Fluval Plant 3.0 Scheduling and Programming

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/14/2023 at 10:15 AM, PaigeIs said:

I found this post so helpful, I bookmarked it so I can reference it every time I adjust light settings.  Thank You!!!

That's awesome. As always huge props to Streetwise for all his efforts!

[purrmaid]

Hi everyone! I tried finding my answer without posting but I failed on my own. I have the Fluval 3.0 24"-34" plant light on a 36 g 16" deep aquarium with co2 and controsoil with root tabs. I'm trying to grow cabomba, mermaid weed, ludwigia, dwarf hair grass etc. I'm getting a lot of algae and I'm betting my light schedule is the culprit. Does anyone have a good one with a similar setup I can copy? Thank you so much!!

[JoeQ]

I have the same setup, a link for my settings is in my signature . Its a spreadsheet that you can adjust to certain percentages. You may not have a light issue as much as a healthy growing plant mass issue. 

Edit: except the contra soil and root tabs. 

Edited February 1 by JoeQ

[purrmaid]

On 2/1/2024 at 11:25 AM, JoeQ said:

I have the same setup, a link for my settings is in my signature . Its a spreadsheet that you can adjust to certain percentages. You may not have a light issue as much as a healthy growing plant mass issue. 

Edit: except the contra soil and root tabs. 

Thank you so much! I'm trying to work on that plant mass issue and just added several new ones to help. It's got 14 different plant species now but it hasn't filled in like the jungle-esqe pond aquascape I'm going for. My old nemesis 'Patience' will have to account for that. My nitrate is only at 5ppm though so idk. I just want these new ones to do well 😩

[JoeQ]

On 2/1/2024 at 11:40 AM, purrmaid said:

Thank you so much! I'm trying to work on that plant mass issue and just added several new ones to help. It's got 14 different plant species now but it hasn't filled in like the jungle-esqe pond aquascape I'm going for. My old nemesis 'Patience' will have to account for that. My nitrate is only at 5ppm though so idk. I just want these new ones to do well 😩

You are welcome, in full disclosure these are Bentley Pasco DaySim settings, I just made them into a spreadsheet so the same settings can be easily increased or decreased. I also have a setting that reduces the total time (its set to an incredibly long day) but those setting weren't reflected in the spreadsheet. 

[JoeQ]

@purrmaidthis is the change I made in the last few hours to reduce light while still allow viewing light. 

[purrmaid]

I know I started with a long, 12 hr day but my logic was 'tropical areas are on the equator, the equator has long days, right??'

I reduced it to 8 hours but there's still algae despite the co2 meter thingy being in the green. I'm considering adding more algae eaters too. All there is right now is a single 1" nerite snail, a hillstream loach, and a 3" sae that has outlasted his 2 companions but I'd like to add some otos, amano or cherry shrimp and some snail friends.

[JoeQ]

On 2/1/2024 at 2:13 PM, purrmaid said:

I know I started with a long, 12 hr day but my logic was 'tropical areas are on the equator, the equator has long days, right??'

I reduced it to 8 hours but there's still algae despite the co2 meter thingy being in the green. I'm considering adding more algae eaters too. All there is right now is a single 1" nerite snail, a hillstream loach, and a 3" sae that has outlasted his 2 companions but I'd like to add some otos, amano or cherry shrimp and some snail friends.

You are correct there, nature has laid out the perfect blue print (long days during the grow season being one aspect)

But another aspect you might be missing is water quality. In nature where do plants grow best? In a lifeless stagnant pond/lake with no flow & poorly oxygenated waters.

Or in pristine well aerated waters, with good flow and a good amount of diverse microbs that support other complex lifeforms. 

Understanding this is where the algae fight begins! Not cutting light hours which does more to harm your plants than it does to help fight algae. 

As far as co2, this is not an algaecide. Imo it is more of a growth accelerant and if you're not growing healthy plants it will grow healthy algae. 

If it were me id add more nerite snails, cherry shrimp., other low bio load critters. Ottos are absolute algae hogs, concentrate on water quality for now and keep using mother nature as your blueprint. It makes this planted tank hobby sooo much easier in the long run. 

 

 

 

Edited February 1 by JoeQ

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/1/2024 at 11:13 AM, purrmaid said:

I know I started with a long, 12 hr day but my logic was 'tropical areas are on the equator, the equator has long days, right??'

I reduced it to 8 hours but there's still algae despite the co2 meter thingy being in the green. I'm considering adding more algae eaters too. All there is right now is a single 1" nerite snail, a hillstream loach, and a 3" sae that has outlasted his 2 companions but I'd like to add some otos, amano or cherry shrimp and some snail friends.

You could start with a week long blackout, then start with a window of 4 hours for a few weeks.  Then increase it to 6, then up to 8.  The max I would ever recommend is about 10 hours if you have a very high density tank with plants that are setup for that lighting scenario.

[Lilred]

I happened to find this thread and have been reading through this. There is a lot of pages lol, but great info. I have a 20 gallon long. I have a glass top and my light is set above my tank about 5". I was dealing with some algae, which is  getting better.  I am dosing every other day with easy carbon. I don't use CO2. I am trying to add more plants to help outcompete the algae. I have java ferns, Anubias, Buce's and stem plants. I also added more flow.  I watched Bentley Pascoe's youtube videos and set my light according to his recommendations, and started ramping up slightly each week by a percent or two. Right now I have my lights set for  sunrise for 1.5 hours,  blue at 2% red at 15% all the whites at 25%. sunrise is at 10:30, lights 12:00-18:00, then sunset for 1.5 hours. I was playing around with the whites today and realized I don't really like the warm white. Can I omit the warm white and just use a higher percentage of the other 2 whites? Instead of 25% each white can I do 50% of the pure white and 25% of the cold white? Today I changed my sunrise and sunset for 2 hours each instead of the 1.5 hours it was. 

I was also reading about a dual siesta lighting schedule but have no idea where to even start with that for my 20L. Can anyone suggest settings for a dual siesta for me if I decide to try that? 

Thanks for all this great info and this very informative thread. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/17/2024 at 6:34 PM, Lilred said:

I don't use CO2. I am trying to add more plants to help outcompete the algae. I have java ferns, Anubias, Buce's and stem plants. I also added more flow.

These plants all do well with low light. Increasing flow may increase an issue with BBA if that's something you're struggling with. Just something to note and keep in mind.

 

On 2/17/2024 at 6:34 PM, Lilred said:

I watched Bentley Pascoe's youtube videos and set my light according to his recommendations, and started ramping up slightly each week by a percent or two. Right now I have my lights set for  sunrise for 1.5 hours,  blue at 2% red at 15% all the whites at 25%. sunrise is at 10:30, lights 12:00-18:00, then sunset for 1.5 hours. I was playing around with the whites today and realized I don't really like the warm white. Can I omit the warm white and just use a higher percentage of the other 2 whites? Instead of 25% each white can I do 50% of the pure white and 25% of the cold white? Today I changed my sunrise and sunset for 2 hours each instead of the 1.5 hours it was. 

The main thing I use is lighting from say 30-45 minutes after the light is on you start your lighting window and run for ~8 hours and then you have the same gap on the other side for your sunset. (Think of your ramp up/down time, use the middle of that slope for your start-end time)

If you're having an issue, yes you can omit it. You can also just run only the pure white channels and go from there. The red-green hues on the warm channel are beneficial for overall plant health, just keep that in mind.

The way I run mine, PW is a at the ratio for my desired max value and then everything is based on a ratio of that PW value. Something might be 5% less, something might be 15% less, just depends on what I am trying to emphasize.

As for the tank, the setup, my low demand 29g tank (taller) is at about 35% max value without a riser. I would LOVE to have the riser to help spread out the light as I did with one of my other tanks. I would expect that with a shorter tank, you're going to end up around 40-55% or so as a max value, but more likely 30% is a good range to shoot for and see how the plants are behaving.