Aquatic Plant Central - View Single Post - Method of controlled imbalances discussion

farrenator · 08-08-2011, 11:07 AM

By my calculations your lights are on for 10 hours per day:
2 hours at 250 watts
4 hours at 500 watts
2 hours at 250 watts
2 hours at 250 watts
Lights off for 14 hours.

Does the tank get any natural light? You wrote that you get less GDA where the light is further away. This sounds like a pretty big clue to me to cut down on your light! Have you tried an 8 hour photoperiod? At this point it seems like a very easy variable to paly with. Another option may be to see if you can diffuse the light some. Most hardware store sell rolls of black plastic screen material that should filter out 'some' of the light hitting the tank. I am by no means an expert but this seem like a painless and easy thing to experiment with.

08-08-2011, 11:07 AM	#426 (permalink)
farrenator Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 100 iTrader Ratings: 2 iTrader Positive Rating: 100% Plant Points:	Re: Method of controlled imbalances discussion By my calculations your lights are on for 10 hours per day: 2 hours at 250 watts 4 hours at 500 watts 2 hours at 250 watts 2 hours at 250 watts Lights off for 14 hours. Does the tank get any natural light? You wrote that you get less GDA where the light is further away. This sounds like a pretty big clue to me to cut down on your light! Have you tried an 8 hour photoperiod? At this point it seems like a very easy variable to paly with. Another option may be to see if you can diffuse the light some. Most hardware store sell rolls of black plastic screen material that should filter out 'some' of the light hitting the tank. I am by no means an expert but this seem like a painless and easy thing to experiment with.