All the info I received are great including links to more info.
I am fully convinced that high intensity light and short photo period not exceeding 8 hours is best for the plants. There is no demonstrable benefit of a siesta period and it may even confuse plants giving an edge to algae.
That said, I will stay with twin photo periods from 7:30 -12:00 am and 6:30 -11:00 pm daily which best fit my life style for viewing. The gap is not a typical short siesta but more like a long 6.5 hour resting period not significantly different from the night time 8.5 hour resting period. It's like I spin the earth twice as fast to short change the plant day to 12 hour and provide 4.5 hour photo period daily. From the input I received, plants get their fill in the first 4 critical hours, but may need 1/2 hour to get going.
With short photo period each plant day, I have dialed up the CO2 to attain 30 ppm earlier. I turned on CO2 and dim light 1 hour before and off CO2 1 hour earlier in each photo period.
I know nurseries manipulate photo periods in green houses to fool plants into blooming or accelerate growth. I don't know how aquatic plants will react to shorter plant day cycle.
I am fully convinced that high intensity light and short photo period not exceeding 8 hours is best for the plants. There is no demonstrable benefit of a siesta period and it may even confuse plants giving an edge to algae.
That said, I will stay with twin photo periods from 7:30 -12:00 am and 6:30 -11:00 pm daily which best fit my life style for viewing. The gap is not a typical short siesta but more like a long 6.5 hour resting period not significantly different from the night time 8.5 hour resting period. It's like I spin the earth twice as fast to short change the plant day to 12 hour and provide 4.5 hour photo period daily. From the input I received, plants get their fill in the first 4 critical hours, but may need 1/2 hour to get going.
With short photo period each plant day, I have dialed up the CO2 to attain 30 ppm earlier. I turned on CO2 and dim light 1 hour before and off CO2 1 hour earlier in each photo period.
I know nurseries manipulate photo periods in green houses to fool plants into blooming or accelerate growth. I don't know how aquatic plants will react to shorter plant day cycle.
