How long should I run my lights for? - Lighting

Spadster · 10-06-2009, 07:33 AM

Hey guys/girls:

I have a 10 gallon tank right now, currently injecting it with a pressurized co2 system and i have been fertilizing with Seachems line. The lighting fixture i have is Current USA Satellite Power Compact Fixture 20" 1x40W with the freshwater bulbs in there. How long should i be running this for??? I have it set for 8 hours a day but im getting tons of hair algae!

Quetzalcoatl · 10-09-2009, 05:35 PM

8 hours sound reasonable so I don't think thats the cause of the algae. Its hard to tell from limited amount of information about your tank but maybe you are over populating the tank? How often do you change water? Perhaps you are putting too much fertilizer? How densely planted?

Seattle_Aquarist · 10-10-2009, 06:18 AM

Hi Spadster,

Is the aquarium in a room where it get a lot of natural light, either direct or indirect? How long has your 10 gallon been set up? Do you take readings of your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?

If it were me, I would immediately clean up as much of the algae as possible, do a 50% water change, and cut the light back to 4 - 6 hours. Let us know how things go!

Spadster · 10-11-2009, 06:28 AM

Hey guys! Thanks for the reply!! Its been setup for about 8 weeks now. I reduced the light to about 7 hours now, i cleaned up as much algae as i could. I fertilize with Seachems full line using their recommended doses. I have the excel spreadsheet where you put in how many gallons you have and it calculates the amount of dosage you put in. I wouldnt say my setup is FULLY planted (like a jungle look) its probably a medium densely planted tank. I do weekly sometimes 2-3 times a week water change (50%). I do weekly water tests and my ammonia is 0 my nitrite is 0, and my nitrates are 0-10 it varies from week to week. If you guys need to know anything else just ask!

niclmo · 10-11-2009, 06:46 AM

I had a hair algae problen for a while. I did the following and it's completely gone now:

- Lower photoperiod to 6 hours (can be increased again once algae gone)
- Ensure CO2 is consistent and at 30ppm (Tom Barr says inconsistent CO2 is the cause of a lot of
algae issues - seems true in my limited experience).
- Manually remove algae every day
- Dose with Excel at recommended doses.
- Do regular water changes.

Good luck.

Spadster · 10-11-2009, 07:36 AM

Hey niclmo! I might have found out what is wrong now from what your saying! How i dose with my co2 tank is, i put it on just before the lights come on at 1 bubble per 9 seconds, it stays on for a 2 hours then shuts off then comes back on after an hour of being off until the the lights shut off. Reason i do this is, if i keep my co2 tank running for the full time my lights are on, my drop checker reads that im putting too much co2 in. So i think im getting inconsistant co2 in my tank, whats the best approach at this making it perfect?