Light Hours Per Day For Planted Tank?

[Landozer18]

I really just wanted some responses for how long members with live planted aquariums leave their lights on. I know depends on the plant species ect. Just looking for what's common and reasons why those times or that time amount is common.

 

[ryanr]

Thread moved to Lighting forum

I run my lights for about 8 hrs a day.

Anymore and I get algae issues, any less and plants seem to suffer. It just seems to be the balance in my tank.

 

[octonaut]

I've just started using a timer for my lights as I'm having horrible aglae issues. I've got mine set for 10hrs but that might change.

 

[APColorado]

I have one tank on a timer, it is on for 12 hours from 730am-730pm. No algae issue for me.

 

[Dan123]

I currently turn my lights on at 8am and off at 8pm, 12 hours a day for my tank. I do this as to simulate light outside, from sunrise to sunset, or there abouts anyway. I have not had Algae problems as of yet but the tank has only been going a week so far.

Dan.

 

[ploopy]

I have mine on a timer for 9 hrs a day.I only have low-med light plants

 

[Aquarist]

Good morning,

I leave the lights on my planted 33g long tank for 6 hours per day. This tank is only 13" deep.

Ken

 

[catsma_97504]

The lighting level is a factor as well.

My low light tanks run 10-12 hours. One also gets light from a window and the lights run 8 hours or it has a horrible algae issue. Another tank is having issues with diatoms and lights are on only 6 hours a day.

My high tech tank has 3 lighting phases to simulate natural lighting. Sunrise/sunset (108 watts T5HO 5,000k) runs total of 1.5 hours am and 1 hour pm. Full light (108 watts T5HO 5,000k and 108 watts T5HO 6,700k) runs 8 hours. And moonlight runs 3.5 hours. I don't count the moonlight in my daily lighting totals because it is a total of 12 watts LED over a 90G. This tank gets massive amounts of ferts and injected CO2 to balance everything.

 

[JoannaB]

I have my planted tank on a timer 4 hours on, 4 hours off, 4 hours on, 12 hours off.

 

[Featherfin]

I have low tech, low light and medium light natural planted tanks and leave mine on for about 12 hours a day. No timer, just turn them on for however long I'm awake.

 

[sweetsammi]

My lights are on during daylight. going to cut back on my small tank recently started getting algae. no issue in my 55 gallon, and I also have a blue light that is on from 8pm-12pm no algae issues

 

[FriendsNotFood]

I have a med to high lights with a timer from 7:30am to 9pm. I don't have an algae problem, but my tanks are fairly heavily planted with fast growing plants, so all the nutrients are sucked up by them anyway.

Edit: My only tank without a light is the one that has algae problems That tank gets sun for about half a day and is super heavily planted.

 

[Landozer18]

Thanks for all the input guys!

 

[AlyeskaGirl]

I run my duel T5HO 8 hours a day; 11am-7pm. It works well for the tank and I've never ran a longer photo period.

 

[cichlidmac]

I've been running dual 24" t5ho red green from 8ish to 8ish for a few months no algae problems my bn and ammano shrimp probably wish I had more

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk 2

 

[DPM]

I have my lights on 8 to 12 hours on for the plants and 8 to 12 for the fish so they can sleep

 

[Landozer18]

I'm doing the 7:30am to 8:00pm which seems decently common thanks all

 

[DPM]

just remember most fish need 6 -8 8 hours of sleep at minimum

 

[ryanr]

just remember most fish need 6 -8 8 hours of sleep at minimum

Is this a statement of fact or an opinion? I agree fish need sleep (well a rest period), but I haven't seen a study that suggest how long they need to rest

If you can cite a reference, that'd be great!

 

[crayfish1]

I run mine for 11 hrs with no issues just good plant growth

 

[jessicalennita]

Yeah your plant needs at least 10 to 12 hours lighting a day for their healthier growth with out any issues. Proper care should be taken about the timing schedule of the lighting which is essential for the growth with no algae issues.

 

[catsma_97504]

Yeah your plant needs at least 10 to 12 hours lighting a day for their healthier growth with out any issues.

I respectfully disagree. Plants do no need this much lighting. They can do just fine with as little as 6-8 hours of lighting. More important than the hours of the photoperiod is the balance between lighting, fertilizers and CO2 supplementation.

 

[APColorado]

I've reduce mine now to 7 hours because of Algae issues