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Thread: What if we left the lights on 24/7?

  1. #1
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    What if we left the lights on 24/7?

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    I came across a thread on another forum where this guy showed a pic of his moss tank, kept in an air-conditioned room and the lights were never turned off.

    I seem to vaguely recall that there's a reason why we turn off the lights after leaving them on for 10 or so hours. Are there any detrimental effects if we leave them on all day long, provided all other nutrients/CO2 are in optimum conditon?

    Discuss?

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    Tried that before in a high tec planted tank. Algae definitely grows faster esp on the tank wall and your red stem plants will be quite red if they are not already.
    人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功

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    Won't the plants just get tired and slowly die? What about the livestock? It's got to be pretty stressful not having a proper day/night cycle...

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    livestock is beside the point. Anyway, they could hide in the shades if any.

    The plants, esp the stems one, will fold up in the night, probably after 9pm. Some will not. I am not sure if they will be very stress, but the growth rate will be faster and due to the long exposure of light (intense), the tip of red stem plants species are usually fiery red.
    人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功

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    Well one thing for sure is that your electrical bills will go up and your lights will blow out much faster, I think.

    Besides, it's totally pointless to switch on your lights when your plants are not making use of them. But then again, supposed it's for public display 24/7, probably you can. However, only plants that do not fold leaves to sleep should be used. ie ferns and moss.

    Biological effect on the plants I'm not sure. I've not experimented with it before but I don't think the plant health will be good.

    Anyone care to try this out if you have enough time, effort and budget

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    There's no point to leave the lights on for 24 hrs since the plants only perform photosynthesis for a fixed period of time ... So the only folks benefitting it will be the algae lor...

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    I once left the [office] tank lights turned on over the weekend.
    When we came back the tank walls were covered with spot algae, the floating plants grew a lot too -- with longer roots!
    Not long after the newly added fish also got white spot from added stress.
    koah fong
    Juggler's tanks

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    Quote Originally Posted by gchoo
    There's no point to leave the lights on for 24 hrs since the plants only perform photosynthesis for a fixed period of time ... So the only folks benefitting it will be the algae lor...
    That was what I suspected. Are there any online literature you can provide me regarding this?

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    I'm thinking that initially, for a few weeks, the plants will just wake and sleep like they usually do. Gradually, it's biological clock will go haywire and perhaps it'll go 'kaput' soon.

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    I understand that in some land plants especially those from temperate regions goes into different growth phase when the photoperiod changes. The changes in length of the photoperiod may trigger phases like propogation stage, vegetative stage, flowering stage or dormant stage.

    I think during the dark hours, plants uses this time to respire and produce proteins, hormones and other stuff. Therefore, a longer than necessary photoperiod might not results in increase of growth.

    It will be interesting to see how aquatic plants reacts to changing photoperiod.

    BC

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    read something by tom barr I think on this, the night period is used for sequestering carbohydrates or something like that.

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    I was thinking more like...if our sun never set and was up the whole day 24/7, how would we feel or adapt to our enviroment ? Imagine feeling warm and hot 24/7...! Imagine the impact and use this impact on the aquaria. Sounds logical ? Hmmm...

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    Quote Originally Posted by yhvhjireh
    I was thinking more like...if our sun never set and was up the whole day 24/7, how would we feel or adapt to our enviroment ? Imagine feeling warm and hot 24/7...! Imagine the impact and use this impact on the aquaria. Sounds logical ? Hmmm...
    u got talk like no talk
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    i tried before.

    last time when i was keeping guppy fish. i just throw in some plant(don't know the name but it is very easy to keep and grow very fast type) and on the light, 18w for 24 hours everyday. my tank is a 2ft tank.

    the guppy just keep on breed and breed till too many(bought 5, breed over 100) and the plant didn't got any algae problem and keep on grow until it cover up the whole tank full. even the glass of the tank also don't have any spot algae.
    in the tank, there was no filter or any air pump, just sand, plant, fish.


    from this exp, tells me that, the light can be on 24 hours. the water is mantain crystal clear because there was no filter in the tank, all the filter work is turn to the plant. there was no algae at all because the plant grow too fast and beat the algae. tank glass don't have any spot algae is because the plant cover up the whole tank so the glass cant get the light directly so there is no spot algae.

    what u guys think? discuss~~
    24" x 12" x 12"
    Hopar T5 14w 10000k x 4 (12pm-8pm)
    EHEIM 2213
    2.5L CO2 + Solenoid + Diffuser
    Holland sand + Azoo root ferilizer + PMDD

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    should be no problem

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