# Hours per day of light?



## huckleberry77 (May 31, 2014)

In addition to ambient room lighting/indirect daylight for how many hours each day must I leave the LEDs on in my nano tanks for java fern, anubias, and marimos to be satisfied? Right now I turn the lights on for an hour in the morning, then off while I am at work, and then on again from 5-10pm or so. Do I need to make an effort to leave the lights on longer, or is this okay? I don't need the plants to grow like crazy, just not die/rot.

PS- I have only the stock LED lighting on my Marina 360, Marineland Contour, and Fluval View. The Marina is the dimmest with 7 LEDS. The others have 10-12.


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## Betaphototramp (Apr 13, 2014)

recommended lighting time for a planted tank is 10-12 hour cycle any more or less and the plants don't do well. I have my lighting in my 10 gallon tetra nano tank with 2 bars of 3 LED lights and I also have a regular desk lamp on one side and a clip on desk lamp on the shelf next to the tank for extra light thinking the 6 LED lights only give low light. I have these lights on a 24 hour timer from walmart set for 12 hour cycle 7 am to 7 pm. ( I work 2nd shift so it really helps to have the timer).


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

I run my lights for about 8 hours. Some people run it for 10 even 12, it depends on the algae. I did 12 on and 12 off before, I got an algae bloom. So I run my lights at 1pm to 9am (8 hours) my plants do great and there's less algae. You can all ways buy a timer, and never mess with your lights again. Planted tanks are all about finding out the right balance for your tank.


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## huckleberry77 (May 31, 2014)

Okay, so people are recommending approximately 8 hours. Is this amount required for even low light plants? I don't want to fry my moss balls, java fern, and anubias. I believe they are low light plants.


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## umarnasir335 (Jan 9, 2014)

Yes, 8 hours is the NORM, but really your photoperiod should always be "tuned." I found that my 20 tall can take upto 12 hours of light due to lower intensity, while my other tanks are capped at 9 hours per day due to algae.


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## huckleberry77 (May 31, 2014)

umarnasir335 said:


> Yes, 8 hours is the NORM, but really your photoperiod should always be "tuned." I found that my 20 tall can take upto 12 hours of light due to lower intensity, while my other tanks are capped at 9 hours per day due to algae.


Okay well I guess I will start with keeping the lights on for 8 hours and see how that goes.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Low light plants generally require lower levels of light, not a shorter photoperiod. However, most low light plants do just fine in high light, just not the other way around.


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## huckleberry77 (May 31, 2014)

givemethatfish said:


> Low light plants generally require lower levels of light, not a shorter photoperiod. However, most low light plants do just fine in high light, just not the other way around.


Thanks! I guess I figured hours of light and intensity of light could be interchanged. Now I know this is not the case :-D


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