Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

"A Stuartgranti" wrote in message . ..
Hello,
I want to try a 2 hour lights off period during the middle of the day
(while I'm at work basically). Are there any advantages/disadvantages of
this regarding plants or algae control? I personally don't buy any
arguement of stressing out the fish. My room isn't pitch dark or anything
(fair amounts of indirect sun) and it's not like fish in the wild freak out
everytime it gets cloudy.

Thanks in advance!

You are not going to find this helps the algae issue.

There are generally other causes that lead to the algae disappearance
that get overlooked when people try and get rid of algae.
Eg more routine work on a neglected tank, pruning, more agressive
treatments, checking their CO2 etc and many time peopkle attribute the
light or the addition of PO4 remove etc to their algae cure.

It's very difficult to assume something causes/cures algae etc without
making sure it was not something esle and it can take time to check
the other issue out that may effect the result first.

This is one HUGE reason why there are so many myths and dogma
surrounding algae and aquatic plants.

Good agressive pruning, water changes, good nutrients/dosing, good
CO2, dense plant biomass work better at controlling algae.

Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

If you want to use light to your advantage, 3 day blackouts work well
for a number of algae, up to 5-6 days for GW etc, also LESS light
often helps folks since uptake and doing daily dosing, 2-3x a week
dosings etc is not so critical.


regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

"A Stuartgranti" wrote in message . ..
Hello,
I want to try a 2 hour lights off period during the middle of the day
(while I'm at work basically). Are there any advantages/disadvantages of
this regarding plants or algae control? I personally don't buy any
arguement of stressing out the fish. My room isn't pitch dark or anything
(fair amounts of indirect sun) and it's not like fish in the wild freak out
everytime it gets cloudy.

Thanks in advance!

You are not going to find this helps the algae issue.

There are generally other causes that lead to the algae disappearance
that get overlooked when people try and get rid of algae.
Eg more routine work on a neglected tank, pruning, more agressive
treatments, checking their CO2 etc and many time peopkle attribute the
light or the addition of PO4 remove etc to their algae cure.

It's very difficult to assume something causes/cures algae etc without
making sure it was not something esle and it can take time to check
the other issue out that may effect the result first.

This is one HUGE reason why there are so many myths and dogma
surrounding algae and aquatic plants.

Good agressive pruning, water changes, good nutrients/dosing, good
CO2, dense plant biomass work better at controlling algae.

Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

If you want to use light to your advantage, 3 day blackouts work well
for a number of algae, up to 5-6 days for GW etc, also LESS light
often helps folks since uptake and doing daily dosing, 2-3x a week
dosings etc is not so critical.


regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

"A Stuartgranti" wrote in message . ..
Hello,
I want to try a 2 hour lights off period during the middle of the day
(while I'm at work basically). Are there any advantages/disadvantages of
this regarding plants or algae control? I personally don't buy any
arguement of stressing out the fish. My room isn't pitch dark or anything
(fair amounts of indirect sun) and it's not like fish in the wild freak out
everytime it gets cloudy.

Thanks in advance!

You are not going to find this helps the algae issue.

There are generally other causes that lead to the algae disappearance
that get overlooked when people try and get rid of algae.
Eg more routine work on a neglected tank, pruning, more agressive
treatments, checking their CO2 etc and many time peopkle attribute the
light or the addition of PO4 remove etc to their algae cure.

It's very difficult to assume something causes/cures algae etc without
making sure it was not something esle and it can take time to check
the other issue out that may effect the result first.

This is one HUGE reason why there are so many myths and dogma
surrounding algae and aquatic plants.

Good agressive pruning, water changes, good nutrients/dosing, good
CO2, dense plant biomass work better at controlling algae.

Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

If you want to use light to your advantage, 3 day blackouts work well
for a number of algae, up to 5-6 days for GW etc, also LESS light
often helps folks since uptake and doing daily dosing, 2-3x a week
dosings etc is not so critical.


regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

"A Stuartgranti" wrote in message . ..
Hello,
I want to try a 2 hour lights off period during the middle of the day
(while I'm at work basically). Are there any advantages/disadvantages of
this regarding plants or algae control? I personally don't buy any
arguement of stressing out the fish. My room isn't pitch dark or anything
(fair amounts of indirect sun) and it's not like fish in the wild freak out
everytime it gets cloudy.

Thanks in advance!

You are not going to find this helps the algae issue.

There are generally other causes that lead to the algae disappearance
that get overlooked when people try and get rid of algae.
Eg more routine work on a neglected tank, pruning, more agressive
treatments, checking their CO2 etc and many time peopkle attribute the
light or the addition of PO4 remove etc to their algae cure.

It's very difficult to assume something causes/cures algae etc without
making sure it was not something esle and it can take time to check
the other issue out that may effect the result first.

This is one HUGE reason why there are so many myths and dogma
surrounding algae and aquatic plants.

Good agressive pruning, water changes, good nutrients/dosing, good
CO2, dense plant biomass work better at controlling algae.

Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

If you want to use light to your advantage, 3 day blackouts work well
for a number of algae, up to 5-6 days for GW etc, also LESS light
often helps folks since uptake and doing daily dosing, 2-3x a week
dosings etc is not so critical.


regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

I love your attitude Tom. You strike me as a very chilled out kind of bloke.
It's amazing what that little bit of advice from you did to my tanks,
they're far from perfect yet but a hellofalot better than they were. Focus
on the good and not the bad JA? Cool bananas, works for me :)

Regards
Cameron

regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

Absolutely agree with it, I've been reading this group for a long
time, and the best thing I've picked up here is "to focus on the
good". Recently I had a medium size thread algae outbreak, I
immediately check the parameters and figured that I have excessive
iron (or other trace elements, possibly), and 0 readings on almost
everything else. I reduced daily dosing of traces, but the iron just
keep rising, and algae problem was getting worse. I then began to
increase my KCl, KNO3 dosing, and after a couple of days, also
increased the frequency and amount of K2HPO4 dosing; and began to
supplement CO3, Ca and Mg. About a week later, I had to boost up my
CO2 injection to keep the pH below 7 during day time (usually it's 6.4
right after light turned on, and 6.8 right before). And the odd thing
is plants sucking up so much CO2 that even I increased the CO2
injection a lot, pH still stand at roughly 6.7 - 6.8. And the good
news is that the thread algae's almost completely disappeared.

However, I have otherr worries... its hard to keep the growth rate
like this, i.e. a lot of work. But I am afraid of that if I slowly
reduce the growth rate, algae might just reappear, but that's another
story.

Anyway, it works.

Cheers
Kenneth

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message ...
Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

I love your attitude Tom. You strike me as a very chilled out kind of bloke.
It's amazing what that little bit of advice from you did to my tanks,
they're far from perfect yet but a hellofalot better than they were. Focus
on the good and not the bad JA? Cool bananas, works for me :)

Regards
Cameron

regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

Absolutely agree with it, I've been reading this group for a long
time, and the best thing I've picked up here is "to focus on the
good". Recently I had a medium size thread algae outbreak, I
immediately check the parameters and figured that I have excessive
iron (or other trace elements, possibly), and 0 readings on almost
everything else. I reduced daily dosing of traces, but the iron just
keep rising, and algae problem was getting worse. I then began to
increase my KCl, KNO3 dosing, and after a couple of days, also
increased the frequency and amount of K2HPO4 dosing; and began to
supplement CO3, Ca and Mg. About a week later, I had to boost up my
CO2 injection to keep the pH below 7 during day time (usually it's 6.4
right after light turned on, and 6.8 right before). And the odd thing
is plants sucking up so much CO2 that even I increased the CO2
injection a lot, pH still stand at roughly 6.7 - 6.8. And the good
news is that the thread algae's almost completely disappeared.

However, I have otherr worries... its hard to keep the growth rate
like this, i.e. a lot of work. But I am afraid of that if I slowly
reduce the growth rate, algae might just reappear, but that's another
story.

Anyway, it works.

Cheers
Kenneth

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message ...
Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

I love your attitude Tom. You strike me as a very chilled out kind of bloke.
It's amazing what that little bit of advice from you did to my tanks,
they're far from perfect yet but a hellofalot better than they were. Focus
on the good and not the bad JA? Cool bananas, works for me :)

Regards
Cameron

regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

Absolutely agree with it, I've been reading this group for a long
time, and the best thing I've picked up here is "to focus on the
good". Recently I had a medium size thread algae outbreak, I
immediately check the parameters and figured that I have excessive
iron (or other trace elements, possibly), and 0 readings on almost
everything else. I reduced daily dosing of traces, but the iron just
keep rising, and algae problem was getting worse. I then began to
increase my KCl, KNO3 dosing, and after a couple of days, also
increased the frequency and amount of K2HPO4 dosing; and began to
supplement CO3, Ca and Mg. About a week later, I had to boost up my
CO2 injection to keep the pH below 7 during day time (usually it's 6.4
right after light turned on, and 6.8 right before). And the odd thing
is plants sucking up so much CO2 that even I increased the CO2
injection a lot, pH still stand at roughly 6.7 - 6.8. And the good
news is that the thread algae's almost completely disappeared.

However, I have otherr worries... its hard to keep the growth rate
like this, i.e. a lot of work. But I am afraid of that if I slowly
reduce the growth rate, algae might just reappear, but that's another
story.

Anyway, it works.

Cheers
Kenneth

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message ...
Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

I love your attitude Tom. You strike me as a very chilled out kind of bloke.
It's amazing what that little bit of advice from you did to my tanks,
they're far from perfect yet but a hellofalot better than they were. Focus
on the good and not the bad JA? Cool bananas, works for me :)

Regards
Cameron

regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

Absolutely agree with it, I've been reading this group for a long
time, and the best thing I've picked up here is "to focus on the
good". Recently I had a medium size thread algae outbreak, I
immediately check the parameters and figured that I have excessive
iron (or other trace elements, possibly), and 0 readings on almost
everything else. I reduced daily dosing of traces, but the iron just
keep rising, and algae problem was getting worse. I then began to
increase my KCl, KNO3 dosing, and after a couple of days, also
increased the frequency and amount of K2HPO4 dosing; and began to
supplement CO3, Ca and Mg. About a week later, I had to boost up my
CO2 injection to keep the pH below 7 during day time (usually it's 6.4
right after light turned on, and 6.8 right before). And the odd thing
is plants sucking up so much CO2 that even I increased the CO2
injection a lot, pH still stand at roughly 6.7 - 6.8. And the good
news is that the thread algae's almost completely disappeared.

However, I have otherr worries... its hard to keep the growth rate
like this, i.e. a lot of work. But I am afraid of that if I slowly
reduce the growth rate, algae might just reappear, but that's another
story.

Anyway, it works.

Cheers
Kenneth

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message ...
Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

I love your attitude Tom. You strike me as a very chilled out kind of bloke.
It's amazing what that little bit of advice from you did to my tanks,
they're far from perfect yet but a hellofalot better than they were. Focus
on the good and not the bad JA? Cool bananas, works for me :)

Regards
Cameron

regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

Absolutely agree with it, I've been reading this group for a long
time, and the best thing I've picked up here is "to focus on the
good". Recently I had a medium size thread algae outbreak, I
immediately check the parameters and figured that I have excessive
iron (or other trace elements, possibly), and 0 readings on almost
everything else. I reduced daily dosing of traces, but the iron just
keep rising, and algae problem was getting worse. I then began to
increase my KCl, KNO3 dosing, and after a couple of days, also
increased the frequency and amount of K2HPO4 dosing; and began to
supplement CO3, Ca and Mg. About a week later, I had to boost up my
CO2 injection to keep the pH below 7 during day time (usually it's 6.4
right after light turned on, and 6.8 right before). And the odd thing
is plants sucking up so much CO2 that even I increased the CO2
injection a lot, pH still stand at roughly 6.7 - 6.8. And the good
news is that the thread algae's almost completely disappeared.

However, I have otherr worries... its hard to keep the growth rate
like this, i.e. a lot of work. But I am afraid of that if I slowly
reduce the growth rate, algae might just reappear, but that's another
story.

Anyway, it works.

Cheers
Kenneth

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message ...
Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

I love your attitude Tom. You strike me as a very chilled out kind of bloke.
It's amazing what that little bit of advice from you did to my tanks,
they're far from perfect yet but a hellofalot better than they were. Focus
on the good and not the bad JA? Cool bananas, works for me :)

Regards
Cameron

regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

Absolutely agree with it, I've been reading this group for a long
time, and the best thing I've picked up here is "to focus on the
good". Recently I had a medium size thread algae outbreak, I
immediately check the parameters and figured that I have excessive
iron (or other trace elements, possibly), and 0 readings on almost
everything else. I reduced daily dosing of traces, but the iron just
keep rising, and algae problem was getting worse. I then began to
increase my KCl, KNO3 dosing, and after a couple of days, also
increased the frequency and amount of K2HPO4 dosing; and began to
supplement CO3, Ca and Mg. About a week later, I had to boost up my
CO2 injection to keep the pH below 7 during day time (usually it's 6.4
right after light turned on, and 6.8 right before). And the odd thing
is plants sucking up so much CO2 that even I increased the CO2
injection a lot, pH still stand at roughly 6.7 - 6.8. And the good
news is that the thread algae's almost completely disappeared.

However, I have otherr worries... its hard to keep the growth rate
like this, i.e. a lot of work. But I am afraid of that if I slowly
reduce the growth rate, algae might just reappear, but that's another
story.

Anyway, it works.

Cheers
Kenneth

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message ...
Grow the plants well and give them what they need, and you do not have
algae issues.
So focus on the plants, not the algae.

I love your attitude Tom. You strike me as a very chilled out kind of bloke.
It's amazing what that little bit of advice from you did to my tanks,
they're far from perfect yet but a hellofalot better than they were. Focus
on the good and not the bad JA? Cool bananas, works for me :)

Regards
Cameron

regards,
Tom Barr

Interrupted Daytime Lighting Advice
 

And the odd thing
is plants sucking up so much CO2 that even I increased the CO2
injection a lot, pH still stand at roughly 6.7 - 6.8. And the good
news is that the thread algae's almost completely disappeared.

This often happens and one reason why I suggest 20-30ppm rather than
old standard of 15ppm.

However, I have otherr worries... its hard to keep the growth rate
like this, i.e. a lot of work. But I am afraid of that if I slowly
reduce the growth rate, algae might just reappear, but that's another
story.
Anyway, it works.
Cheers
Kenneth

That's easy enough, switch to slower growers like Cryopts for a
certain % of the tank, or driftwood covered with those slower growing
plants whuile still retaining a few fast growers.

Also, less light = less growth when you have good supplies of
CO2/nutrients.

Regards,
Tom Barr