# Fluval Edge - How long lights on per day?



## Glenda Steel (6 Aug 2014)

We are setting up a Fluval Edge 46 litre tank (Aquarium dimensions (L x W x H): 43 X 26 X 59.4 CM (16.9 X 10.2 X 23.4 IN)) with only the supplied lighting (42 HIGH OUTPUT LEDS, 7600 K) the planting with be modest (it's our first tank!) with hopefully the following:
Vallisneria Nana
Limnophila Sessiliflora
Cryptocoryne wendtii brown  

How long should we leave the lights on per day/evening?  The room is light, with windows to 3 aspects, including patio doors that span nearly the whole of the back wall.  The tank is not in direct sunlight. 

Also do we need to leave the curtains open during the night for the fish & shrimp?!!
Many thanks!
Glenda


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## kirk (6 Aug 2014)

Also do we need to leave the curtains open during the night for the fish & shrimp?!!
Many thanks!
                only if they like the view.    sorry I have a silly sense of humour.    try to keep as much natural daylight off your tank as poss. You only need a beam of sun on the substrate to start algae off at certain times of the year.  As for lights I start at 5 on our new set ups and work up( high tech co2 and ferts) Are you using ferts


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## Alastair (7 Aug 2014)

Glenda Steel said:


> We are setting up a Fluval Edge 46 litre tank (Aquarium dimensions (L x W x H): 43 X 26 X 59.4 CM (16.9 X 10.2 X 23.4 IN)) with only the supplied lighting (42 HIGH OUTPUT LEDS, 7600 K) the planting with be modest (it's our first tank!) with hopefully the following:
> Vallisneria Nana
> Limnophila Sessiliflora
> Cryptocoryne wendtii brown
> ...



Hi Glenda 

If low energy ie no co2 or liquid carbon etc and just occasional ferts you can run the lights for around 6 hours a day increasing every few weeks 

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk 2


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## ceg4048 (7 Aug 2014)

kirk said:


> try to keep as much natural daylight off your tank as poss. You only need a beam of sun on the substrate to start algae off at certain times of the year.


This is not really true.
If a tank gets algae because of open curtains, then  it indicates that something else was wrong, such as poor CO2 or poor nutrition, or even poor maintenance.

Cheers,


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## kirk (7 Aug 2014)

Sun is not a contributor then. Surely keeping sun off the tank will help reduce algae?I did say day light but I meant sun my opologise. Our tank when sun gets on it I have an algae problem, for example my better half left the blinds open a bit more during the day a few days running, now I have algae again!! I do have problems with balancing co2 too.. Also during the winter in the shade our patio algaes up. I'll refrain from giving advice from now on without being more discript and I'm not arguing with the experts Clive knows his stuff.


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## Glenda Steel (7 Aug 2014)

Thank you so much for such wonderful tips and help!  I am looking into fertiliser but want to find one shrimp friendly. No we don't have any added Co2 just a very low tech' set up. Thanks for the "view" tip Kirk (made me smile) - I think they just might enjoy it!  The reason for asking about keeping the curtains open at night was due to reading on another forum how some fish of the nervous variety seem calmer at night when the room wasn't pitch black.  Let's hope our fish are more Zen!  To be honest I'd love to keep the lights on all day as they really look fabulous but I'm just thinking of power consumption and the planet.


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## ceg4048 (7 Aug 2014)

kirk said:


> Our tank when sun gets on it I have an algae problem, for example my better half left the blinds open a bit more during the day a few days running, now I have algae again!! I do have problems with balancing co2 too.


Yes mate, regret to inform. Again, closing the shades is a workaround solution and it may be the only way to solve the problem if the other, more direct solutions are not practicable. When CO2 is weak there are then SO many things that trigger problems in the tank. Again, without a more detailed information of the system in question it's really difficult to troubleshoot. If you are having difficulties then definitely start a thread with the details. more info in these posts:
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/algae-on-front-and-back-of-tank.29436/#post-307574
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/would-this-led-light-be-suitable-for-my-tank.21381/#post-218680

Cheers,


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## MikeC1408 (8 Aug 2014)

Just taking the tanks lights into consideration and not the location I had a 23 litre one with the stock LED bar running low tech and my
Lights were in for about 8.5 hours a day with no issues.


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## Lindy (19 Aug 2014)

Bet you wish you hadn't said anything Kirk!


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## Glenda Steel (20 Aug 2014)

MikeC1408 said:


> Just taking the tanks lights into consideration and not the location I had a 23 litre one with the stock LED bar running low tech and my
> Lights were in for about 8.5 hours a day with no issues.


Thanks Mike, 8.5 hours a day, did this include the evening too?  At the moment I am having the lights on in the morning from around 6am to 11am, and then again in the evening from 6.30pm until 11pm.  The new planted Rotala rotundifolia has already put on new shoots in a week and the tips are turning a pretty pink and even the  Cryptocoryne has put on new growth.  Presumably the plants would not be doing as well if they were getting too much light?


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## kirk (20 Aug 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> Bet you wish you hadn't said anything Kirk!


    I know I briefly had a pair.


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## Lindy (20 Aug 2014)

kirk said:


> I know I briefly had a pair.


LOL....


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## MikeC1408 (20 Aug 2014)

Glenda Steel said:


> Thanks Mike, 8.5 hours a day, did this include the evening too?  At the moment I am having the lights on in the morning from around 6am to 11am, and then again in the evening from 6.30pm until 11pm.  The new planted Rotala rotundifolia has already put on new shoots in a week and the tips are turning a pretty pink and even the  Cryptocoryne has put on new growth.  Presumably the plants would not be doing as well if they were getting too much light?


They came on around 1 and stayed in till about 9 or 10. 


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## DXBOli (6 Oct 2015)

Hi all, I'm very new to aquariums I have many plants in my home and decided I wanted to have aquatic plants & fish in an aquarium. I live in Dubai and my 46L tank likely gets a sun beam for 2 hours per day through double glazed and UV coated glass. I leave the white LED lights on about 10 hours per day and the blue (night LED) lights over night. Is this okay or a disaster waiting to  happen?


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## Edvet (6 Oct 2015)

Will be tough, what time of the day does it hit? At the beginning of the fotoperiod is the best. Do you use CO2?


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## DXBOli (7 Oct 2015)

The sun it's at about 5:15pm if I'm home I move the curtain across. I'm buying a Wifi plug so I can reomotely switch the light on and off. I don't have CO2 but I'm using a liquid form I put the recommended amount in weekly. I have some images if you want to have a look. Thanks for the feedback


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## Edvet (7 Oct 2015)

Probably best to block the sunlight then.


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