# Lighting Time



## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

I was just wondering how long you all run your lights each day? I have just set up my first planted tank and I was hoping I could get some input on this. I've also heard that for the first week or two after setting up your tank, you should run your lights about 2 hours less than you eventually plan to. Is this true? I had been thinking of running my lights (T5's) 10 hours a day for about two weeks, and then running them for 12 hours a day after that. Any input would be greatly appreciated. 

Also, while I'm thinking about it, I just got my plants planted two nights ago and ran my light for the first time today. I've been checking my tank periodically and I have not noticed any pearling. Is this normal, either for new tanks or all tanks, or does this mean that I need to add more carbon? Thanks for all of your help.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Hi,

We need a little more information to give you a really good answer. How big is your tank? Are your T5s normal output or high output?

That said, most people start a new tank by running the lights 6-8 hours a day, and increase that by one hour each week until they get to 10 or 12 hours. This is if you have low to medium light levels; high light tanks often are run with a shorter photoperiod.

Pearling only occurs when the plants are in tip-top shape and photosynthesizing at a very high rate. It doesn't usually happen in brand new tanks, and may never happen in low or medium light tanks. This does not mean that anything is wrong--the plants and tank can be perfectly fine and never show pearling. We like pearling because it looks so cool, but it isn't necessary for a healthy tank.

--Michael


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## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

Sorry about that, my specs are 29 gallon tank w/ 4 wavepoint T5 6500k lights above it for a total of 96 watts. I'm pretty sure that the bulbs are high output. This may seem like too much light, but I am planning on growing some difficult/high light plants such as HC. As of now, I do not have any CO2, but I was thinking about using excel at least for the time being. 

That is good to know that healthy plants don't always pearl, I had read that that was pretty much the only way to tell if they were photosynthesizing at all. Thanks for the feedback


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## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

So, how long would you guys recommend I run my lights each day?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Four T5 HO is a lot of light! I would start at 6 hours a day if you are running all four. Can you run only two at a time? That would let you have a "mid-day burst" of 2-3 hours, with only two running for the rest of the photoperiod.


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## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

If you are a comfortable tinkerer I would recommend rigging up your fixture so that every bulb is on a different timer and run 12 hours of light like a sun cycle. You can adjust the amount of light in the tank by adjusting the time for individual bulbs while still having 12 hours of light if you like to view your tanks a lot. Plus I think it just looks cool having a sun cycle on the tanks and the plants seem to enjoy it. 

Id recommend something similar to this then adjusting it to how you tank responds.

Bulb1- 9am-4pm 
Bulb2- 10am-6pm
Bulb3- 12pm-8pm 
Bulb4- 2pm-9pm


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## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

Thanks for the replies, 
Unfortunately my fixture is either all four bulbs on or none at all. I would like to be able to do what you guys are talking about, but it's only got one on/off switch. 
Start with 6 hours a day, wow ok a lot less than I've been running. I've been running it 10 hours a day for the past three days. I don't really want to tinker with my light, I would just be too nervous that I'd mess something up or break something or something like that especially because this is my very first planted tank so I have very little experience with this type of thing. 

So I should probably start with about 6 hours of lighting a day, how much should I increase it to and what increments should I increase it in? Like, should I add an hour a week every week until I'm up to 8 hours a day or something like that? I was originally shooting for 12 hours a day, but I guess that's too much...


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Fishguy10 said:


> Thanks for the replies,
> Unfortunately my fixture is either all four bulbs on or none at all. I would like to be able to do what you guys are talking about, but it's only got one on/off switch.  ...


Can you remove two of the bulbs and it will still operate? If so, would removing the two inside bulbs and leaving the two outside bulbs give you good coverage?


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## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

I don't necessarily want less light, I would just like to be able to regulate it a little bit more for a more natural daylight effect. I'm currently in the process of reducing my lighting time each day from ten hours a day down to probably 6 or 7. I'm planning on reducing it about one hour every 2 days or so. Once I get it down to 6 or so, how long should I wait before increasing it one hour? Maybe like a week or so? Also, how long should I eventually get it up to? Maybe like 8-10 or so? Thanks in advance


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## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

Do u have a cover on the tank? And how far are the lights above the surface of the water?


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## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

I do not have a cover on my tank, I didn't want to reduce my light output in any way. My light is probably about 3-4 inches above my tank.


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## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

Personally if I was in your situation I would take out 1 or 2 bulbs and up the lighting time. Your plants would benefit more because without CO2 there is a ton of extra light your plants cannot use even if they wanted to. With less light and a longer photoperiod they would probably still use the same amount they are able to now but they could use it for longer. When I am using low to medium light I always run a MINIMUM of 10-12 hours. If you do that with high light you probably want a high tech tank with CO2 and to watch your perameters very closely or you're just asking for algae.


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## Fishguy10 (Aug 6, 2011)

Thanks for the recommendation. I think that I will really start looking at CO2 systems. It seems that they have a lot of benefits, and it seems like I will pretty much need one for my tank. I'll also work on choosing a dosing regime and then hopefully I'll be able to use all of my lights and not have any problems. Thanks for the help and recommendations.


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## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

No problem. Best of luck to you


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