shortest photoperiod I can use?

[Jason K]

Brand new nano tank that just finished cycling. No livestock other than copepods and phyto I will be adding as well. Got a portion of Gracilaria Hayi from algaebarn to throw in the display. What is the shortest photoperiod I can get away with without killing it? Haven't turned the lights on yet...

 

[KrisReef]

Do you have a sump where you can add light so that the algae grows there and not in the DT?

8 hours is probably fine, gl.

 

[piranhaman00]

6

 

[Jason K]

I'm going to try to go with 4hrs for at least the first little while.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

6-7hrs min. Imo
+1 to the sump and tossing it in a compartment or using eggcrate to separate it off. Use a simply house bulb and a reflector from the hardware store. Go opposite your display tanks light to keep the ph up.
D

 

[Jason K]

this is a tiny little nano. no sump or aio compartment available. I just want to ramp up the light slowly in the beginning. maybe for a few weeks at four hours. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

 

[Jason K]

I can’t believe I was worried about this, as this stuff seems indestructible. Survived the 4 hr photoperiod for two weeks which I’ve ramped up slowly to 10 hrs now. I’ve also kept some in the original jar it came in, with indirect sunlight and weekly water changes (and some freshwater plant ferts) for over a month now and it still looks like the day it arrived.