# Lighting schedule question



## Aquaman55g (Oct 5, 2010)

I currently have 1-55 gal planted aquarium with T5HO lights and pressurized CO2 and 1-29 gal aquarium with low lights and no added CO2 besides Flourish Excel. Both tanks appear to be healthy as the fish are fine and the plants grow well with little to no algae in either tank.
I am planning to set up a 40 gal breeder sized planted tank using a soil substrate and was doing some research online. 
A long time aquarium keeper stated that he had found and used what he believed to be the best lighting schedule: 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM then no lights from 3:30 PM until 5:30 PM and then 5:30 PM until 9:30 PM for a total of 9 hours of lighting with a 2 hour 'siesta period with no lights'. He claimed that not only were his plants healthy but it kept the algae away.
Has anyone ever heard of this? Does this make sense for a planted aquarium?
Thanks. :fish10:


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

When it comes down to it, if all of your plants are healthy and you're not constantly battling algae, do what works for you. If your current schedule works, then I would not mess with it...but that is really up to you. I adjusted mine to a reasonable amount of time I thought that my plants needed, and then added something different for me to enjoy looking at them.

My lights come on at 8-10am and then from 3-10pm. It works for times that I get the most time to view them while the light is on, rather than having it on while I was at work or something. It is just a schedule that I finally adapted my setup to. I don't know what kind of effect it has on algae, but I rarely have much of an issue.


----------



## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Aquaman55g said:


> I currently have 1-55 gal planted aquarium with T5HO lights and pressurized CO2 and 1-29 gal aquarium with low lights and no added CO2 besides Flourish Excel. Both tanks appear to be healthy as the fish are fine and the plants grow well with little to no algae in either tank.
> I am planning to set up a 40 gal breeder sized planted tank using a soil substrate and was doing some research online.
> A long time aquarium keeper stated that he had found and used what he believed to be the best lighting schedule: 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM then no lights from 3:30 PM until 5:30 PM and then 5:30 PM until 9:30 PM for a total of 9 hours of lighting with a 2 hour 'siesta period with no lights'. He claimed that not only were his plants healthy but it kept the algae away.
> Has anyone ever heard of this? * Does this make sense for a planted aquarium?*Thanks. :fish10:




sure

But bottom line is the lights should on as long as possible so the plants grow but not the algae.


my .02


----------



## debisbooked (Jan 7, 2012)

Aquaman55g said:


> I currently have 1-55 gal planted aquarium with T5HO lights and pressurized CO2 and 1-29 gal aquarium with low lights and no added CO2 besides Flourish Excel. Both tanks appear to be healthy as the fish are fine and the plants grow well with little to no algae in either tank.
> I am planning to set up a 40 gal breeder sized planted tank using a soil substrate and was doing some research online.
> A long time aquarium keeper stated that he had found and used what he believed to be the best lighting schedule: 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM then no lights from 3:30 PM until 5:30 PM and then 5:30 PM until 9:30 PM for a total of 9 hours of lighting with a 2 hour 'siesta period with no lights'. He claimed that not only were his plants healthy but it kept the algae away.
> Has anyone ever heard of this? Does this make sense for a planted aquarium?
> Thanks. :fish10:


I've heard of people doing this and I would like to try it but how....is there a special timer that does both times or does one have to have two timers? I don't have room for two timers.


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

debisbooked said:


> I've heard of people doing this and I would like to try it but how....is there a special timer that does both times or does one have to have two timers? I don't have room for two timers.


All of my timers are digital. I just tell it what to do and they do it. Made by Coralife.


----------



## mike87 (Jan 28, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> All of my timers are digital. I just tell it what to do and they do it. Made by Coralife.


same all mine are with up to 10 on off times 10x better than standard clock times*w3


----------



## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

i have cheap harber freight timers. It is infinitely adjustable in 30 min increments.

Just find a timer with multiple on/off's.


----------



## debisbooked (Jan 7, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> All of my timers are digital. I just tell it what to do and they do it. Made by Coralife.


Ha! You can tell how old I am...I never thought of digital types. My tank timers are the big, bulky manual kind. One has pins placed for on/off hours but I lost all the other pins. The other is more promising- tiny little switches for each hour-I could change that one to have two on/off times. 

This is why these forums are so helpful- I need others to 'kick-start' my brain into thinking!


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Similar to what I have:

Aquarium Light Timers: Coralife Power Center


----------

