# 2x4hrs or 1x8hrs



## leemonk (17 Apr 2010)

Morning all,

I have a Juwell 180 Rio tank with its standard lighting.

I am about to renew my efforts into maintaining the tank and I wanted to know if I am better off having my lights on for two sets of 4hrs which are broken by a 5 hour gap, or am I better off having a one times 4hr period?

I am planning on switching the plants to the following:

Dwarf Hairgrass
Glosso (Maybe)
A couple of different types of Anubis growin on wood
The straight form of Vallis.

Regards

Lee

ps..... Are plants affected by the blue led lighting? ie the one that is supposed to simulate moonlight?


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## Stu Worrall (17 Apr 2010)

my vote gets 1x8 hrs but im afraid i dont know the science behind it!  im sure someone will be along soon to confirm or deny

the blue led is something ive always wondered so will be interested if anyone can comment


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (17 Apr 2010)

Lee

Its advisable to have one continuous lighting period, if you have a twin tube lighting unit within the hood you could have one tube for 6 - 7 hrs and the other tube on for 2 hrs for a mid photoperiod boost, by switch off the lights for a period of time will affect plants photosynthesis regime, you need to replicate what happens outside, night time then day light and back to night time. 

Regards
paul.


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## leemonk (17 Apr 2010)

Thanks for the replies.

Are blue led's good for periods before and after?


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## frothhelmet (17 Apr 2010)

moonlights are irrelevant except perhaps to help the fishes/animals adjust to day/night changes.


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## CeeJay (18 Apr 2010)

Hi Lee
One continuous photoperiod gets my vote too.


			
				leemonk said:
			
		

> I am about to renew my efforts into maintaining the tank and I wanted to know if I am better off having my lights on for two sets of 4hrs which are broken by a 5 hour gap, or am I better off having a one times 4hr period?


Think about what nature does and ask yourself, does the natural daylight turn itself off for 5 hours during the day? 
If you are concerned that the tank lights will be off when you're at home in the evening, just move the whole photoperiod to start later. I have mine come on at 4pm and off at 11pm (7 hours of lighting creates more than enough maintenance for me   )


			
				Flyfisherman said:
			
		

> Its advisable to have one continuous lighting period, if you have a twin tube lighting unit within the hood you could have one tube for 6 - 7 hrs and the other tube on for 2 hrs for a mid photoperiod boost, by switch off the lights for a period of time will affect plants photosynthesis regime, you need to replicate what happens outside, night time then day light and back to night time.


Hi Paul (Flyfisherman)
I have the very same tank and the lighting tubes can only be switched on as a pair, which can be a right pain if you're having an algae battle and want to reduce the light . It's all or nothing with this tank as far as the lighting is concerned  .


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (18 Apr 2010)

Chris 

I wasn't aware that you only had one switch within the lighting circuit, I am lucky as I have twin switches so I have one set of lights on for 6 hours and switch the other set on for 5 hours within the 6 hour total lighting period - have you thought of adding a additional switch + power lead.

Regards
Paul.


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## leemonk (18 Apr 2010)

Well..... that does infact bring me to my next question....

I popped into a London shops listed on this website somewhere and was chatting with the chap in there.

He was showing me a Juwell 180 tank that he had set up and its very similar, minus a far parts, to what I want to do..... heavy on moss on the wood with a sprinkling of Anubis and dwarf hairgrass......

He asked me what lighting I had and I told him that I didnt really know but that I had had it for 1.5 years and havn't changed and bulbs.

He told me that the Juwell 180 comes in two setups, the old one, which has T8 Bulbs (inferiour, if I dont get it mixed up) and the newer versions which have T5.

He told me to measure the size of the bulb, which I have now done, but I don't know which is which. The bulb measures 1.5cm in diameter (across - incase I get this mixed up too)

So.... which do I have and do I actually need to replace them?

ps... thanks for all the answers thus far.


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (18 Apr 2010)

Lee

With the diameter of the tube you have stated 1.5cm - this sound like a T5 tube - the two brass pins on the ends of the tube are very close together, a T8 tube is 25mm or 1" in its diameter, twice the size. As for changing them - leave them until they stop working or go bang.

Regards
Paul.


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## leemonk (18 Apr 2010)

Thanks,

In the shop we thought they were the T8's and he was telling me that I would have problems growing Glosso, Dwarf Hairgrass and a few other fern type plants I was looking at. 

Given that it is a T5, would I be okay with those plants?

What I am trying to create is a dwarf grass front, 3 peices of wood with anubis and densly grown fern (not sure of type) and then a back drop of Vallis.

Cheers

Lee


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (18 Apr 2010)

Lee

have a look at the attached shortcut - the picyies will give you some idea of tube diameters and T5 tube will be ok for your plants.

http://www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs- ... cent-Tubes

Regards
paul.


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## CeeJay (18 Apr 2010)

Hi Paul


			
				Flyfisherman said:
			
		

> Chris
> 
> I wasn't aware that you only had one switch within the lighting circuit, I am lucky as I have twin switches so I have one set of lights on for 6 hours and switch the other set on for 5 hours within the 6 hour total lighting period - have you thought of adding a additional switch + power lead.
> 
> ...


Sounds like you've got your lighting set up just sweet.
The Juwel lighting unit is one twin ballast with both lamps connected 'in series' which means if you remove 1 tube the other one goes out   . I've had a good look into this and switching them separately is not possible, as you would need two single ballasts to do that , which is a right pain. 
I'm waiting for it to go pop (tube or ballast, don't care which goes first) and then there will be some serious modifications taking place, and it won't involve paying Â£15-Â£20 for a Juwel tube either  .

Hi Lee
Paul is right about your set up having T5's.
Easy way to remember for the future is that the T in T5, T8, T12 etc. refers to the number of 1/8ths of an inch of diameter. So if you have a T5 it is 5/8ths of an inch (which just so happens to be around 16mm, 15.875mm actually    ), so your measurement of 1.5cm or 15mm makes it a T5. It therefore follows that a T8 is eight 1/8ths of an inch which makes it 1 inch (25mm) diameter.



			
				leemonk said:
			
		

> What I am trying to create is a dwarf grass front, 3 peices of wood with anubis and densly grown fern (not sure of type) and then a back drop of Vallis.


Your lighting will be absolutely fine for virtually any plant you choose. In fact you might have too much light for the slow growing Anubias. In a previous set up in this same tank I had Anubias in full light and Anubias in the shade. The one's in the shade were in perfect condition but the one's in full light always got algae on their leaves.   .
If you want to see what you can do with a Rio 180 and hairgrass, check out page 5 of the tank in my signature, and these tubes are over a year old   , so don't be changing your tubes because "the manufacturer said so"


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## leemonk (19 Apr 2010)

Thanks again chaps!

Chris, it was your journal, that I read on thursday last week, that inspired the hairgrass idea. I have put a post in the general thread, but it has no replies about the idea too.

I think I may follow your idea of waiting until it pops to do something about it.

I have algae problems now too, and I am not really sure what to do about it. Based on this thread I will adjusting the hours of the light today and as mentioned in my other post, I'll be a little more 'on top' of things in the future

My concerns are the anubis too, mine also have that hard algae that appears on slowing growing plants. The idea behind the Vallis was twofold, firstly it would provide a nice backdrop (despite not deciding on a background colour) but also I intend for it to become a little denser in one corner thus blocking the light a little and its in this shaded area that I intended to plant the Anubis.

Regards

Lee


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## CeeJay (19 Apr 2010)

Hi Lee


			
				leemonk said:
			
		

> Chris, it was your journal, that I read on thursday last week, that inspired the hairgrass idea.


That's nice to hear, but I can't take credit for the idea, that was inspired by a certain Japanese gentleman  


			
				leemonk said:
			
		

> Based on this thread I will adjusting the hours of the light today


Good idea. Light can be your best friend, but too much of it can be your worst enemy as you've found out. I had my fair share of problems in my early days too, but quickly learnt that too much light can be the root of all evil if everything else is not up to scratch. 
Sounds like a good idea to grow the Anubias in the shaded areas. I never did nail the 'algae on the Anubias' problem so ended up just growing them in the shaded areas of the tank   where they lived quite happily.


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