Help with lighting settings

[Maree from Melbourne]

Hi all,

Hope you are having a great weekend!

I have a 4ft community tank. Natural lighting in the room is pretty much non-existent as it is in our basement.

The tank is planted and doing really well (albeit with some algae) that is not bothersome.

I set up a light with timing settings a few months ago, but have just guessed the settings (per photo below).

I  am open to suggestions on tweaking the settings but am struggling and would appreciate some insight. I am nervous to have them in total darkness as I don’t my fishies to be scared in the dark (hope that doesn’t sound crazy!)

Kind regards,

Maree

[reefhugger]

Irene created an excellent series on aquarium lighting on Aqurium Co-op.  It helped me begin to understand lighting and plant versus algae growth.  Here's the youtube link for the first on,  She  provides the next links in the video. 

 

 

[Maree from Melbourne]

Thank you so much @reefhugger

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/10/2023 at 1:23 AM, Maree from Melbourne said:

I  am open to suggestions on tweaking the settings but am struggling and would appreciate some insight. I am nervous to have them in total darkness as I don’t my fishies to be scared in the dark (hope that doesn’t sound crazy!)

I'm guessing you're talking a 55 or 75G tank.  The main thing I use to determine the light settings is going to be about what plants are in the tank. 

We also have this thread for the fluval 3.0 lights that is an awesome repository of a bunch of settings:
 

I've messed around with the light a lot and I've gone in and tweaked things based on # of LEDs per channel as well as my own tank needs.  I'll drop two screenshots here for you.  One of them is a "high tech" co2 tank with faster growing plants while the other is a low demand setup with anubias and what I would recommend for a fish only setup as well. 

Essentially.... 1.5 hours sunrise and sunset and then a 6 hour span of the light intensity that you're shooting for.

Low demand tank:


My algae fest BBA growout / high tech planted tank:

On 12/10/2023 at 1:23 AM, Maree from Melbourne said:

Keep the blue under 5%
the white you'd follow the "low demand" settings above.
Red = pink channel above.
Green = warm white channel above.

[Maree from Melbourne]

Thank you so much @nabokovfan87…that’s fantastic information.

I watched the video from Irene that was linked above…very useful and I will watch it again to wrap my head around her advice.

My tank is a 47 gal planted with anubia, sword crypt and wisteria, all of which are actually growing well. No C02 - other plants such as Val and grasses did not grow (assuming due to no C02). I am adding ferts but on an ad-hoc basis - I will do this regularly moving forward.

Thank you for your light settings - extremely helpful, as well as the link to the fluval thread.

I love that this hobby keeps on giving - it is extremely satisfying creating an ecosystem and keeping fish happy and healthy.

Kind regards from sunny Melbourne!

[Mmiller2001]

As far as total darkness, just plug in a night light in an outlet. I have one with a sensor so it’s not always on. The brightness is adjustable too.

[Maree from Melbourne]

Great idea - thank you @Mmiller2001 !