs. I dont think this should have enough output to grow much algae in the tank as I have one over a 10g without much growth on for the entire day.
Anyone have any experience with this?
