How does this lighting schedule look? Staggered lighting...

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jcardona1

jcardona1

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 5, 2007
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South of Heaven
Hey!

I've been reading up on photo periods, staggered lighting, and plant "siestas" and it seems that there's a lot of mixed opinions on the subject. Some say it helps reduce algae growth but I would like to stagger my lighting period mainly to be able to enjoy the tank in the morning before work and in the evening when i get home. I'm hoping i could control algae growth through other methods :)

Details:
- Tank: 55g, 48x15x18
- Lights: 4ft, 4 bulb T5HO, all 10,000k, total 216w
- pressurized CO2
- Plants: HC and blyxa japonia

So, im gonna be running about 4wpg on this tank

EMERSED STAGE:
I'm going to start off with an emersed growth period for the HC. I plan on running only 2 bulbs, putting me at almost 2wpg and want to run the lights for a total of 10hrs. This is the lighting schedule i was planning on doing:

- 6:30a - 7:30a, 1hr
- 11:00a - 1:00p, 2hrs
- 3:00p - 10:00p, 7hrs
TOTAL: 10hrs



SUBMERGED STAGE, NEW PLANT GROWTH:
I want to keep the lighting fairly low for a few months until the plants are established and mature, so I'm thinking 8hrs of 4wpg scheduled as follows:

- 6:30a - 7:30a, 1hr
- 11:00a - 12:00p, 1hrs
- 4:00p - 10:00p, 6hrs
TOTAL: 8hrs



SUBMERGED STAGE, ESTABLISHED PLANT GROWTH:
After the plants become established and have grown well (I hope!), i plan on doing 12hrs of 4wpg scheduled as follows:

- 6:30a - 7:30a, 1hr
- 10:00a - 1:00p, 3hrs
- 2:00p - 4:00p, 2hrs
- 5:00p - 11:00p, 6hrs
TOTAL: 12hrs


So, how does this sound? Any opinions? Should I be doing something differently?

Thx for the help! :)
 
Not sure? Do you mind sharing where you found the information about the staggered lighting? I was thinking of doing something similar. My new light is broken up into 2 banks of 4 bulbs with seperate power cables. I was thinking about haivng 4 come on for the first 2 hours, then the other 4 kick on for 6 hours, the back to 4 for the last 2 hours. In my mind at least it would simulate the different strength of lighting throughout the day as the sun gets stronger in the afternoon.
 
are you a member of plantedtanks.net? thats where i found the info. lots of good threads about this. search for "staggered" or "siesta"...
 
got this reply on PTC

epicfish said:
EMERSED STAGE:
- 6:30a - 8:30a, 2hr
- 2:00p - 10:00p, 8hrs
TOTAL: 10hrs


SUBMERGED STAGE, NEW PLANT GROWTH:
- 6:30a - 9:30a, 3hrs
- 4:00p - 10:00p, 6hrs
TOTAL: 9hrs


SUBMERGED STAGE, ESTABLISHED PLANT GROWTH:

- 6:30a - 8:30a, 2hr; 2 bulbs
- 11:00a - 2:00p, 3hrs; 4 bulbs
- 5:00p - 10:00p, 5hrs; 2 bulbs
TOTAL: 10hrs

^

That's what I'd do. 4 bulbs (216W) over 55g for 12 hours is overkill.
Click to expand...
 
with the emersed growth i would go 10 to 12 hours straight because you have no actual water to grow algea in so you shouldnt worry about that just be sure the tank stays humid enough.


the problem with your first post of having one hour time slots is plants take a while before there photo period actually starts i think its a half hour so having a one hour chunk only gives you half hour of actual plant growth so i would do min of 2.5 hours of light at any one time. with roughly 8 hours of actual photoperiod of the plants if that makes since

if it maters mine is

8am to 11 am
3pm to 6pm
9pm to 11pm
with 4 HO T5 bulbs and this actually stopped my large green water
 
thanks for the info. what size tank is this on, and what wattage bulbs are these? so you leave all 4 bulbs on all at once?
 
its on a 29 gallon tank with the hagon glo 24" ho t5 i cant remeber the amout of watts though. its two of the duel lights

how do you like your light? im about to set up a discus 75 gallon that will be planted before to long and i want a good light like a tek but i dont know if i want to spend the money for one.
 
oh ok, i think those are about 24w each. the new light is awesome, i really like it! and for the price, i think its a great value. i have a nova extreme (2 bulb) T5 on my 210 and it seems crappy compared to the Solar light.

the reflector on the nova lights is a cheap thin, flexible material. the Solar reflectors is of much better quality. have you seen the review i did on my solar light?

see here, post #25
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2056859#post2056859
 
another thing, it was suggested that i only run all 4 bulbs (4wpg) for about 3hrs a day. i was under the impression that HC is a high light plant, so will 2wpg of T5 lighting be enough for the majority of the day?

anybody have input on this?
 
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