Daylight Hours Using Slope or Parabola
- Thread starter rsc350
- Start date
Steve Atkins
New member
I have a weather station so I looked at that to see what the sun did then modelled that, more or less.
After a while I flattened out the top of the parabola a bit and ended up with a 2 hour straight climb to 80% then a 3 hour climb to 100%, two hours at 100%, 3 hour descent to 80% and finally two hours back down to off. Also worth remembering that at the equator days are 12 hours long and sunrise and sunset are very abrupt.
This was for Aquabeam 1500 and 2000 units so after a bit of acclimatisation it is quite safe to run them at 100% as they are each relatively low powered and I have 7 of them spread out along a 1.84m long tank.
This regime seems to be working quite but it is only a 3 months after downsizing and switching from 400W metal halides.
Steve
After a while I flattened out the top of the parabola a bit and ended up with a 2 hour straight climb to 80% then a 3 hour climb to 100%, two hours at 100%, 3 hour descent to 80% and finally two hours back down to off. Also worth remembering that at the equator days are 12 hours long and sunrise and sunset are very abrupt.
This was for Aquabeam 1500 and 2000 units so after a bit of acclimatisation it is quite safe to run them at 100% as they are each relatively low powered and I have 7 of them spread out along a 1.84m long tank.
This regime seems to be working quite but it is only a 3 months after downsizing and switching from 400W metal halides.
Steve
Last edited:
Thanks Steve.
When people say lights on for x number of hours per day, well that is great for on/off applications. At what percent (or PAR equivalent) should I consider lights on after switching to LED's that are controllable? Should that be configured by area under the curve? Should it be considered time above 80%? If I set a gradual rise time before getting to 100% can (or should) I leave my lights on x hours longer per day since the PAR was low before and after getting to max?
When people say lights on for x number of hours per day, well that is great for on/off applications. At what percent (or PAR equivalent) should I consider lights on after switching to LED's that are controllable? Should that be configured by area under the curve? Should it be considered time above 80%? If I set a gradual rise time before getting to 100% can (or should) I leave my lights on x hours longer per day since the PAR was low before and after getting to max?
Steve Atkins
New member
When I used halides I only had them on for 8 hours, with fluorescent lights extending the total light period to 12 hours.
What I do now is effectively similar, just less jerky due to the adjustability of leds.
Wazzel's is pretty much the same as mine except that he has extended it by a couple of hours at 100%. I may yet do that but so far it does not appear necessary.
