wellmax Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Hi, at the moment I am running my lighting for only five hours a day. What does a tank need to grow plants?? Regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gill Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 I have heard some people leave then on for 10 -12 hours a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Plants in tropical tanks generally come from the tropics, where there is daylight for around 12 hours a day, all year round. For that reason, I have my lights on a timer and they are 'on' for 12 hours a day. Other people use slightly shorter or longer hours of lighting, but 12 hours would be 'average'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 the right lighing is important. some tubes you can use are 6500K 10000K 15000K 18000K the first 2 are the most common and popular. i use the last 2. lights on at 7.30 am lights off at 8.30pm sometimes depending on what i am doing with the plants, i give them exposure to other spectra at different times of the day. What does a tank need to grow plants?? Regards. good and the right light, fertilizers be it in the soil or in the water depending on the plants and substrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 at the moment i have my lights on for about 6 hours from 4-10, and a cap of flourish every other day, and my plants seem to be doing ok with just that, but then it might just be my plants... or im a lucky blighter, which is likely :lol: all i can say is that youll learn what you need through experience more than what anyone can tell you, its a good start, but every tank will be different, so experiment with what you have! 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Plants need a balance of three things to grow, light, nutrients (fertiliser), and carbon dioxide. Having one of the three out of balance will lead to algae problems. Light - as the kelvin (the K rating Phoenix talks about) get higher the light will look more blue or crisp and the PAR (amount of light the can plants use) drops. Personally I would recommend starting round the 6500 range (will have a code of 865, or be called 'daylight'), this is about as high as a standard office tube will go to, tubes from an electrical wholesaler should be under $10, so it's not expensive to try a few different ones. Nutrients - if at all possible you are far better to add fertilisers to the substrate. Most plants feed via their roots and only have limited uptake via their leaves. Fertiliser in the water is also available for algae to use. It will last for years in the substrate, where as in the water you will be removing it with every water change. CO2 - In normal situations there will be enough CO2 from the fish and getting into the water from the air. But DIY yeast CO2 systems are easy to setup and can make plants really take off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellmax Posted August 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Thank you everyone for the advice given on this site, it carries such a wealth of knowledge for the novice when it comes to fish keeping. Cheers, John McAuley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 http://supasi.wordpress.com/let-there-be-light/ A bit in my blog about lighting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.