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split photo period?

4K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  Danio 
#1 ·
I need my lights to be on for at least an hour in the morning so I can feed my discus before I go to work. I'm up around 6:00 a.m. and leave around 7:00 a.m. If the lights aren't on for about an hour before I try to feed them, they don't really want to eat.

I don't get home most days until late evening around 7:00 p.m., and go to bed by 12:00. These five hours are when I'm able to enjoy my tank.

I'm about to set up my 125g tank heavily planted and then eventually move the discus into this tank. How do you think the plants will do if I split the photo period, like maybe 3 hours in the morning and the other 7-9 hours in the evening?

Thanks,
Steven
 
#2 ·
That is a really good question! I think many of us are in this situation, and would like to run lights in the morning and in the evening.

First I would be more concerned with my fishies. Two day periods in a 24 hour time span are not natural, and might stress them immensely. Of course, they can't talk to tell you about it... So it might be up to you to try that. They might get used to it.

Regarding plants, there are probably some that will grow weird. Some might have diurnal rhythms that make them want to go into their generative phase (pushing out flowers) due to the short nights.

I am sure there are some that have tried that... and you might just as well and see how it goes. Alternatively, don't feed fishies in the morning (are they still small to need food that frequently?) turn on lights at noon and let them run through midnight.
 
#3 ·
My personal opinion would be that your plants would suffer for it, the fish would probably but discus can be fickled to say the least.

I have a similar schedule, but all my tanks are in a room that does not get any natural light for the most part so I actually have my lights turn on at noon when I home for lunch, and I turn them off at 10 with feeding at noon and 7.
 
#5 ·
you could perhaps have a second light that's dimmer come on early and stay on later. That way when your main lights come on it would simulate something like full day and the dimmer lights mimic sunrise sunset type.

just a thought
FB
 
#6 ·
amanda huggenkiss said:
Is there a reason you prefer feeding in the morning? Why don't you just feed in the evening?
Everything I've read and been told says that I should feed my discus 4 times a day to achieve full growth. As of now, I'm struggling to pull off 3 feedings per day; 1 in the morning, 1 immediately upon getting home in the evening, and 1 about an hour before "lights out."

Wasserpest said:
First I would be more concerned with my fishies. Two day periods in a 24 hour time span are not natural, and might stress them immensely.
I don't think the fish would be fooled into believing there were two days. My tank is in the living room and I think enough light is present in the room from the windows that they "know" it is daytime. On the weekends, they gladly eat in the middle of the day even if the tank's lights aren't on. I seriously doubt though that the ambient light is sufficent to be considered part of the photo period.
 
#8 ·
I don't know much about discus except that I've always admired them. Is an automatic feeder out of the question? What do they eat? Do they eat dry, or flaked foods at all? If they are being fed a variety maybe you could set up a feeder for the first two or three feedings, and then feed the stuff you couldn't put in a feeder in the evenings. Just a thought!
 
#9 ·
I haven't been at this for very long, tank only a planted one since February but......

I get up to go to work every morning at 3 a.m. I turn the lights on, have my coffee and tour around the net. The lights are on until I go to bed around 9 p.m.
I keep meaning to buy a decent timer but I never get around to it. I've had no algae problems. Get a little green spot algae on the glass and that's it.
Can't help but wonder if any of these light rules mean much at all.
I have to pull or trim plants weekly. When I wander over to turn lights out some plants are still pearling, some aren't. Some have closed, others haven't.
So far whatever I'm doing is working so I'm inclined not to mess with it.
 
#10 ·
2 STEVEN

In my tank the light starts up at 6am till 10am, and later since 4pm till midnight. I use these photoperiod more than 5 years and have no any impact on waterplants. My tank is 200 cm long with Cryptocoryne aponogetifolia, C. affinis, C. pontederiifolia, C. siamensis, Egeria najas, E. densa, Limnophyla aquatica, L. sessilis, Vallisneria neotropicalis, Cabomba carolineana and Myriophillum sp. All these plants grow well, the same as under the continious light.

but you can observe some other effect: some plants are "short-day", some other "long-day". These mean some of them start to grow and blossom, if the daily light time decrease, some other oposite. For example, my Limnophyla aquatica was blossoming in previous years, now I can't get blossoms on it, because this species need the long night in blossoming period.
 
#11 ·
I'd try a dim light as suggested above--maybe just a nearby lamp that can shed enough light for them to eat. Is there any ambient daylight in the room at morning feeding time? They should get used to eating in dim light pretty fast.

The auto food dispenser would work as well.
 
#12 ·
The automatic feeder seems like a pretty good idea, and is something I've always figured would be really conveniant. However, I've always been concerned about over or under feeding. Most fish I've ever kept, and these discus seem to be this way even more so, don't seem to consistantly eat the same amount at each feeding or each day. How do you keep from over feeding the tank when they aren't interested in eating as much or under feeding when they are particularly hungry?

Thanks,
Steven
 
#13 ·
I read somewhere that a 2 hours blackout during the day could help decrease algae. The article reported that plants start photosynthesis as soon as the light becomes available and algae takes time to start photosynthesis.

I was a book on planted tanks that I browsed on my LFS.
 
#15 ·
Algae growth depends on many parameters, so the answer always is uncertain.

But daytime dark period help to keep the CO2 concentration more or less stable without additional equipment. As plants absorb CO2 just under the light, during a day the concentration is decreasing and oxygen contents is rising. In tank with a daytime dark period both concentrations are more stable and as a result I never seen calc sediments on leaves. I tested my water before and after of a daytime pausa:

continuous lighting

morning CO2 16 mg/l, O2 5 mg/l
noon CO2 10 mg/l, O2 8 mg/l
evening CO2 6 mg/l, O2 10 mg/l
end of day CO2 0-2 mg/l, O2 10-12 mg/l


interrupted lighting

morning CO2 16 mg/l, O2 5 mg/l
noon CO2 10 mg/l, O2 8 mg/l
evening CO2 10 mg/l, O2 8 mg/l
end of day CO2 6 mg/l, O2 10 mg/l
 
#17 ·
mpb said:
Danio,

That is very interesting.
Do you have CO2 injection?
No. I was going to install CO2 equipment and nearly start to buy it, but I decided to test the water. As you can see the CO2 contents is quite enough, 6-16 mg/l, so I decided injection is obvious.

Testing the water for O2 and CO2 I found that of course in the morning, before light turn on, the oxygen concentration is the lowes and CO2 is highest. Under the light plants consume CO2 and it's concentration decrease, on the diagram the results of the test will be nearly linear.

It would be great to see the test results in different tanks.
 
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