Fluval Plant 3.0 Scheduling and Programming

[Ctrahan]

First off. SUPER helpful thread. Lots of great information here, but I didn't see anything that helped with my current question and I don't super feel it needs its own thread. 

So I'm building a custom planted tank, low to moderate light plants, moderate planted density, no CO2. Its a tall tank though, and I'm not sure if I should get the nano or the 15". the dimensions from water surface to bottom of tank are 15" wide x 18" long x 20" tall. I think the nano in tall mounted position should be enough but I wanted some quick opinions if possible. 

[Streetwise]

Will your tank be rimless? The height control of the Nano is pretty cool, and you can route an airline through it. The 15” is nice too, and you can find 3D printed risers on sites like Etsy. Apparently Fluval also has a pendant kit, but I have not tested it. If you look at my indoor journal, you can see all the ways I have tried my lights.

[Ctrahan]

Yes it's rimless. How do I do I find your indoor hour indoor journal? 

[Streetwise]

@Ctrahan, all my journal links are in my signature on every post. Let me know if you you need help with setting up a signature when you are ready.

 

[Si1verSmoke]

Good evening everyone. 

      I have a 10 gallon with a plated 3.0 Nano light. I am growing some cryps, barcoa, ludwigia Repens, and monte carlo.  I am using fluval stratum as my substrate and no CO2.  My question is, what is anyone using or a good recommendation on light settings to get the monte carlo to carpet. Right now it is growing but it is growing up and I know that's a sign of needing more light. I just uped my settings go the stock plant settings but I lowered the blue to 5% and turned off the night time light.  Thanks in advance. 

 

[Mapleleaf,]

I have a 45gal tank which I setup about 5 weeks ago.  I have  a Fluval 3.0 light.  I had it set to the preset Planted setting.  3 weeks into it, pretty much all type of algae started growing and covered the driftwood  completely.  I got 9 oto cats and 9 ammano shrimps. In no time all algae was completely gone except hair algae. A week ago, I changed the light setting to a shorter duration, less intensity and less blue and pink lights.  But the hair algae is increasing.  Ammonia, nitrites are 0. Nitrate is around 10. Any suggestions? I bought yesterday 3 Siamese algae eaters.  They haven't touched it yet. Also most of the plants I have require low light. Out of the 15 plant 3 require medium light.

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Mapleleaf,

[shaoting]

A bit late to the topic, but I'm hoping to get some insight, myself!

I just completed cycling a Waterbox Clear Mini 16. I'm using UNS controsoil as the substrate and I've got a carpet of Monte Carlo in the foreground and Pearl Weed as the background plant. There's black lava stones throughout and a bonsai driftwood showpiece. I eventually plan to stock the tank with neocaridina shrimp and some Endlers Livebearers. Next week, I'm purchasing a 5lb CO2 cylinder to begin converting into a high tech tank. I'm dosing with SeaChem Flourish twice weekly and Flourish Advance.

I'm currently using the Pro setting on my Fluval Plant 3.0 and I have it running from 6:30am - 6:30pm, which I know is far too long of a time for operating. Other than the timing, I've adjusted no other setting in Pro mode.

Based on the plants I have, the coming introduction of CO2 and the livestock I want to introduce, can anyone recommend a good LED setting and timeframe (i.e., 6 hours, 8 hours, etc) for my Plant 3.0, that will work with the plants, CO2 and livestock?

Edited September 24, 2021 by shaoting

[dmurray407]

OK, you guys are scaring me 🙂. I've just started adding plants to my 10 and 60 gal tanks. I want to get a better light to support them and love Fluval products so I was planning to get a 3.0 light for my big tank. Does it have to be this complicated? Can I just start with one of the preprogrammed settings and adjust from there as I figure things out? I don't want to waste a bunch of money on something that's just going to frustrate me.

[Ember]

So glad to find this thread!  I’ve been messing around with my new fluval light for a bit here, and was wondering what others think of the light schedule I have set up.

Here’s the tank now vs the light I had in it before.

I know that it’s a lot dimmer, but I have some green spot algae forming on my anubius and java ferns so I’m hoping that the lower light helps get rid of that. There’s also hair and black beard ages hanging out on the plants, but I’m less hopeful for less powerful lighting to fix that.

Anything off the bat that I might want to change?  My only worry is that the hornwort towards the edge of the tank won’t get enough light.

[Atitagain]

I have a 24” plant 3.0 I had it on a 29G normally I have it on for 8 hours ramping up to 100% on everything but blue for first 4 hours then ramping down for next 4 hours. Plant growth seemed fine but only ran it that way for couple months. Then it’s spent last few months as a second light on a 60G. Same settings.

now it’s back on the 29G and I think I need to adjust, I’m running it as a darkwater tank moderately planted 

And I got 3 different stem plants today and will be using 1 group of them in here. I’m dosing with easy green and root tabs for the vallisneria. I want a darker feel but of coarse need good plant growth. All plants in here are low light plants. Also want to do 2 time periods 1st in morning 2nd in evenings. I extended to a 10 hour 2-5hour time periods. And lowered the intensity. Question is is this a good starting point and then adjust depending on plant/ algae growth? If this setting is to bright for what I’m looking for do I lengthen time period and lower intensity or adjust different colors?

[Torrey]

 

My 10 gallon Walstad is on the AquaSky, with a mid-day siesta.

Early morning lights come on to wake me up, and late night red light offsets the blues AND ALSO tells my brain to shut up and go to sleep. 

I only have the algae growing on the back of the tank where I intentionally seeded it.

MTS are multiplying, and amphopods are staying balanced. 

I had to extend the time for the lights as the tannins got darker.

As the water clears, I will reduce the lights again. I love how easy it is to make adjustments, and the lightning special effects is pretty cool. I turn it on when we have storms with lightning outside. 

This is literally my first true aquarium light in almost 20 years. 

I have been growing plants under shop lights and reptile UVA/UVB bulbs ever since I quit breeding for profit.

[Blaha]

I am going to get my 1st ever Fluval light soon and I'm so excited. That scheduling looks so amazing and in-depth, but also super intimidating. I can't wait to dive in!

[Blaha]

I got my Fluval. My Goal is a Med-High light setting that's supposed to be more of a "natural" rise and set. 1.5 Hour for the rise and set with a focus on cool in the morning and warm in the evening, and having a small "purple time" which happens for 20-30 minutes many days in the real world where I live near Lake Erie. It's this time where the whole world gets a purple-ish haze and the sky and every object has a hint of purple, so I wanted to add it at the end as a cosmetic bit since I'm also usually eating dinner next to the tank around 7-8pm. I used cory's post on like page 2 about his 125 gallon for his fish room, and tried to lower it and make it a bit more gradual.
My tank is a standard 29 gallon that is 18 inches tall.
Thoughts? My only experience messing with this lighting setup is reading this massive thread, but I have messed with lighting set-ups outside the fish tank world for shows, galleries, party atmosphere stuff. It's all unrelated, it just means I like lights.

[Blaha]

The sunset came out well! I just hope that works well for my tank so I don't need to change it.

[Torrey]

On 10/4/2021 at 8:01 PM, Blaha said:

The sunset came out well! I just hope that works well for my tank so I don't need to change it.

That's nice!!!!

 

Almost like the old 86 lux gels for stage shows.

My lights don't program quite that well for my tank. What I am noticing is too much blue does seem to contribute to more algae, but that may be correlational, not causational.

 

I love starting my day with the purple easing into blues, and at night the warmer light is reminiscent of the sunset against the mountains. Makes it easier for my brain to wind down for sleep. 

[Blaha]

Nice. My fiancee whom has far more experience with lighting on stage knows what you are talking about and explained it to me. She's lit galleries, she's been lighting and stage manager before, and always likes to look at lighting rigs when she is on set as a stunt double.

The blue definately helps me get up in the morning compared to total darkness. I don't drink coffee or anything so I wake up with the light.

[dmurray407]

I just got my new light!  I was worried about getting it set up but it was very easy.   I had to turn the brightness down a bit-my fish are used to the crappy light that came with the aquarium 🙂  This may be a dumb question about the bluetooth-if I am out of town/out of range will my light still follow the program?

[Streetwise]

@dmurray407, Your light will stay on schedule, unless there is a power outage, in which case it will consider the power-on time as midnight for the schedule. It will continue in this offset schedule until you touch it in the app at home, which will update the time on the light.

You can use a UPS to provide continuous power if this is a regular concern.

[fisherman]

I'd like to tip my hat to all the informative posts on the Fluval lights.  Especially the OP, thanks because your original post gives a thousand times more information than the manual that comes with the light.  Thank y'all!  BTW, I only have two Plant 3,0 lights, but I love that it's just one less thing I need to be concerned with in as I deal with my multiple tank syndrome.  Didn't know that was until the Co-op manager told me I had it, then had to go home and look it up.  Since then added more tanks, but I'm finally done at 8. At least until the next dollar a gallon sale.

[HotTunaCartel]

On 10/6/2021 at 7:47 PM, dmurray407 said:

I just got my new light!  I was worried about getting it set up but it was very easy.   I had to turn the brightness down a bit-my fish are used to the crappy light that came with the aquarium 🙂  This may be a dumb question about the bluetooth-if I am out of town/out of range will my light still follow the program?

It should, if the power goes it will loose the time and I think it reverts back to moonlight mode 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by HotTunaCartel

[Streetwise]

Thank you @fisherman! I thought it would be an important FAQ topic when the forum started.

@HotTunaCartel, I think I mentioned the power reset results in the first post, but I also explained it a few posts up. Power-on assumes midnight as current time, and continues the schedule until you touch the light in the app, which syncs the time.

If anyone thinks anything is missing in the first post, let me know, and I will edit!

[isaly]

I use a flip phone. I don't want to effectively pay twice for internet service.

It's not that I'm tech averse. I use a macbook air to record acoustic guitars to hard drives using microphones. It helps me in recording and teaching. I like computers and all they enable. I just want to keep downward pressure on my overall telecommunications bill.

I bought a 406 canister but I got a 48" Finnex planted plus 24/7 for half the price and I don't have to "upgrade" to a smartphone and data plan...

[Patrick_G]

On 11/1/2021 at 8:25 AM, isaly said:

I use a flip phone. I don't want to effectively pay twice for internet service.

It's not that I'm tech averse. I use a macbook air to record acoustic guitars to hard drives using microphones. It helps me in recording and teaching. I like computers and all they enable. I just want to keep downward pressure on my overall telecommunications bill.

I bought a 406 canister but I got a 48" Finnex planted plus 24/7 for half the price and I don't have to "upgrade" to a smartphone and data plan...

If you’re interested in trying an app controlled light get an old phone from a friend (we all have a few sitting in a drawer somewhere) and use it in WiFi mode to download the app. The app itself uses Bluetooth so you won’t even need internet to program your light. 

[Kittkat1981]

I have gotten an home computer to work with these lights.  I used an android emulator for windows.  Dow loaded the app and used it that way.  

[isaly]

Thanks for the ideas.

The Finnex has a remote which I can program roughly to correspond to circadian rhythm. It has spectrum controls as well.

Or I can set an optimal spectrum and use a timer.

The world is my oyster, but I don't do salt water.