Help Setting up Fluval Aquasky LED Lights 24-Hour Cycle.

[Tony blazer]

Moderators if you can think of a more appropriate forum thread by all means please move this.

I just purchased my first LED light system for my aquarium. Fluval Aquasky 2.0 48-60" 35 watts and 40 par.

I've only used fluorescent bulbs T5. Typically my lights are on for 12 hours 10am to 12PM. I never had algae issue in my tank and overall good with keeping most plants.

This whole 24-hour light cycle now with White Red Blue and Green it's really out of my knowledge base I have done some reading and this is what I setup. Suggestions and feedback welcomed

I have setup time periods that will adjust my light throughout the day. Lol some reason it equals to 26 hours I have no clue if anyone can point out where my arithmetic error is I would appreciate it lol.

1.0000-0200 only 5% blue (2hrs) night
2 0200-700 light is in sleep mode (5hrs)
3. 0700-1200 40% red 15% green (5hrs)
4. 1200-1500 Red 60% Green 30% Blue10% (3hrs)
5. 1500-2000 White Red Green Blue 100%
(7hrs)
6. 2000-2200 Red 80% Green 40% Blue60% (2hrs)
7. 2200-2400 Red 90% Blue 40% (2hrs)


What do you guys think does this seem like a suitable light schedule. This is a 55 community tank with 8 various plant species all with light to moderate light needs.

Can somebody also give me a very short description of what each light color helps in the tank.
1 White
2 red
3 green
4 blue

Yours truly Tony.

 

[Byron]

Aquatic plants grow by photosynthesis obviously, and only red and blue light drives photosynthesis. But there is more to this. Scientifically-controlled studies have shown that light that also has green along with red and blue does cause the best response from aquatic plants. Diana Walstad surmises that this is not really surprising as this light spectrum most closely replicates the sun at mid-day and given that plants appear green because they are reflecting green light, they obviously make use of it. It might also be stronger in the intensity than just red and blue, and this is borne out by the fact that tubes which are only red and blue have considerably less intensity than those with the red/blue/green combination.

Light that is within the 5000K to 7000K range (K = Kelvin) provides this mix. Or a CRI (colour rendering index) as close to 100 will (according to Diana) also achieve this.

Of red and blue, red is the most important. This is why the cheaper LED fails over plant tanks; it is high in the blue but often very low in the red. The Finnex LED is good for this light, according to other members. I am not saying the Aquasky is not, it certainly looks good to me, but wait for the LED folks to weigh in. I've had to return five LED units because of insufficient red, so I am no expert in LED.

Keep in mind that you will want the red, blue and green light together for the photoperiod during which the plants will be using the light. As soon as this mix changes, plants will slow photosynthesis, and that is when algae has the advantage. This is another issue with the "blue" LED, it can be algae inducing.

Your daily schedule should be simple; full white/red/blue/green will provide light for the plants to use, but once you remove one of these the plants may slow. The period of darkness should be extended to frankly as long as you can. Ambient room light whether daylight or artificial light such as lamps does not provide "darkness" for this purpose. It needs to be total and complete blackness. This is more important for the fish than the plants. There is nothing wrong with a dawn and dusk period, but keep it short, no more than an hour each. This replicates the year-round light in the tropics.

 

[FallenPepper]

My set up

 

[Metalhead88]

There is no 24:00
Time goes from 23:59 to 00:00

 

[Tony blazer]

Lol yes that was a bookkeeping mistake

 

[Tony blazer]

New update on my 24-hour cycle.
I do have to say this my time cycle is based on my needs first lol. I know some of you will have a problem with that but this hobby is for my enjoyment. I do not live for the fish. I want to be able to watch my fish and relax late night when all the kids homework is done and all my father and husband chores are completed and I get home from the gym. So my time 24-hour time cycle maybe a little off compared to a normal sunrise and sunset.

Remember I've only used fluorescent t5 bulbs for the last 20 years. I've always had no problem with algae and always able to keep simple the moderate plant species So anything that this LED light gives me is a bonus. I enjoy the sunrise with more yellows and greens and the sun sets with more red and blues. With that said I still would appreciate any feedback on my setup and I will adjust accordingly.

 

[Metalhead88]

Do you have plants?
I'm not too familiar with the programing or how it is normally set up, but it looks good on paper. You may find yourself adjusting it to your own preferences as you move forward.

You'll want strong light for somewhere around 8 hours depending on your needs and a short climb before and after to go on and off.... Which you have. So it looks good in my opinion.
How are you liking the light so far?

 

[Tony blazer]

@Metalhead88
8 plants
Kleiner bar sword (reddish brown leaves)
Amazon sword
Anubias Nana
Java fern
Tall hairgrass
Sagittaria subulata
Anacharis
Water Sprite
One area with hair algae on the highest elevation point of the tank I think it looks cool.

I am loving the light . There is not a major difference between the 2.0 and 3.0 with specs and functionality. the only major difference is the 3.0 has pink and two variations of white light and few more preset programs. The 2.0 is on sale now for less than $90. The 24-hour cycle is such a cool feature I actually have a awesome sunrise and sunset setup. The cool thing is that I can keep on tweaking it with the app.

I wanted to post some videos of the 24 hour cycle preview mode. It's less than less than 60 seconds but the video will not be accepted on this post it's too big.

Still trying to figure out what the best ratio of red blue green and white light will be for my tank setup only time will tell. I can't believe I waited this long to get LED 24-hour light cycle lol.

this is a very good article that in reading that explains different lightwaves and other things related to LED lights for your aquarium.

Best LED Grow Lights for Explosive Aquarium Plant Growth

There never was a one-all silver bullet for looking after aquatic plants that thrive. Tiger Barb Tank Under A Fluval Prism 2.0 by youlises95 LED aquarium lights will likely produce the most plant growth in a

aquanswers.com

 

[Tony blazer]

Sunset time in my aquarium. This is one of my favorite time periods

 

[utahfish]

There is an aquarium lighting calculator on ratolabutterfly calculator. You put in the dimensions of your tank and the type of light you are using and it will give you PAR at substrate level and lumens/litre and a couple other numbers.
From what i understand low grow plants( ferns anubius ect...) Require 15-30 PAR at substrate and around 20 lumens/ litre. Medium plants need around 40 PAR at substrate and 30 lumens/ litre and high grow plants plants with red and more demanding carpet plants need greater than 40 PAR at substrate and great than 40 lumens/litre. And they need to be full spectrum bulbs between 5000 6500 K with a CRI of at least 90. Like Byron said when you are running your lights with just red blue or a single color the plant isnt getting all it needs to photosynthesize and is just encouraging algae. Also as how long your lights are on plants dont need a full 12 or 14 hours of light to photosynthesize. I used to have my light on 12 hrs a day broken up into two 6 hour increments with a 2 hour " siesta" of darkness in between to limit algae growth. It worked for the plants but stressed out the fish. Byron suggested i drop the time the lights are on down to as little as 7 hours, its currently @ 8 hours and the plants are doing well and so far after about a month on decreased time of light no algae. Id say figure out what works best for you and stick to that schedule.

 

[Metalhead88]

Glad to hear you like it!

The tank is looking great!

What is that plant that is stemming from the left to the center near the surface?

 

[Essjay]

It's a kleiner bar sword https://www.fishforums.net/threads/help-with-my-kleiner-bar-sword-propagation.456485/

 

[Ellegatto]

Hey man idk if this will help if you're still having doubts about your aquasky light schedules. In case you have a similar tank, I have a 40 gallon breeder soil planted tank running Co2 at a bubble per second for 5 hours a day from 12-5pm. I also have a twinstar sterilizer which helps with algae growth and overall fish, shrimp and plant health. I use a 700 cascade canister filter with an extra circulation pump inside the tank for better circulation and a surface skimmer to get rid of extra oil and protein films. I also have an auto water top off system since maintaining the water level is very important to prevent algae growth and other problems as well as also keep nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and silicate levels under control. I have 3 fluval aquasky lights. My tank has been running for over a year and 6 months with fenomenal plant growth without any complications or any out if hand algae growth what so ever WITH the following light schedules on all 3 lights. Keep in mind I have these lights set up in the back, middle and front of the tank as you can see them labeled in the screenshots. I have it set to 1% of each color except for white late at night because it really brings out the colors of your fish and plants without having any negative effect on algae growth since 1% barely produces any par at all.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Plants require more red than blue, I would have the red light at approx 80% and the blue at approx 30%. You can then mix the white and green to your own viewing preference. Some give their plants a resting period for approx 1 hour, this isn't to say turn off the lights completely, but dim them at least 50% from whatever level you have normally. The key is to try not to tamper with your setup once you have decided. Give it a go for at least a week and then check plant / algae growth and adjust accordingly.

 

[Ellegatto]

Plants require more red than blue, I would have the red light at approx 80% and the blue at approx 30%. You can then mix the white and green to your own viewing preference. Some give their plants a resting period for approx 1 hour, this isn't to say turn off the lights completely, but dim them at least 50% from whatever level you have normally. The key is to try not to tamper with your setup once you have decided. Give it a go for at least a week and then check plant / algae growth and adjust accordingly.

Well the fluval aquasky light isn't very powerful and I personally have plants that range from low light like Anubis to higher light carpet plants like cardinals and monte carlo. I give my plants a schedule of 100% of all colors for about 5 hours and then lower the percentage equally on each color for the rest of the schedule to simulate natural light. My plants do very well and they have for over a year ‍♂ I think it depends on the light. With more powerful lights you definitely don't want to have all colors at 100%. Mind you I use 3 aquasky lights on a 40 gallon breeder.