# planted tank light timers



## m8r8j (Jun 13, 2010)

Ok I got a heavily planted biocube... just got two light timers was wondering how long to keep my lights on... I'm about 3.6 watts per gallon with dual 10000ks.. I read about 12 hours


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## littlefish (Aug 4, 2010)

i think 12 hours is much, 8-9 hours it is recommended. 3.6 W per gallon is very good, but if you keep to much the light on you will risk algae to apear.


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

In my oppiniom, I would change one of those lights to something closer to the lower range on the kelvin scale, plants like red and yellow lights so if u paired one of ur 10,000ks with lets say a 6700k i think u would notice a difference


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

How big is your bio-cube? 8-9hrs is enough, anything more just invites algae. The benefit of a VHO/HO lights are for larger tanks where you need more lumens of penetration to get light to the bottom of the tank. 

Do you use CO2 or ferts? If so, how often do you fert and do water changes? What is your substrate? Got a picture of your tank?


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## m8r8j (Jun 13, 2010)

14 biocube
10 serpae tetras
2 otto cats
3 mystery snails
buncha ghost shrimp

2 anubas plants
water primrose
2 argintine swords
2 banana plants
and baby tears

everything is small right now, im waiting for it to all grow. my baby tears is prolly gonan die cuz i dont have co2 injection... and i still gotta get some floating plants


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

That is a lot of light for a non-CO2 tank, so watch for algae blooms carefully as the nutrients get used by the plants. Baby tears like high light and some CO2 but your anubis like low light conditions (and don't bury the rhyzome) or it will rot. With high light and their slow growth, you may see some green spot algae. When you get floating plants, make sure they shadow the anubis.

Also watch out for your swords as they grow, they could take over. Other than that your tank looks great and hopefully stays that way.


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## m8r8j (Jun 13, 2010)

also, i use seachem flourish (not flourish excel) as fertilizer... any good?


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