If I want to maintain healthy plants in my aquarium, for how long should the lights be on?
Should I turn the lights on in the evening? Do I need to use fertilizer?
For a thriving planted tank, you need to keep 3 major components in balance: lighting, CO2 & fertilization. If you increase one component, you need to adjust the other factors as well, otherwise you’ll end up with problems like algae outbreak.
For lighting, generally 8-12 hours daily is enough and only during daytime. By the evening the light should be off! Use an auto timer switch for convenience.
For CO2, if money no object, use pressurised CO2. If cash strapped but don’t mind a bit of hassle to prepare, try DIY CO2. If really quite lazy, use liquid CO2 like Seachem’s Excel or Easy-Life’s EasyCarbo (just one dose daily in the morning, can do it when feeding fish).
There’s solid & liquid fertilisers. The solid ones are meant to provide a long term supply of nutrients (especially iron) in the substrate at the tank bottom, under the gravel layer on top. It’s mainly to benefit plants rooted in the substrate. The stuff is usually put in place when you initially set up the tank, but you can also get small tablets or sticks to push into the substrate at spaced out intervals.
For liquid fertilizers, usually dose once a week and after doing water changes. Measure out the right amount based on your tank volume, dose too much & only algae will thank you for it. For beginners, start with all-in-one solutions like Seachem’s Flourish or similar products from major companies.
There’s lots of other considerations & issues regarding planted tanks. You can borrow relevant books from your library to learn more if you want to. With proper care, any underwater garden can rival those above ground.
How often should my aquarium light be on?
it depends on which plants you have. some need no light and some need a lot
References :
roughly at least 8 hours a day, maybe a little longer
References :
You’ll need at least 2.5 watts per gallon in your aquarium (although you may need as much as 5 watts per gallon for many plants). Different plants need a different amount of light.
Your light should be on for 12 hours. Your plants need the light, but your fish need the light off to rest as well.
If you use fertilizer make sure it’s made for aquariums. If it’s a brand new tank you may want to use fertilizer, but if it’s an established tank then what the fish leave behind (poop) is all the fertilizer you need. You will also need iron (you can get that at most pet stores) for the roots and CO2.
There’s more to this, but this at least answers your questions.
References :
Anywhere from 8-12 hours a day. Depending on what types of plants you have and how strong your lighting is, you may opt for a longer or shorter time period.
Low light plants, weak lighting- 10 hours
Mod. light plants, weak lighting- 12 hours
High light plants, strong lighting- 10 hours
Mod. light plants, strong lighting- 8 hours
References :
For a thriving planted tank, you need to keep 3 major components in balance: lighting, CO2 & fertilization. If you increase one component, you need to adjust the other factors as well, otherwise you’ll end up with problems like algae outbreak.
For lighting, generally 8-12 hours daily is enough and only during daytime. By the evening the light should be off! Use an auto timer switch for convenience.
For CO2, if money no object, use pressurised CO2. If cash strapped but don’t mind a bit of hassle to prepare, try DIY CO2. If really quite lazy, use liquid CO2 like Seachem’s Excel or Easy-Life’s EasyCarbo (just one dose daily in the morning, can do it when feeding fish).
There’s solid & liquid fertilisers. The solid ones are meant to provide a long term supply of nutrients (especially iron) in the substrate at the tank bottom, under the gravel layer on top. It’s mainly to benefit plants rooted in the substrate. The stuff is usually put in place when you initially set up the tank, but you can also get small tablets or sticks to push into the substrate at spaced out intervals.
For liquid fertilizers, usually dose once a week and after doing water changes. Measure out the right amount based on your tank volume, dose too much & only algae will thank you for it. For beginners, start with all-in-one solutions like Seachem’s Flourish or similar products from major companies.
There’s lots of other considerations & issues regarding planted tanks. You can borrow relevant books from your library to learn more if you want to. With proper care, any underwater garden can rival those above ground.
References :