How Long ?

I have a 20W plant grow light on my 30 gallon aquarium. How many hours a day should I have it on in order for it to be effective ?

I love the ideas I have received here, but there are just as many answers as there are people. ;D

Also, I have been told I am over fertilizing so I am going to cut that out for a couple of months.

I am doing a water change weekly instead of monthly.

I have an airstone moving the surface of the water.

All of these ideas came from friends trying to help me with my planted aquarium.


Thanks.

 

8 hrs since your having a algae problem.

 

Ill +1 on Soustadt with 8 hours due to algae issues although Id probably cut down from 14 - 12- maybe 10 to start with and add that Algae requires nutrients and light to prosper, so if you cut down on the fertiliser and the lighting a little it should help - once the algae is dealt with, providing you control nutrient levels in future you can then increase your lighting period

( get timer for lights - otherwise if you work during day for example, you switch lights on before you leave and off when you get home - which would mean lights where off when you really want them on to view your tank - if you have a timer, they can come on at mid day and go off at 8pm - 10 pm

monitor plant growth, colouration, if cutting back down on lighting means there is some discolouration, brown tips etc - then increase lighting period

 

Normally with a reef tank, you want a 12 hour light cycle, but you can adjust that depending on your specific needs.

If you are short on light, you can move up to a max of about 14 hours, if you have to much light, cutting back to about 8 hours is fine.

If you are fighting algea, you can cut back to zero for about 2 days, then back to normal, or down to about 6 hours for a few days.

As Steve says, algae needs nutrients as well as light, so try to manage the nutrients so you can give your corals enough light to grow.

Kim

 

Kgross - please post again, as I have made a mistake using the scales and need to remedy it

note to self

check which circle the black dot is in before clicking

 

Per Steve's request, here is another post.

Kim

 

You are using a 20 watt grow lux lamp on a aquarium ? and you have alage problems ? who sugguested that you run a bulb to grow algae on the aquarium ? Is it the white/yellow looking or the blue reddish looking lamp ? I would tell you not to run that bulb at all. toss it in the trash

I think you are trying to do a live planted system correct ? if so its more to it then a bulb and fertilizer . what alage are you having problems with ?

 

Hey Salty Fresh - any advice you get from Tangster is going to be 10 times better than any advice I could give.

keep talking!

 

Do you have a CO2 system? I know that in planted aquariums, you need a CO2 system to help regulate the ph. Are you having an algae problem? I didn't see that in your post.

 

Hi Guitarman - Soustadt is referring to another thread by Salty fresh where an algae issue is mentioned