How many days can my plants do without light?

by **letha** » Sun May 20, 2012 6:02 pm

My Floramax went out firday night. I went and bought another one yesterday, but they did not have my size, hoping I was wrong about the size. How long can I get by with just a regular light?

Thanks
Letha

by **Okiimiru** » Sun May 20, 2012 8:13 pm

How long a plant can survive without light depends on the species. I recently did a week long blackout to protect some fry that were born in the tank (adults hunt fry by sight, so if you do a blackout until the fry are large enough to not get eaten, you can save them). During the weeklong blackout my Ludwigia peruensis and Proserpinaca palustris both turned to mush while the Myriophyllum pinnatum, Lysimacchia nummularia, Ludwigia repens, Ludwigia ovalis, and Hemiatus callitrichoides survived.

I personally use a Lithonia four foot shop light on my four foot long tank. You can buy one for $20 and get full spectrum bulbs for it for $8 from Home Depot. I rest it right on top of the tank.

by **letha** » Sun May 20, 2012 8:38 pm

Thanks, I'll go get one today. I will have to go the the other side of town to get a floramax, I cant believe it only lasted 2 months. Yours sounds better and cheaper.

thanks
Letha

by **Okiimiru** » Sun May 20, 2012 11:48 pm

You can try it out. It's not a big loss if it doesn't work out; only $30 to see if you like it.

Here is the exact model of light I got: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... reId=10051
It was $19.99

These bulbs are the full spectrum ones I was talking about, $8 for two bulbs: 'Natural Light': http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... reId=10051
'Daylight Deluxe' might or might not be full spectrum too, not sure: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... reId=10051

How many days can my plants do without light?

4 posts