Light cycle in bright room

[Matthias]

I’m getting back into the hobby after a little hiatus after moving house. I’ve got a 55l Dennerle scapers tank and arriving any day now, which I’m planning to run with co2, aquasoil and probably a chihiros a II light (probably dimmed slightly), not super high tech and hopefully fairly low maintenance.

The space I have available for it is in our living room with east facing windows across the width of the room. It’ll be about 8 foot away from the window with light filtering blinds but still in a spot bright enough to grow a pretty vigorous monstera right now. I like the idea of growing some emersed plants in or around the aquarium, which should work well with the available daylight.

On my previous low tech tanks I’ve had a good experience with a siesta period, which also has the additional benefit of stretching the day further into the hours when I actually get around to looking at the tank. Ideally I’d keep the lights on until 10 or 11pm.

My question is - will the siesta period work when the ambient light is pretty bright, or will it resemble a super long day (albeit with dim lights) that might set me up for algae problems? Should I stick to a light cycle within daylight hours? How should I handle CO2?

Either way I’m planning to do a dark start in a separate room to cycle the soil and filter.

Appreciate any opinions or experience. 🙏

 

[oreo57]

I’m getting back into the hobby after a little hiatus after moving house. I’ve got a 55l Dennerle scapers tank and arriving any day now, which I’m planning to run with co2, aquasoil and probably a chihiros a II light (probably dimmed slightly), not super high tech and hopefully fairly low maintenance.

The space I have available for it is in our living room with east facing windows across the width of the room. It’ll be about 8 foot away from the window with light filtering blinds but still in a spot bright enough to grow a pretty vigorous monstera right now. I like the idea of growing some emersed plants in or around the aquarium, which should work well with the available daylight.

On my previous low tech tanks I’ve had a good experience with a siesta period, which also has the additional benefit of stretching the day further into the hours when I actually get around to looking at the tank. Ideally I’d keep the lights on until 10 or 11pm.

My question is - will the siesta period work when the ambient light is pretty bright, or will it resemble a super long day (albeit with dim lights) that might set me up for algae problems? Should I stick to a light cycle within daylight hours? How should I handle CO2?

Either way I’m planning to do a dark start in a separate room to cycle the soil and filter.

Appreciate any opinions or experience. 🙏

East facing with blocking plants shouldn't be an issue.
I had horrible luck w/ south facing but I'm at a higher latitude (I believe) so in winter I was getting like 1000PAR onto the side of the tank.

For your own benefit I'd get a cheap lux meter or use a phone app(accuracy ???) and convert to par to see what you are getting
Use this calc:

Convert Lux to PPFD - Online Calculator | Waveform Lighting

Online calculator to convert illuminance (lux) to PPFD (micromoles per second per meter squared).

www.waveformlighting.com

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

East facing with blocking plants shouldn't be an issue.

Same for me, should be fine.

but I'm at a higher latitude (I believe) so in winter

Bizarrely all of the UK is north of all USA states, other than Alaska. Western Europe is just a long way north, with New York <"on the same latitude"> as Madrid & Naples and Washington DC (38oN) somewhere in between Lisbon and Seville. I live in the S. of England, but our longest day is over 17 hours of daylight and our shortest less 7.



cheers Darrel

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Just so our members, who live in sunnier climes, can laugh at us in the UK, this morning we had simultaneous freezing fog <"and flooding">.

<"I hate the morning"> at the best of times, but this is our solar panel from 04-12-2023, when, it would be fair to say, it <"was a bit gloomy">.



cheers Darrel

 

[_Maq_]

My question is - will the siesta period work when the ambient light is pretty bright, or will it resemble a super long day (albeit with dim lights) that might set me up for algae problems?

Long photoperiod can indeed favour some algal species, but I doubt whether anyone can tell in advance what would happen in particular circumstances. You'll have to try and see.

However, what I can tell for sure is that plants "wake up" with daylight, even if not illuminated artificially. I guess the photosynthesis intensity is quite low, but the plants definitely do photosynthesize. The same counts for midday siesta. If it lasts too long - until about 4 pm in our "Czech" latitude in December, plants may go to bed, so to speak. I'm not sure whether they like evening illumination in such a situation. Commercial gardeners do various tricks with illumination to accelerate growth or to induce anthesis, but different species require different treatment. We can logically expect that the responses of various aquatic species would vary considerably as well.

 

[oreo57]

Thanks for the Geography lesson btw.. 🙂

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Thanks for the Geography lesson btw.. 🙂

I only know because I have a colleague who grew up in N. Wisconsin and she was complaining about the dark. I knew it is freezing cold in the mid-west, so I'd assumed it was further north than it actually is when I checked

Cheers Darrel

 

[Matthias]

For your own benefit I'd get a cheap lux meter or use a phone app(accuracy ???) and convert to par to see what you are getting

That’s a good idea, hadn’t thought of using the phone as a lux meter. Will be interesting to see how daylight compares to the led. I’m in London so I expect it to fluctuate massively.

<"I hate the morning"> at the best of times, but this is our solar panel from 04-12-2023, when, it would be fair to say, it <"was a bit gloomy">.

Hehe, agree chances of sun blasting in anytime soon are pretty slim - tank will probably be pretty well established by the time it does.

Long photoperiod can indeed favour some algal species, but I doubt whether anyone can tell in advance what would happen in particular circumstances. You'll have to try and see.

 

[Matthias]

Seems like there are a few too many factors at play to make any predictions in advance, I’ll see what happens and might just plonk a big potted plant on the sunny side of the tank to be safe. I’ll keep an eye on any leaves standing up to show “going to bed” - pretty sure I’ve seen that on hygrophila polysperma in the past.