Water changes in a Planted tank

[angel12]

Hope you can help me here ... :)
My adult discus are arriving shortly and I have a question regarding the above ....

I intend on feeding the adults 2 times a day with Flake in the morning and Diskusin/bloodworm in the evening at the moment due to the shift patterns I work and the location of the Tank the lights are set to come on for a period of 11 hrs solid between the hours of 21.00 and 08.00 I change my water whilst the lights are off about an hour before the lights come on .... now this is fine if im feeding once a day as I am at the moment .. However when I go up to 2 times a day im trying to find a soloution wich will cover most of the bases

Is is possible to make the light period come on and off then on and off again for ex

say light on from say 08.00-12.00 OFF from 12.00 to 14.00 and then back on from 14.00 to Midnight .. would this be harmefull to the plants ? and the fish ... the above will allow me to feed in the morning and night and to change the water whilst the light are on a couple of hours after They have been fed .....

the problem I have is that I am not at home from 09.30-19.30 so there is no one to feed them or Change water until then by the time I Get home and change water and feed them under the current time frame the lights will be off and it will be to dark to see into the tank to clean the debris

any ideas then fire away

Thanks for looking in

P.S the breeder I am getting the fish from doesnt have a regime of feeding he just drops the food in when he passes the tanks and for most of the day the lights are on in his Fish House

Im just concerned about the ph swings between lights on and off I dont have a solenoid or ph monitor to shut the CO2 off and to be honest they are quite expensive here in the UK



;D

[Paulio]

You want the photo period constant. Plants need 10-12 hours constant light to be happy. Why not just set the photo period for when you are home? A friend of mine has his lights on from 4:00 PM to 4:00 AM because thats when he is home to enjoy the tank. It doesnt matter when they get the light just as long as they get it.

Is there a reason you want to change water when the lights are off?

Feeding once a day is less than optimum esp if its flake food only. If I read your post right this too could be managed by changing the photo period as you will be home while the lights are on to feed more.

HTH
Paul

[O]

You can get an automatic feeder and a timer for the lights. The fish can be fed while you are away & the timer will maintain the photo period.

O.

[angel12]

Thanks for your replies but I dont think I have made the post clear ...

I have an automatic timer already and it is set for 11 Hrs contsant photoperiod

However due to the hours I work I wont be around in order for me to be able to feed the fish 2 times a day during the day time

My current timer set up is 21.00 at night to 0.800 next morning this allows me time at night to see the fish and in the morning an hour or so before I go to work .. the draw back here is that the lights are on overnight and there is no movement around the tank so the fish might get spooked by me poking around later on at night .. also when Im off at weekends and day off during the week
Also there will be daylight coming into the room so they fish will never be in constant darkness ....

As for water changes in the Dark well it is not comp dark its just it seems less stressfull for current ocpuants if I change the water in the Dark as for an automatic feeder that is an avenue I dont want to go down

so to recap from the posts replies there isnt a way that I can cover all my bases ie feed 2 times a day keep an 11 hr photoperiod without having an automatic feeder ...

if anyone else can come up with a soloution then fire away

Looks like my best bet is the current set up at least it will give me some time at night and an hour in the morning

Thanks

[ronrca]

I read an article about lighting in the tropicals. That natural sun ;)! Often in the afternoon you would get thunderstorms/cloudy therefore the photo period is in the morning and evening. The point of the article was that plants do not need constant 10-12hours of light but get be split up into 4-5hour stages instead. This is just something Ive read but it interested me so I changed my light periods because of my feeding times also.

Lights on at 6am, off 11am
Lights on at 3pm, off 10pm

On effect on the fish when Im home on the weekends! ;)

[ChloroPhil]

David,

Like Paulio said I'd just switch your timer so the later part of the photoperiod is still going while you're home. Then all you have to do is set your auto feeder to feed when the lights come on and a time or two before you get home. You can then feed your fish the frozen foods while you're there.

As for water changes, I fed my discus 4x/day with frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp and a 50% 1x/week was sufficient for the tank. Keep track of your Nitrates for the first week of your new regimen and see how things work out. If the levels get above 10ppm do a 25% WC in the middle of the week and a 50% at the end. Something like 50% on Sunday and 25% on Wednesday if need be.

Just remember to add Potassium when you do a WC and suppliment (if necesary) to keep your NO3 levels above 5.0 and your PO4 levels .5-1.0. Traces can be added in small amounts at each WC.